Huge cash injection needed for Town Hall strengthening

Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Wellington’s project to earthquake strengthen the Town Hall will need a cash injection of up to $147 million.

The project already has a price tag of $182m, meaning the total cost could be $329m. It is the latest in a series of cost blow-outs for the complicated strengthening project for the earthquake prone building, which has been in the works since 2013.

Mayor Tory Whanau and the city council were briefed today on the cost escalation, which could be between $70m and $147m. Whanau said it was “extremely tough to hear, but not unexpected”.

The Wellington City Council’s latest update on the earthquake strengthening project for the Town Hall, sent out this morning, outlined that other options of halting the project or demolishing the building were not realistically available because of the building’s heritage listing.

“There’s no way we can turn back. We must see it through to completion,” said Whanau. The project had been started by a previous council and they were now more than halfway through.

She joined residents in being “frustrated and annoyed” at the news.

The hall is a Category 1 Historic Building on Heritage New Zealand’s list. This means it cannot be granted a consent for demolition unless it is seriously unsafe or there is no other option.

It is also earthquake prone, meaning that the council would be in breach of the Building Act if it was left without earthquake strengthening.

The building now has new foundations, but piling work in the auditorium is only 25% complete because the ground conditions were worse than expected.

Heritage restoration work has not yet started because the building’s condition was worse than originally thought.

It was an “old, fragile, complicated heritage building”, said Whanau, with the added challenge of being on waterlogged, reclaimed land — the basement is below sea level.

Chief executive Barbara McKerrow said the council knew it would be a complicated and risky project, but had relied on external advice throughout.

“These risks have been realised to a level even greater than had been anticipated.”

The cost of the seismic strengthening project has steadily increased since engineers started assessing the building’s foundations in 2013, taking the budget from $43m to $60m.

The council then voted to put the strengthening work on pause and look at its options because of the significant increase. Eventually a new plan went to council in 2017 and construction started in 2018, on a plan estimated to cost $90m.

As of last year the cost had jumped to $182m, with the council approving a $37m increase.

The council will vote on the proposed budget increase of $147m at its meeting on October 25.