Opera House and CBD

A timeline for decisions on the earthquake-prone Hawke’s Bay Opera House has been announced.

Residents are expected to get their first look at possible options in about 10 weeks’ time.

Those options are likely to be broader than many imagine, covering a number of projects, given the current estimated cost of repairing the opera house and the adjacent Hastings Municipal Buildings to about 70 per cent of the current building code is estimated to be near $18 million – much more than had been expected.

Hastings District Council has $20 million in the budget to cover three projects – repairs to the opera house and the municipal buildings, a redevelopment of Civic Square, and investment in a central city hotel - before the extent of work required at the opera house was uncovered.

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule last year signalled that all options would be considered and confirmed that this week.

“The cost of repairing the Opera House was a shock for all of us when it came out. However, we are going to turn this into a positive. It gives us the chance to rethink the plans for our central city and there is money already in the budget to make it the cultural heart of our district,” he said.

“It is important that when the proposed options come out in a couple of months everyone in Hastings has a good look at them and gives council their feedback. Whatever we do now will carry us forward for at least the next 100 years – the age the opera house is now.”

The required engineering reports have been completed and confirmed the findings of earlier reports: That the unreinforced masonry walls in the opera house would be very unsafe in an earthquake.

Both the opera house and adjoining municipal building were closed to the public last year.

Councillors have indicated that they want to make decisions on the project before Christmas.

A “pre-engagement” period asking for residents’ feedback on the broad options is anticipated to start in September.

The options will then be refined and a formal public consultation process started.

To help come up with the options to put before residents an independent working group has been set up and a project manager hired.

An engineer with 36 years’ experience in New Zealand and overseas, Richard Kirby will oversee the project.

The Feilding resident has experience overseeing the earthquake-proofing of significant public buildings, including Nelson City Council’s Trafalgar Centre and the Nelson School of Music.

He has provided technical advice on infrastructure damage in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake. His skills include strategic management of large scale projects from start to finish.

Helping to formulate the potential options before putting them before the public is an independent working party (IWP).

Mr Kirby said the members of the group have been chosen for their skills across a range of fields including commerce, property, marketing, funding, the arts, culture and mana whenua.

Many of the names will be familiar to Hastings residents. Mr Kirby is joined on the group by Peter Snelling, Chris O’Reilly, Genevieve Beech, Ngahiwi Tomoana, Gary McCalmont, Andy Coltart and Jenni Giblin.
“The aim of the IWP is to provide specialist, independent expert advice to the project and peer-review the process so we can bring the very best possible options to the public,” said Mr Kirby.

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