Landmark Tauranga buildings threatened

Eight historical buildings in Tauranga will be left without protection from demolition if the city council decides to exclude them from its list of heritage sites.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust has expressed its disappointment at a council planner's opposition to scheduling the buildings.
Trust heritage  adviser Michael Vincent told public hearings on the council's draft city plan that the buildings were included in the 2008 Central Tauranga Heritage Study.
He said the same planner had lamented the loss of heritage in Tauranga arising from the pace of development over the last 15 years.
Mr Vincent said these losses highlighted the vulnerability of the city's heritage to the "financial considerations" of building owners and developers.
Commercial desires were often not matched by an understanding of the history of a property, or the value that the wider community put on the building - including people with a special interest in Tauranga's historic environment, he said.
The planner's report referred to the prohibitive costs of earthquake strengthening.
Mr Vincent urged the council to use financial incentives to protect these buildings, rather than the cost of earthquake strengthening becoming a reason not to schedule the buildings.
The trust was also concerned with the planner's statement that: "No additional supporting information has been provided to substantiate the heritage values of these buildings."
Mr Vincent said this lack of information validated the notion that Tauranga's heritage was under risk because the true value of its buildings had not been assessed.
The 2008 heritage study provided a sound base for council to carry out heritage assessments of the buildings.
However the trust did not have the resources to carry out a full assessment and it was a job for the council, he said.
Mr Vincent said council's draft policy to protect the city's heritage from subdivision had been taken from Environment Bay of Plenty's Regional Policy Statement, but had omitted a key phrase that quantified the scope of this intent.
This key phrase put building into an historical and landscape context - the original relationship of the heritage building to its site and locality.
Mr Vincent said the Trust was concerned that Tauranga's Historic Village did not continue to be a "default arena" for heritage buildings.
Mr Vincent was referring to some of the city's most historic buildings being shifted to the village when they stood in the way of development.
The significance of the original location was core to a heritage building's interpretation, he said.
The council's city plan hearing commissioners reserved their decision.
Tauranga Historical Society president Shirley Arabin supported the call for protections for the buildings.
Mrs Arabin said there was a tendency for people to think that commercial buildings had no heritage value, but the former Post Office built in 1937 was a good example of the art deco style.
The former NZI building with its pillars was another style of the period, with its classical design giving the building a sense of authority.
"There is no period when heritage stops."
She said Te Matahauraki at 7 The Strand looks modern now, but it used to be a hostel for Maori that came across from Motiti Island.
The 8th Ave building was the home of the last missionary to be sent out from England.
THE THREATENED BUILDINGS
Former Post Office (now National Bank), cnr Spring/Grey Sts.
Former Public Trust building (Rydall House), 29 Grey St.
Former NZI building, Spring St.
Former Power Board building, 69 Spring St.
The Cargo Shed, Dive Cres.
Te Urunga Te Awanui (waka house), The Strand.
Te Matahauraki, 7 The Strand.
Taiparirua/Goodyear House, 8 Eighth Ave.