The main building at the Napier Aquatic Centre will close to undergo earthquake strengthening following a recent seismic assessment.
However, the Napier City Council has decided to keep the building, the Ivan Wilson building, open until the work begins.
A full engineering report has been completed and once detailed designs for the strengthening work were finished the project would go out to tender.
The Ivan Wilson building's main structural elements achieved scores of between 25% and 95% of New Building Standards (NBS). The lower 25% rating occurred due to a lack of bracing in the north-south direction. The lowest rating is always taken for the overall score for a building, hence the 25% rating. A building with less than 34% NBS is categorized as earthquake prone.
The Napier City Council said in a statement that the earthquake prone status did not mean the building was structurally unsound in normal conditions, but strengthening of the building would be needed.