CHB District Council seeks answers after library forced to close

The Waipukurau Library will remain closed indefinitely as it presents risk of catastrophic failure in the event of an earthquake.

Central Hawke's Bay mayor Alex Walker has said she is "absolutely gutted" about the indefinite closure of the Waipukurau Library.

Posting on Facebook she said she was "absolutely furious that somehow in the systems of legislation, codes, compliance, accreditations, professionalism and hoop-la of a building project that these two buildings are now deemed by engineers to be less than 20 per cent of building code and are classed as earthquake-prone.

"The Central Hawke's Bay community bought into two refurbished and strengthened community buildings. The system has let us down severely and it is my expectation that we find out exactly how we have ended up with this result."

The Waipukurau Memorial Centennial Library was closed after the Central Hawke's Bay District Council confirmed the building was potentially earthquake-prone, despite a 2016 renovation and strengthening.

The building, along with the Waipukurau Memorial Hall, scored less than 20 per cent of the new building standard and will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

The district council temporarily closed the library on May 29, following initial engineering advice that the building had significant structural vulnerabilities.

Council's chief executive Monique Davidson said the announcement was a further "blow to the wellbeing of the Central Hawke's Bay community".

"Like our community, we have a number of questions and concerns about the position we find ourselves in, following significant investment in both buildings over the last five years for seismic strengthening and renovation," she said.

"We know that our community expects answers, and we will continue to be as transparent and open as we can be with our information, while not jeopardising any future processes to come."

The library will remain closed and the district council will consider options for its future at a meeting in late August.

The memorial hall will remain open, because it does not have structural vulnerabilities of the same nature or extent as the library.

The district council said it was unable to comment on specific details relating to the nature of the findings in the report, based on legal advice.

The council will place a number of restrictions on the memorial hall, including signage notifying occupants of the building's status, limiting the building to 100 occupants and restricting council-run public events to other venues.

Other actions will include increasing evacuation drills and reviewing egress routes from the facility.

A temporary pop-up council and AA service centre has been established in the old Waipukurau Railway Station on Bogle Brothers' Esplanade in Waipukurau, and home delivery library services are running while longer term options are being looked at for Waipukurau's library services.