Matt Wilson said if the proposed changes go through it will mean less remediation work required for the Dannevirke Gallery of History.
The Dannevirke Gallery of History is welcoming proposed changes to the Earthquake Prone Buildings system - without which, its president says, the town could have lost its museum.
Under the proposed changes by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, buildings under three storeys in small towns won’t need mandatory remediation or warning notices.
The gallery’s president and chairman, Matt Wilson, said the changes prevent costly work, benefiting the town’s historic buildings and avoiding a “ghost town” scenario.
“If we were to do the whole building, we would have to take everything out and put it into storage for whatever amount of time.
“We probably wouldn’t be able to do it and we would have to wind up the society,” Wilson said
“At least now we have got a lot more time and we just have to wait for the legislation to go through.”
The building, formerly the courthouse, was first determined as earthquake-prone on September 5, 2023 and has been listed by the Earthquake Prone Building Register as having high seismic risk.
An extension was granted earlier in the year to complete strengthening work by September 5, 2042.
Dannevirke township has just over 50 buildings which have previously been identified as earthquake-prone, including 39 buildings along the main drag, High St.
The proposed changes are designed to target buildings that pose the greatest risk to life safety, while reducing unnecessary costs and disruption, particularly in regional communities.
By enabling more cost-effective approaches to seismic strengthening, remediation will be more accessible for building owners than under the previous regime.
Townships with fewer than 10,000 people – such as Wairoa, Waipukurau, Waipawa and Dannevirke – will no longer have to undergo mandatory remediation work by law, or display warning notices on their earthquake-prone buildings (if they are under three storeys).
However, those buildings will remain on the EPB Register, unless the owner secures the building’s facade.
Wilson said the proposal was great news for the museum which was one storey and run by volunteers.
“We are considered lower risk because there is maybe only one or two people in a building at any one time, and it’s not actually full, the amount of people we have through relates to the amount of visitors
“I think if the building was full of 20 or 30 people eight hours a day it would be a lot more at risk.”
He said Dannevirke had quite a lot of historic buildings that would benefit from the proposed changes.
“Just for our town itself, we have got so many earthquake-prone buildings that it probably would turn it into a ghost town because people wouldn’t be able to trade in those buildings anymore or live in them.”
He said the museum was not funded and relied on admission, subscription fees and donations for the research they undertook.
“We do have a savings account as well as an everyday account, and that savings account was earmarked for strengthening; it’s not a lot and nowhere near enough to do it.”
Wilson said as for the treasures and artefacts inside the Gallery of History, the Huia pair were the best protected in case of an earthquake.
“We spent over $8000 on a custom-made case for the huia... It’s bulletproof and made out of high-quality acrylic, it’s anchored to the floor and it’s got a three-point locking system.”
Wilson said, despite the proposed changes, they were still mindful of the aging building and its potential risk during an earthquake.
“We think even though the pressure may be off it would be remiss of us to turn a blind eye and leave it all to a successive generation...we don’t want for someone else to inherit the problems that we have at the moment.”
He said they have been exploring different ideas to tackle the remediation work.
Tararua District Council chief executive Malcolm Alexander congratulated Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk for reviewing the current Earthquake Prone Buildings system.
“In the Tararua District, we have 107 buildings currently listed as earthquake-prone, many of them heritage buildings.”
“For building owners, the prospect of lower strengthening costs will come as real relief.
“These new rules strike a fairer balance between the cost of strengthening and the actual level of risk, making the work more achievable for building owners.”
A Tararua District Council spokesperson said council is waiting on full details of the review before knowing what it will mean for buildings in the district, including the Carnegie building which is currently not in use because of its earthquake-prone status.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.