Napier City Council to consider reinstating War Memorial in Napier Conference Centre name

An impression of how the renamed "War Memorial Napier Conference Centre" could look, above the floral clock site of the new memorial. Photo / Supplied

After nearly a year-long stoush, the original name of the Napier Conference Centre could return to the Marine Parade building.

Next week a Napier City Council committee will discuss a recommendation it renamethe building the "War Memorial Napier Conference Centre".

Built in 1956 with public funding, there was outcry last year when the centre was reopened in March after a multimillion-dollar redevelopment with the roll of honour plaques, Eternal Flame, and "War Memorial" title removed.

The council has since agreed to reinstate the items in a new memorial developed beside the centre, at the site of the floral clock.

However, many also advocated for the return of the "War Memorial" title to the centre, arguing this was the publicly-funded hall's original purpose.

At a council committee meeting on Tuesday it will be recommended the building be renamedand branded the War Memorial Napier Conference Centre.

"In consulting with the community, this has been clearly identified as the preferred option with the reinstatement of the words 'War Memorial' to the building in its entirety," a paper before the committee states.

"This will provide for the building structure to display prominent branding and signage that clearly denotes that it is indeed a war memorial."

The move has been welcomed by memorial supporters, including the hall's original architect, Guy Natusch.

Yesterday he said the "War Memorial" title had to return "to reflect the importance of memory".

"It's very simple. They can do their marketing as 'Napier Conference Centre', and I guess they can continue with how they have it on their letterhead, but it should be publicly seen to be the 'Napier War Memorial'.

"The site is still first and foremost a war memorial site, and any community events or functions such as conferences should be secondary to memory."

Vocal Napier resident Alan Rhodes, while acknowledging the discussion about renaming was a "major step", had issues with the suggested new "clumsy" name.

"What the people of this city want is perfectly clear. They want their stolen War Memorial back, with its original primary of community purpose," he said, championing the name the "Napier War Memorial Centre".

A staunch advocate for the memorial, he tabled motions about the name at the three public workshops the council held in January.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton yesterday said he did not want to comment on the matter as it was "too emotional".

"We will do our job on Tuesday and I don't want to pre-empt anything we will do on Tuesday."

If the council chose to rename the building, a review of the building's brand would be needed.

It was proposed the activity continued to be marketed as the Napier Conference
Centre, and the facility branded on the outside to include the War Memorial title near the new memorial site.

A complete branding change, including marketing and promotion collateral, would be about $100,000. Just rebranding the building would have a "considerably lower" cost, and be reallocated from existing budgets.

There would be another public meeting to provide updates on the final war memorial design concept, presentation on the criteria for the Roll of Honour and ensuring research project.

A focus on the public meetings had been defining eligibility criteria for the plaques, as it had been discovered there were a number of inaccuracies, and omissions in the current roll of honour plaques.