Hawke's Bay company Demolition 1 proprietor Ivan Yukich confirmed he'd tender, having been involved in significant demolition in Napier over the last decade, including Napier Hospital, other Hastings St buildings including the Odeon Theatre and former Commercial Hotel, and late-1980s.
He said the Civic Building demolition appears straight-forward. While there are "asbestos issues", which can sometimes prolong the work, he expects it a job able to be done in less than six months.
Both the three-storey building, which opened in 1967, during the 18-year mayoralty of Sir Peter Tait, and the adjoining public library were vacated in December 2017, after a seismic assessment revealing the buildings were earthquake prone.
The Civic Building came in at just 10 per cent of the National Building Standards, and the library at 15 per cent, in the "very high" risk to life category in a significant earthquake – 25 times greater relative to that of a new building.
The assessment was done during a nationwide focus on seismic risk after the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, and the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.
Napier council administration, planning and other office staff have since been located in at least three sites, including headquarters and Mayoral Chambers in Cape View House, on the corner of Marine Parade and Vautier St, upstairs in the old Post Office building on the corner of Hastings St and Dickens St, and a public service centre in ground floor Dunvegan house, on the opposite side of Station St from the vacated civic building.
The public library is based at the MTG on Herschell St, with some services also at the Taradale Public Library.
Meetings of the council and its committees have since been held mainly in the nearby Hawke's Bay Regional Council facilities or at the War Memorial Centre on Marine Parade.
The council has budgeted $55 million for a civic precinct redevelopment still in the design phases, with Boffa Miskell, Athfield Architects and Hawke's Bay architect Jacob Scott.
But it is not alone, with such buildings as the Wellington Central Library, the Masterton Town Hall, the Southland Museum, and numerous other public facilities closed throughout New Zealand, some to be re-strengthened, some to be demolished.
In a report last year an independent research organisation described it as "rapid closure of a number of council buildings throughout the country" and questioned some decision-making.
The introduction of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act in 2016 (the 2016 Act) reinforced perceptions of risk through the legal requirement for certain buildings to have seismic assessments undertaken.
It led to a focus on the percentage of the new building standard ratings, with buildings rating less than 34 per cent often determined by territorial local authorities to be earthquake prone, with defined timeframes for remediation.
The report says there is a "common misconception in some sectors is that, if a building is rated as less than 34 per cent NBS and/or declared earthquake prone, the building is dangerous and should be closed immediately.
"This is often reinforced by a common belief amongst territorial authorities that the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) creates significant legal exposure for senior staff responsible for council buildings that have been judged to be seismically vulnerable," it says.
