Past efforts not enough to protect Opera House

Work under way to restore the Opera House after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Photo/Alexander Turnbull Library

The Hawke's Bay Opera House was opened in 1915.

Historian Michael Fowler said after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake the south side wall had to be almost entirely pulled down and was rebuilt and reinforced.

The post-earthquake rebuild project took a year and included rebuilding the backstage area of the theatre, which was also damaged in the quake.

The theatre was reopened on February 23, 1932.

Mr Fowler says the next major upgrade to the building was the $13.6 million upgrade which began in 2004 and continued until 2007.

Mayor Lawrence Yule says the council specifically commissioned earthquake strengthening work as part of the 2004 refurbishment project.

Last year, a local engineering firm was commissioned to review past assessments of the seismic performance of the building structure and undertake a general and visual assessment of the facility.

The review estimated the seismic performance of much of the building was between 34 and 67 per cent of the national building standard with some areas of the facility scoring much higher than that. (A score of under 34 per cent indicates a building is earthquake-prone).

In its report the firm recommended the council undertake further assessment and investigation to improve the accuracy of its findings and the council subsequently contracted another consultancy, to undertake further testing and modelling on the facility.

Last week the consultancy's engineers verbally advised the council that it had found the theatre's rating was well below the 34 per cent mark and therefore was earthquake-prone.

It did not provide a specific rating but will detail its findings in a written report, which is due on March 21.

The council plans to have that report peer-reviewed and says by mid-May it will have the information required to make a decision on the future of the theatre.