The Opera House was badly damaged by a fire in 2018, setting back reconstruction efforts. Photo / Supplied
The Opera House was badly damaged by a fire in 2018, setting back reconstruction efforts. Photo / Supplied
Only three months before the opening of Hastings' revitalised Municipal Building and Opera House precinct, builders were still uncovering things that shocked and horrified them.
Hastings councillor Malcolm Dixon said it had been a memorable journey watching the transformation and completion of the revamped and reopened Category One heritage buildings.
But sometimes during the build, things became memorable for the wrong reasons, for what Dixon describes as "shock horror moments".
Bruce Allan, Hastings District Council's corporate group manager, said there had been challenges, but the work had been done in the most efficient way possible.
"There were times throughout this project that we encountered challenges, and while the Municipal Building was a huge job, it was streamlined and took place in two stages so the refurbishment work didn't interrupt the strengthening work," Allan said.
He said the most nerve-racking moment in the reconstruction of the Hawke's Bay Opera House was when it was discovered that the entire laden plaster ceiling was failing because of years of internal gutter leaking, three months before opening.
"The entire ceiling needed replacing including the reinstatement of the ornamentation."
He said work had to be done to dig out and create new concrete foundations half a metre each side of the existing wall and foundations of the Opera House and Municipal building, to hold new shear walls in place.
"Cranes were needed for a number of activities including dropping in the big air-conditioning and mechanical equipment (this work was weather-dependent and it was a relief it went smoothly), and also for the large concrete and glass panels that needed to be lifted into place during the Functions on Hastings build," he said.
"Heavy lifting was also required in the Hawke's Bay Opera House to get steel placed in the roof."
Hastings City councillor Malcolm Dixon recalls a memorable journey with some "shock horror" moments as the Municipal Building and Opera house were rebuilt. Photo / Paul Taylor
He said a fire in the Opera House in 2018 had also added a lot of extra work to the build.
He said about 250 concrete truckloads of concrete were poured in total, and he estimates they installed about 350 tonnes of steel during the refurbishment and strengthening.
A council spokesperson said the council originally estimated the total project to cost $35.8 million funded by the council ($23.8m) and external backers ($12m).
On top of this was an additional $2.9m in budgeted renewal work that council had previously committed to do like replacing the Municipal roof and rewiring.
Altogether, the council budget was $36.2m due to receiving less external funding than expected.
The spokesperson said the final cost was about $41.7m after councillors had voted to take out a $5.5m loan on top of what had been spent to complete the redevelopment of the Municipal Building in 2020.
The spokesperson said the Opera House budget alone was $13.3m.
Dixon said the enormity of what was required to restore the buildings was unexpected, but they had to carry on once they started as it was a Category One heritage building.
"You couldn't just pull it down," Dixon said.
He said the support columns of the municipal building similarly were only bricks and mortar with no reinforcing steel when they got to them.
"They wrapped those in steel and then they poured new concrete around all of them, while making them look original again."
He said the wiring they had found was probably installed in the building when it was first built.
"All the conduit that wraps around the wiring, it all perished in certain places.
"That all had to come out and the Municipal Buildings were completely rewired."
