MetService homeless after earthquake-strengthening bill balloons

MetService has made the difficult decision that it will not be returning to its Kelburn building. Photo / Mark Mitchell

MetService will not return to its Kelburn building – the home of the national weather service since 1968 – because of ballooning earthquake-strengthening costs.

The forecaster joins thousands of Wellington office workers affected by low earthquake ratings. NZME, the Ministry of Education and Meridian Energy staff are among those who abruptly vacated their buildings last year.

MetService relocated its Wellington headquarters and national forecasting centre to another building early last year while strengthening options were considered.

Chief executive Stephen Hunt said the cost of construction had significantly increased during that time, making it unaffordable for MetService to return.

In September 2021 the estimated cost of earthquake strengthening and other works was $16.7 million, which jumped to $19.6m by November of that year.

“At that point, market forecasts for construction costs were set to continue to climb,” Hunt said.

“There was no final calculated figure for construction because the costs were increasing at such a rate that a reliable final cost could not be calculated. There was also the risk of discovering additional works required during the construction process – making it more unpredictable than a new build.”

MetService could not fund the strengthening costs for the five-storey building alone, Hunt said.

The state-owned enterprise discussed options with the Treasury and the Department of Conservation (DoC), which administers the land on which the building stands.

“We explored many options including funding sources and potential partner organisations to share the building and strengthening costs with us. The new heritage status of the building has also removed our options to rebuild on the site.

“Once we had exhausted all funding options to strengthen the building, we gave DoC six months’ notice on our land lease.”

The building will be handed back to DoC at the end of this month.

The Kelburn building is right on the cusp of being earthquake-prone. It has a New Building Standard (NBS) rating of 34 per cent (anything less than 34 per cent is considered earthquake-prone).

Hunt said the agency was an essential service and needed to operate through natural disasters, which was why it moved to the temporary location of Seabridge House, in Featherston St, with an NBS rating of 100 per cent.

He also noted MetService now had a flexible working policy, which meant it no longer needed the large floorspace of the old building in Kelburn.

MetService will now focus on finding a new permanent home.

DoC business services director CJ Juby confirmed MetService sought financial support from the department in September 2021 due to the extent and cost of seismic strengthening required.

However, DoC was unable to help, Juby said.

“DoC is working closely with MetService on the early surrender process, and future options for the building will be investigated fully once this process is complete.”