By JASON COLLIE transport reporter
A West Auckland house claimed to be New Zealand's oldest concrete building has one last chance of reprieve from motorway bulldozers.
Transit New Zealand has discounted Waitakere City Council's recommendation to deviate the new Northwestern Motorway around the pioneer home - known as the concrete or rubble
house - in Hobsonville and is sticking to its original plans.
Putting a "kink" in the motorway would be too costly and the building might not survive relocation, said transport engineer John Hughes.
However, the motorway authority has decided to get a final independent assessment of the house's heritage merit from the Historic Places Trust.
If the trust decides the building is worthy of more than the low-level heritage rating it has under the Waitakere district plan, Transit will again consider deviating the new State Highway 18, said Mr Hughes.
There was dispute over the house's historic merits during council planning hearings in February and March.
Its supporters say it could have been built by Peter Robertson in the early 1860s - making it the country's oldest or second-oldest concrete building - but Transit dates it to the 1880s at the earliest.
"We are prepared to have another look at it," Mr Hughes said yesterday.
"We are always open to new information and the question of the heritage values on the house has been a matter of ongoing debate for quite some time."
Mr Hughes said deviating the motorway would be a "substantial cost" to the $191 million project.
The four-lane motorway would replace State Highway 18 linking the Northwestern and Northern motorways. It is part of Transit's push for an alternative route to the central city for north-south travel.
Waitakere resident Dave Harre, the Auckland branch chairman of the Historic Places Trust, was unhappy Transit was upholding its original designation.
"It is a really scary thing that Transit has the ability to overrule the elected local government of Waitakere City Council."
