Residents unhappy with fire station's design

The St Heliers Fire Station is now empty, and the firefighters are at Sacred Heart College. Photo / Paul Estcourt

St Heliers firefighters will have to share their temporary station with 900 students for at least a year as they wait for their ageing building to be replaced.

But some neighbours would rather they stay at Sacred Heart College permanently, calling the design for the new building an eyesore.

Senior staff at the St Heliers station, which gets about 700 callouts a year, have been in talks with the Fire Service headquarters for about four years since cracks started appearing in the walls of their 1930s, two-storey, brick station on Long Drive.

Wiring also started breaking down and a building report showed the building did not meet safety standards and was an earthquake risk. "It really wasn't fit for purpose any more," said Kerry Gregory, Fire Service assistant area manager for Auckland City.

"It didn't house all the needs that we need of a fire station nowadays and it was in a pretty bad state of disrepair with its structural integrity."

This month the 16 firefighters relocated to the Marist Brothers House in Glendowie, which is part of the college. They have leased part of the building for a year but may need longer while they wait for the necessary resource consents.

Mr Gregory said consent had been granted by the Auckland City Council for the demolition of the building but they were now awaiting consent to rebuild.

The council has previously said drainage concerns had delayed a hearing date by five months.

Public submissions to the council have called the new design a "modern-looking box" and expressed concern about the lack of respect to the site's history.

The new two-storey, sound-proof station will include a gym, lecture rooms, five bedrooms, a kitchen and an area where a fire safety display will be erected.

According to the Bob Dey Property Report, Eastern Bays Community Board planning spokesman Colin Davis said at a council meeting he would rather see the current building refurbished.

"I am reluctant to see this building demolished and replaced by a basic, sterile, utilitarian building. The existing fire station building has a distinctive architectural heritage character which in my opinion should be retained. The existing fire station building is not as obtrusive as the new building will be. It blends harmoniously with the residential properties in this area. Because of its architectural character, I would prefer to see it gutted and upgraded, so its heritage character is not lost."

The station had also had trouble finding temporary accommodation.

They were offered a site at St Andrew's Retirement Village in Glendowie but it was only available for a short time until St Andrew's started its own developments.

Another option was to share space at the Mt Wellington station, but it would have added several valuable minutes to St Heliers' response time.

Mr Gregory said the Marist Brothers house had all the necessities, including bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen and offices.

A metal fence had been erected around the station's only fire truck, which was parked outside the building.