Taihape Town Hall to remain closed while council considers best way forward

The Taihape Town Hall has been closed for a year and requires strengthening and upgrade work to reopen. Photo / Bevan Conley

The Taihape Town Hall has been closed for a year and is unlikely to reopen for some time.

Rangitīkei District Council’s senior project manager Adina Foley said the 110-year-old building needed significant earthquake strengthening and upgrades to the heating system, which would be costly.

“The Taihape Town Hall is an integral part of the fabric of the Taihape community,” she said.

The building on Taihape’s main thoroughfare Hautapu St was closed in December 2021 after an engineer’s report identified it as high-risk in the event of an earthquake.

The town’s library, information centre and main public meeting facility which were previously housed in the building have been operating in the old BNZ building at 102 Hautapu St for the past year.

“We are looking into what it would take to preserve the Taihape Town Hall and bring it back to life,” Foley said.

“However, there are some challenges in doing this - the town hall will require significant earthquake strengthening, an upgraded heating system and other repairs, which would be at a significant cost.”

Foley said the council was undertaking a Better Business Case (BBC) to help identify the best way forward.

BBCs are led by Treasury as the Government’s lead economic and financial adviser, and local authorities are required to produce BBCs for projects requiring Government funding.

“We look forward to presenting elected members with the outcomes and various options in early 2023,” Foley said.

“The council will then decide what the next steps will be for this project and will communicate that to the public.”

The council undertook safety reviews of all its buildings in late 2021 and the Taihape Town Hall, which opened in 1912, was assessed at 10 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS) rating.

Chief executive Peter Beggs made the decision to close the building after the council received the report.

“I have not made this decision lightly, but my absolute priority is the safety of my staff and the public that visit and use the site,” he said.

“The assessment report outlined multiple structural elements that were a concern throughout the whole of the town hall and office space.”

When the decision was made, contractors were scheduled to begin improvement works at the hall to install new counters and flooring.

They were instead diverted to complete improvements at the Kokako St pavilion as an alternative meeting space.