Breaking News continued

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Allaying fears & developing concepts

There was some concern expressed by the public in the lead up to the decision to purchase the mountain Jade building about the location of the site and the potential for flooding.

However, records show that the building has not been known to flood. Cr Jenny Keoghan worked in the building for 25 years and her experience has been invaluable.

A comprehensive Building Report from Matthew Fairmaid, Jeff Evans, and Mark Eason highlighted some design issues – mainly around skylights and some West facing windows with failed seals that have caused some leaking problems. These of course can be easily fixed, and the building is generally considered to be of sound structure and in better condition than has been previously reported.

The Earthquake Assessment Review from Simco Consulting stated that the building itself is of sound nature but would require some strengthening work to get a result of 67% National Building Standards. This is considered an acceptable seismic risk by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering.

Council will develop concepts for the new building and how the Library and some of the Museum exhibitions will work in this space. Staff are very positive about the idea and have provided feedback on their vision for the building. We will be discussing this with the community in the near future.

Regardless of who is in power after the 17 October elections,  Council will continue to focus on attracting Government and private investment to help facilitate the development of community infrastructure. It is fair to say this strategy, developed by staff and Councilors, has proved to be the right plan at the right time with both the Seddon House and the Carnegie

Building projects benefiting from Government funding and subsidy.

Regarding the Carnegie Building, please note that many of the recent submitters seemed to be of the understanding that the refurbishment and strengthening of the building was not going ahead. Nothing could be further from the truth. This will be happening so stay tuned for further updates on the exciting develop of Hokitika and its infrastructure.

Take a wander around inside the Mountain Jade building in this clip:

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