The cathedral in Hill St, Thorndon, has been closed since 2018, and the money will go towards restoring and earthquake strengthening the building.

The $8.5 funding will create almost 300 construction jobs.

The archbishop of Wellington Cardinal John Dew said the money would enable them to not only complete the strengthening to a high standard but allow for base isolation as well.

"We thought we would never be able to do that, but we decided that we would apply to the shovel ready project."

The church had independently raised $3.3 million so far, and the additional $8.5m brought them closer to their goal of $16m.

"This project is ready to go right now," finance minister Grant Robertson said.

"The restoration is expected to take about three years and once complete will see this Category 1 Historic Place once again available for the Wellington community to use."

"The cathedral is not only widely used by the Catholic congregation but also by the public as a performance space because of its globally acclaimed acoustics.

It is also a tourist attraction because of its architectural merits," Robertson said.

In May, it received a one-off contribution from the Wellington City Council's Built Heritage Incentive Fund.

The funding came from the $3 billion tagged contingency set aside in the Budget for infrastructure.

There had been a cathedral on the side since 1851, even before Parliament was built across the road.

The original cathedral burnt down in 1898.

The new one opened in 1901, not as a cathedral, but as a parish church.

It was established as the cathedral in 1983.

The community had been using St Theresa's in Karori and the smaller chapel on the site for weekday mass.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• mcshwellington.org
• Image: Supplied New Zealand Catholic Bishops

Pannett holds the Council's heritage building resilience portfolio.

She said a special grant was one option the council had to offer some support, but ultimately the monastery may need to downsize.

She said the parish is going to have to make some tough calls about what it does with the buildings.

"It's a very painful process [relinquishing heritage buildings], but the buildings do need to be safe."

The monastery and church buildings are rated at 25 percent of the New Building Standard (NBS), and its owners have until 2027 to get them strengthened.

The buildings are owned by the International Catholic Programme of Evangelisation (IPCE).

St Gerard's is not the only catholic church in Wellington that has had to contend with earthquake strengthening costs.

The St Mary of the Angels Church on Boulcott St reopened in 2017 after a $9.3m upgrade.

Work will begin this month at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Thorndon.

The Cathedral parish received a one-off 'out of round' contribution from the Council's Built Heritage Incentive Fund to help ensure the $3.3 million strengthening works proceeded.

Pannett says the Cathedral is one of only seven basilicas in New Zealand.

She said it is important that the Council is able to invest in important projects around the city, even in tough times.

"This is a well-thought-out project. Every building that comes off our quake-prone building list makes the city safer."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• mcshwellington.org
• Image: stuff.co.nz

The buildings are rated at 25 per cent of the New Building Standard (NBS), anything under 34 per cent is considered earthquake-prone.

IPCE have until 2027 to complete the strengthening.

They have just $42,000 sitting in a fund to get it earthquake strengthened, falling well short of the $11 million that's needed.

Already engineer and quantity surveyor reports have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

But the director of St Gerard's church and monastery Silvana Abela told the New Zealand Herald they didn't look at the situation as a "headache" and the strengthening cost was just life.

The biggest problem is the church, which could take up $8 million of the total cost.

They are pursuing several avenues to raise money, including selling the property they also own at 1 Oriental Terrace.

The sale would provide more than $1 million.

Abela said they were also looking at fundraising options and were in contact with "major donors", but said she could not disclose further details while negotiations are ongoing.

"We will continue working towards it, and I have a lot of faith that we'll manage to do it," Abela said.

Abela confirmed they have applied to Wellington City Council for an extension of five years to get the church earthquake strengthened.

The Redemptorists built St Gerard's church in 1908 and the monastery in 1932.

Two of Wellington's most well-known architects, John Swan and Frederick de Jersey Clere, designed it.

In 1988, costs associated with the buildings and their declining numbers, made the Redemptorists decide to sell the buildings.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• stgerards.org.nz
• Image: en.wikipedia.org

The grant is a "one-off" ‘out of round' contribution from the Wellington City Council's Built Heritage Incentive Fund.

Wellington's mayor and councillors voted unanimously in favour of funding the cathedral.

The council has already made a grant of $25,000 to fund the temporary strengthening of the building's roof.

The project has been jeopardised by the withdrawal of other funding because of the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mayor Andy Foster described the 119-year-old cathedral as one of the four or five most important landmark buildings in the city that still need strengthening and were eligible for the funding.

The parish has also applied for a share of the Government's post-pandemic funding for ‘shovel-ready' projects.

Foster said he urged the Government to seriously consider coming to the party.

"This is definitely a shovel-ready project - and jobs are involved," Foster said.

"This is not only about securing the future of one of our landmark buildings, it's about keeping Wellingtonians working."

"Every building that comes off our quake-prone building list makes the city safer," councillor Iona Pannett said.

"This is a well-thought-out project, and I am glad to see that the parish intends to base-isolated the building."

Pannett, who holds the council's Building Resilience and Heritage portfolio, said the cathedral is one of only seven basilicas in New Zealand.

The cathedral closed abruptly in 2018 after an assessment found the building's structural integrity to be just 15 per cent of the standard for a new building.

At the time it was said the building would be closed for several years and would cost "several" million to fix.

The Catholic Church has occupied the site since its arrival in Wellington in the 1850s and has been the hub of the Wellington Catholic community ever since.

Source

• scoop.co.nz
• wellington.govt.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz
• en.wikipedia.org
• Image: heritage.org.nz

The project involves major improvements, maintenance and repairs.

"We have a responsibility to fulfil the requirements to earthquake strengthen this building for public use and maintain the building as an impressive symbol of Christian Faith into the future," said Father Brian Fennessy, parish priest of Holy Name parish.

The renovation will take about 10 months. In the interim, church services and funerals will be held at St Thomas' Church on Mountain View Road.

Fennessy said the strengthening project will be undertaken by Christchurch company C Lund & Son, but the general public will not be able to view much of the upgrades.

"Most of the work will be internal and won't be seen on the outside."

Fennessy said there was already one crane on site, with another coming later in the year to take bells out. The eight bells in the bell tower weigh eight tonnes.

He said steel and concrete will be used to reinforce the basilica's nave, transepts and towers to ensure the structure is above the mandated 34 per cent of the New Building Standard.

"We've received money in donations and pledges, just over $1 million," said Fennessy.

The money was raised in campaigns that took place late last year to raise the required $1.6m for the project's completion.

"We are very happy with the contributions, but we still have to raise some more. Any other donations we never say no to."

The overall cost of the project is $2.4m, with $800,000 of that coming from Christchurch diocese insurance disbursements.

"We've got five years to raise the money."

The basilica, designed by Francis Petre, was completed in 1911 at a cost of £23,000 and in a construction time of two years.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: tripadvisor.co.nz

One of the churches is Martinborough's St Anthony of Padua.

The decision left the local Catholic community to sort out its immediate future including the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass and Carols celebration.

The Martinborough Catholic community considered a number of suggestions including offers of alternative venues from other Christian denominations.

But given past attendance of about 170 and their desire to retain a presence in Martinborough, they decided to remain onsite for Christmas and beyond.

Taking a risk with the weather, they held their traditional Christmas Mass outdoors; alongside the church building and under the trees on the church property.

"We accessed 100 chairs from Chanel College to add to our local supply," said parishioner Margaret Bath.

"A conservative attendance was around 185 plus, with many standing or even sitting on the steps of the closed church.

"This made for a special and memorable celebration. The night started out balmy and chilled later……..but the rain held off.

"The evening had a "biblical" feel about it, the Holy Family were in temporary accommodation and amongst the cattle in the stable…..not to forget angels, wise men and shepherds," Bath said.

"We had horses in the paddock alongside that were interested in the proceedings and didn't smell or create health hazards."

Bath says they have approval for a second engineer to carry out a peer review of the church - they hope this will be carried out early this year.

"Interesting to note that the Government regulations allow for use of our building until 2033 while improvements are considered and carried out but the Church Administration went for automatic closure.

"We, the local Catholic community, had no input."

Source

• martinboroughstar.co.nz
• times-age.co.nz
• Image:martinboroughstar.co.nz

A seismic assessment conducted earlier this year found Mission House would not perform "satisfactorily" in a severe, locally-based earthquake.

Before it was used for administration offices and classrooms, the building was the convent for the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions.

The College's principal, Maria Potter, said the building held a lot of memories.

"It's all some staff know and they're really fond of the building."

In her December newsletter, Potter said that staff would be farewelling Mission House as part of their staff-only days after the school holidays began.

She said it would be a time to reflect on the history of the building as well as the people and activities that have been part of this history.

"We look forward with huge excitement and anticipation to planning and designing a new building that will be purpose-built for our students and their requirements," she said.

The building is owned by Mission Colleges Lower Hutt Trust Board. Chairman Bill Davies said an initial assessment was completed in July.

The trust considered strengthening the building but decided to demolish it instead and to build a new two-storey administration and classroom block on the space.

Contractors plan to have the building pulled down by Christmas and the site cleared by mid-January.

Potter said having the work done over the break will mean that their usual activities will be uninterrupted and 2018 can start with a focus on teaching and learning.

To cope with the loss of teaching space, six relocatable classrooms will be moved onto the grounds for the 2018 school year.

Construction of a new building will likely begin in 2019.

Source

• Stuff
• Sacred Heart College December Newsletter
• Image: Stuff

"Adjacent to the Majestic Centre, St. Mary of the Angels Church has been closed since 2013 because of safety concerns."

"A planned NZ$3 million earthquake strengthening project includes 50 new rock anchors—cables drilled into the ground to anchor the building against the upward thrust of a quake."

"Reinforced concrete beams encased in fiberglass will replace eight of the main columns in the church."

"'It's a moral obligation,' said Dave Mullen, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese in Wellington."

The article also talks about Project Stronger, the Archdiocese of Wellington's plan to upgrade all its earthquake prone buildings.

Red stickered Erskine College, which is describes as a 110-year old French Gothic building, also gets a mention.

Source

www.wsj.com

The Catholic Education Office is responsible for 340 schools throughout the country.

The Minister of Building and Housing Nick Smith has proposed changes in the earthquake strengthening rules.

Under the new rules high risk zones would keep the existing timeframe.

However education and emergency buildings would be targeted, by requiring those in high and medium seismic risk areas to be identified and strengthened in half the standard time.

"We are prioritising all education buildings regularly occupied by 20 people or more," Smith said.

Lynch says it would cost about $120 million to bring them all up to scratch within the new time frame.

"The Crown's not going to just say 'integrated schools, go away' when in fact we've been looking after ourselves pretty well, thank you very much," he said.

"But when something like this is dropped on you, well, that's what the partnership's about - to talk with one another and say, 'over a 10-year period, what can we do to help one another?'"

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: panoramio.com

Among those present were church patron and former prime minister Jim Bolger, Cardinal John Dew, parishioners and construction workers who will be involved in the project to bring the heritage building up to 100 per cent of the new building standard. Continue reading

Parish Priest Father Barry Scannell said: "At 2pm on Tuesday 17 March we will hold a short liturgy and blessing for our church and the workers who will bring it safely back to us in its rightful place in our community, as a cultural venue, and an important part of Wellington's streetscape.

The service will be followed by an afternoon tea in the Parish grounds, which will also be closed to members of the public during the work.

"Attending the service will be not only parishioners, but also the large number of generous donors - both big and small who have enabled us to get to this point, and the many people who have supported this project in other ways.

It will be an uplifting occasion, but also one tinged with sadness as we temporarily say farewell to the beautiful vaulting interior. Continue reading

They have both made submissions on proposed plan changes.

They say under the new rules their special recognition disappears.

Under the current District Plan spiritual activities involving churches are treated separately from other activities that involve large gatherings.

The existing plan says this is in recognition of the service churches provide to the community, not only each Sunday but also through food banks and as places for the community to gather.

This means that churches are able to continue operating in largely residential areas, where other organisations and businesses, such as cinemas and sports clubs, are prevented from operating.

Neither the Basilica nor the Cathedral are affected by the new changes as they are in the centre of the city.

But both denominations are considering where to best locate places of worship after taking account of shifts in the population following the quakes.

There is a concern about the extra compliance costs that may be incurred for having to apply for resource consent to rebuild churches in residential areas, including in places where a church has stood since the city was first settled.

In its submission to the plan, Catholic Diocese of Christchurch said churches had a wide variety of functions apart from just spiritual activities and played an active role in the community providing social services, a meeting place for groups.

It was important these activities were allowed within the plan, the diocese said.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: christchurchdailyphoto.com

The consent supported by the Hamilton City Council, was sought and granted by independent commissioner Murray Kivell in April 2013.

Last week the Environment Court heard an appeal against that decision by the Hamilton East Community Trust against

The trust was awarded $38,000 from the Ministry for the Environment's Environmental Legal Assistance Fund to help with the appeal.

Phil Lang, counsel for the diocese, said demolition was appropriate due to the huge cost - about $2 million - to earthquake-strengthen the building. This created "serious financial hardship", he said.

Lang said even if the diocese was forced to keep it and it was strengthened, they wouldn't use the building anyway, due to fears that it would still pose an earthquake risk.

Trust counsel Robert Makgill told the hearing Euphrasie House was a category 2 building - meaning it wouldn't need earthquake strengthening until March 31, 2030.

However, City Council lawyer Theresa Le Bas said there had been an "administrative error" and it was in fact a category 1 - with a 2019 deadline.

A new two-storey diocesan centre is planned in its place.

The smaller chapel, with a Historic Places ranking and higher heritage value, is to be retained.

Source

• The Waikato Times
• The Waikato Times
• Image: Flickr

Questions are now being asked about which of Wellington city's earthquake prone buildings should be saved.

A total of 5184 pre-1976 buildings have been examined, with 684 deemed earthquake prone as at June 30. Continue reading

Read also opinion piece: Hard calls to make on heritage buildings

Christchurch's Catholic diocese has more than 50 properties in Canterbury and the West Coast to be either strengthened, repaired or rebuilt.

About 75 per cent of the strategies have been finalised.

Diocesan financial administrator Paddy Beban said although progress could have been faster, he was "happy where we're at".

Its insurance claims were settled in 2012, but the pool was not sufficient to repair and strengthen all churches.

"It's not so much those that are subject to an insurance claim, it's those that aren't [but are] earthquake-prone. Because of heightened awareness, we need to look at those in the mix too."

Churches at Burwood and St Albans are due to be demolished and up to 12 projects, excluding the historic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, are heritage restorations.

Some parishes will continue to share facilities, while others have officially merged. About 50 parishes have become 30.

"I guess [the share arrangements] are working, but I have to say it isn't as good as being in your own local church," Beban said.

The former St Paul's site in Dallington has been sold and the Burwood church is unlikely to be rebuilt. A church will instead be built in Mairehau.

The Catholic cathedral remains in ruins in Barbadoes St but engineering and geotechnical reports have been sought.

Source

• The Press
• Image: media.independent.com

The question asked is "Which Wellington heritage building would you like to see saved?"

Morrison invites members of the public to:

• Visit the poll

or

• Have their say and post photos of their favourite historic building/s to Morrison's Facebook page wall or to Twitter: @JohnMorrisonNZ #SaveOurBuildings

In his electioneering material Morrison says,"If elected as Mayor in October, I will be saving the best of Wellington's heritage buildings and the city's historic Cuba Street by setting up a process that will enable building owners to raise finance exclusively to strengthen their buildings.

"The borrowings or bonds will be backed by the assets of Wellington City, but to protect ratepayers they will be attached to building titles and paid back through a special rate."

• Read more

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

The closure is as a result of a series of recent Wellington earthquakes, the largest registering a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter Scale.

"The safety of our parishioners and Church users is paramount, and therefore we have made the decision to close the Church so that the design and strengthening work can be fast-tracked", said Parish Priest, Fr Barry Scannell.

During the closure, weekday Mass will be celebrated in the church hall, and Sunday Masses will be celebrated at St Joseph's Mount Victoria and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Thorndon.

The St Mary of the Angels Restoration Committee was planning to begin restoration of the Historic Places Category one building later this year, however the recent earthquakes highlighted the urgency to complete the work sooner.

With the church now closed, Fr Scannell said priority is now given to fund-raising.

Calling St Mary of the Angels a "Wellington landmark", Fr Scannell says there will be an all out effort to raise the necessary money in order to secure the future of this Wellington icon.

As well as a central-city parish church, St Mary's is used for many other significant musical and cultural events, and Fr Scannell is calling on all Wellingtonians and people throughout New Zealand to get behind the project and make this beautiful setting safe for people to use.

Source: Society of Mary NZ