The 117-year-old cathedral has been evaluated by engineers in a verbal report and a brief written assessment.

Sacred Heart Cathedral's Reverend Father James Lyons said beams in the roof needed to be strengthened.

But everything else met the earthquake code.

Father Lyons said the cathedral could stay open while they were waiting for a full engineering report to be released.

A rating under 34 percent is classed as earthquake-prone under the code.

Sources

• Scoop
• Catholic Diocese of Bathurst

An amendment to the council's budget, proposed at last week's council meeting by Iona Pannett, was passed, giving 133 historic buildings five years of rates remissions.

Parish priest Barry Scannell said he did not believe the amendment would be any help in restoring the historic building. "We don't pay on the church anyway. We only pay rates for water and sewage." Continue reading

The parish priest of St Mary of the Angels, Fr Barry Scannell said that at present it met between 15 and 20 per cent of the new building standard and would need significant work on its foundations and structure to bring it as close to 100 per cent as possible.

Engineers, architects and geotechnical consultants had spent months preparing plans for the project, which was expected to take 18 months to complete.

Scannell said money needed to be raised before work could start. He expected the strengthening would have to be done in two stages.

"The first stage is the structural stuff below the floor slab. The cost of that is about $2.8m and we would like to get on to that as soon as we raise the money."

The church would need help from wherever it could get it because the archdiocese, which had responsibility for many other churches, was not able to help.

St Marys also had a small pool of parishioners - before the quake an average of 650 people attended mass each week.

Read interview with Fr Scannell in the Marist Messenger

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Marist Messenger

The study will include about 50 churches in Auckland, 11 in Wellington and 29 in Dunedin.

Initially they will use data from 48 unreinforced masonry churches in Canterbury, which suffered damage in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

The two-year project, funded by the Earthquake Commission, will see scientists from New Zealand, Italy and Portugal develop a seismic vulnerability index for unreinforced masonry churches and historic buildings.
Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Listener.co.nz

King saved the Nazareth roof when he demolished the chapel last year.

He says the ceiling, made of rimu, is the equal of the ceiling in the Arts Centre's Great Hall and Christ Church Cathedral.

It's 23.5 metres long, 10m wide and weighs about 30.1 tonnes, including the slate roof tiles.

The eight carved trusses could be worth $200,000, according to a truss maker he consulted.

King, who operates Graceworks Demolition and Recycling in Kaiapoi which specialises in church salvage and demolition, hoped the Nazareth ceiling and roof could be incorporated into an earthquake memorial.

He even had concept drawings prepared, but said the Christchurch City Council and the Historic Places Trust were "not interested in funding restoration of the church away from its site".

Other potential buyers fell away, King's demolition contract with Nazareth House ended and he couldn't leave the roof in Sydenham.

He dismantled the roof and it rests in pieces in his Kaiapoi yard.

"I'd sell it if the right amount came in," he said, but he would not consider selling components or for its timber value.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Historic Places Trust

The Archbishop of Wellington, John Dew, is the nominal owner of more than 170 parish buildings and more than 220 school buildings with an insured value of $350 million.

Up to 50 church buildings have been labelled earthquake risks. Further detailed assessment is now being carried out on each of these buildings, with all results published online.

Each parish will then decide whether they continue using buildings, with some preferring to make alternative arrangements until strengthening work was done, Mullin said.

The assessment of the earthquake risk for school buildings is assessed through a separate programme run by the Catholic Schools Board.

Catholic Schools Board executive chairman Gary Quirk said five schools in the Wellington archdiocese and the Palmerston North diocese require some work. The cost will be about $10m.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image Sumner Red stickered group

The policy is with Ansvar and expires on November 30.

Christchurch diocesan financial administrator Paddy Beban says the diocese was shopping around to see what insurance company and what policy it would go with as of December 1.

"My gut feeling is there might be some (earthquake cover) available, but how affordable that is is something that one has to weigh up, and the signals are that it will be a significant amount of money," Beban said.

Earthquake cover could prove expensive not only in terms of the premium, but the excesses could also be large.

"We will have cover in place for the first of December for risks excluding earthquakes, and if earthquake cover was deemed to be affordable we would consider taking it," he said.

He expected premiums to increase regardless.

The Ashburton Guardian reports that the $6.5 million dollar Holy Name Church in Ashburton and its accompanying presbytery, churches at Rakaia, Methven and Tinwald, and the district's two Catholic schools of St Joseph's in Ashburton and Our Lady of the Snows in Methven, are already without earthquake cover under the diocese's current policy.

Earlier this year Beban said the lack of earthquake cover for the two schools meant the church was technically in breach of its integration agreement with the state, to maintain standards as a proprietor and have the buildings fully insured.

Source

• The Ashburton Guardian
• Image: Historic Places Trust

The church has been shut since May after it was initially assessed as being about 8 per cent of the building code and at risk of collapse in a significant earthquake.

The steeple was an area of concern, as was how the roof and walls connected.

Father Bill Warwick, the parish priest, told parishioners last Sunday that the parish knew it had work to do to get the building up to code. A parish working group had been formed.

Project Stronger spokesman David Mullin said a detailed study of the church confirmed the initial assessment.

Mr Mullin said St Mary's was due for significant maintenance work and the "significant strengthening" work needed as part of the quake response would be dealt with as part of that maintenance.

Project Stronger is the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington's response to the Christchurch earthquakes.

Source

• The Marlborough Express
• Image: The Marlborough Express

St Mary's School hall has been suggested by engineers as a suitable alternative for the parish in the interim. The parish and school are working together to enable this to happen.

The church needs to be further assessed and will likely require remedial work in order to meet appropriate building standards and allow it to be re-occupied. A schedule of temporary strengthening works has yet to be completed and put forward to the Diocese for consideration.

The parish will be fully consulted as part of this and the works agreed to. As this process continues Bishop Barry Jones is concerned and has given instruction that the parish be involved and consulted in this process.

Continue reading

The 126-year-old St Mary and Francis de Sales Church is now having a safety barrier put up around it and services will be shifted into the neighbouring Chervier Centre from the end of this month.

The church in Mairehau will remain out of use while engineering solutions and the future of the building are considered. The Hall has also been assessed and requires remedial work in order to meet appropriate building standards and allow it to be re-occupied. A schedule of temporary strengthening works has been produced for consideration by structural engineers. It is envisaged that the strengthening works, once underway, will take a minimum of two weeks to complete.

The Catholic Social Services building located at 336 Cashel Street has been temporarily shut based on the advice of OPUS Structural Engineers due to being deemed earthquake prone. Further investigation into these matters is required with a view to developing repair solutions to raise it above the standard of an earthquake prone building.

Source

• The Catholic diocese of Christchurch
• Northern Outlook
• Image: The Catholic diocese of Christchurch

Many older churches are up for sale as congregations dwindle, populations shift, traditional designs prove unsuitable for the uses congregations want to put them to and ageing buildings require high maintenance and possible earthquake strengthening.

Continue Reading

But it is not such good news for the people in Blenheim. Parish priest Father Bill Warwick has informed them that St Mary's would close on Saturday May 26, and masses would be held in the nearby parish hall.

Last Friday the St Mary of the Angels parish Maintenance and Restoration Committee met with four leading seismic engineers who have "peer reviewed" the committee's recommendations.

The Committee proposed five options to bring St Mary of the Angels Church up to 100 percent of the New Zealand Building Code New Building Standard. Three of the options had been drafted before the earthquakes in Christchurch and the remaining two as a result of what was learned from that seismic event.

After the meeting, one option was agreed to be the most practicable basis for further development of strengthening design and is the selected strengthening strategy.

"This is a major step forward and represents years of preparation and work by our builders, (L T McGuinness Ltd), our engineers (Clendon, Burns & Park Ltd,) and our architects (Bulleyman Fortune Ltd.)" said parish priest Father Barry Scannell in the parish's newsletter.

"The development of the agreed option will continue and we hope to be able to forward in the very near future our recommendations to the Archbishop for approval," he said

Father Warwick said said the Blenheim church, built in 1878 and renovated in 1993, was assessed at only 8 per cent of the current building standards, which ranked an E on the earthquake rating scale.

He said the risk was too high for continued use of St Mary's, which had about 1000 people attend masses during the weekend.

Wellington archdiocese property general manager Paul Bayliss says St Mary's is top priority for engineering assessment and repair.

Source

• St Mary of the Angels Newsletter
• The Marlborough Express
• Stuff.co.nz

The Archdiocese is facing a price-tag of more than $3 million just to complete assessments and decide on remedial work for each of the 181 parish buildings in the area.

It has been assessing all parish buildings as part of Project Stronger, to identify which churches and schools are an earthquake risk.

The figures revealed by Archdiocesan General Manager, Paul Bayliss, in a recently completed Roadshow round the parishes show that after an initial assessment on 2011:

• 50% of parish buildings are considered to be of immediate concern and need assessment.
• A further 30% need assessment in the short-medium term.
• Only 20% of parish buildings have no or low risk factors.

The assessment of schools showed:

• 20% need assessment in the short-medium term.
• 80% need assessment as part of the normal maintenance/development programme for our schools
• CSBL manage this process on behalf of proprietors of the dioceses of Palmerston North and Wellington.
• There are many non-integrated buildings (Halls, Churches) used by schools regularly that are a parish responsibility.
• In the case of some Halls the parish may not even know they are responsible.

A follow up assessment shows that after assessments on 41 out of 181 parish and archdiocesan buildings

36 considered Earthquake-Prone (<34%NBS)

• 1 of these assigned for demolition
• 1 closed to ongoing use
• 3 buildings are now being remedied
• 31 being reviewed for appropriate action by the Project Working Group

2 considered Earthquake-Risks (34<67%NBS)

• Remedial action may be needed in short-medium term on both

3 considered buildings of continual use with no medium term remedial action needed (67%NBS+)

• 1 recently remedied
• 1 completing minor work based on assessment recommendations to bring to 100%NBS
• 1 built in mid-1980's

In a letter entitled "Keep Calm and Grow Stronger" issued on 29 March 2012 Archbishop Dew says "The parish buildings throughout the Archdiocese of Wellington have been created and cared for by generations of committed Catholics."

"It now falls to our generation to decide on the building legacy we will provide for those to come, who will seek to live in vibrant faith communities in this place."

Dew said the Archdiocese "will use technical advice from experts such as scientists, engineers and architects - but, as always, it is only the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through prayer and discussion, that can lead us to truly wise answers. I ask you, then, to pray for the Project Stronger Working Group, the Focus Group and the pastoral leadership throughout the Archdiocese as they help us all to understand these complex issues."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Archdiocese of Wellington
• Project Stronger
• Image: Sumner community

Erskine College was a Catholic Girls School which closed down in the 1980s. It was used by an Art School until Feb 2009. The chapel continues to be used for weddings.

Once a building is classified as earthquake-prone, the building owner may choose to strengthen it, or if appropriate, demolish all or part of the building.

With restoration costs likely to be millions of dollars, property manager for The Wellington Company, Murray Anderson, said the council would have to go ahead with red-stickering the century old property.

Red stickers indicate a building is unsafe for people to occupy.

Erskine is protected by a heritage order. Any work to be carried out would need the written consent of its heritage protection authority, the Save Erskine College Trust.

Save Erskine College Trust was established in 1992 as the result of a public meeting held in Island Bay. It was recognised as a Heritage Protection Authority under Section 188 of the Resource Management Act (1991).

Trust secretary Maggie Kennedy said they had not been notified by the council of the impending red stickering, which raised concerns about what The Wellington Company had planned for the site.

"We're concerned they want to demolish the main building to put cheek by jowl townhouses right under the chin of the chapel, which would completely crowd it out", she said.

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Panoramio.com