Developer Mark Dunajtschik had offered to donate $5 million towards the restoration of St Mary of the Angels Church if he got consent to demolish the the building.

He made the offer in the course of his presentation to the Environment Court hearing.

St Mary of the Angels is facing a bill of $9 million to bring the Church up to an acceptable earthquake strengthened standard.

At the same time Dunajtschik offered to donate $5 million to St Gerard's Monastery which also requires strengthening.

In a decision released this weekend, Environment Judge Jeff Smith said public safety and the risk to the neighbouring HSBC tower could be protected by measures other than demolition of the heritage building, such as strengthening.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: smoa.org.nz

This probably had something to do with Mark Dunajtschik's proposal to give $5 million each for the restorations of St Mary of the Angels and St Gerard's Monastery.

The offer from the developer was outlined at the Environment Court in Wellington on August 19.

But it was dependent on him getting resource consent to demolish the eight-storey Harcourt's building in Lambton Quay, which is heritage listed.

Mr Dunajtschik said he had made verbal commitments about the restoration funding to former MP Gordon Copeland regarding St Gerard's and to Fr Barry Scannell, SM, of St Mary of the Angels.

He said Fr Scannell had told him his whole congregation would be praying for him.

Environment Court judge Jeff Smith said there were precedents for such offers to be picked up.

But they had to be voluntary and could not be imposed by the court, the judge said.

Wellington City Council had issued notice that the Harcourts building had to be strengthened or demolished by 2027, but when Mr Dunajtschik applied to demolish the building, he was not permitted to do so, the Dominion Post reported.

The legal saga over getting a consent has been before Wellington City Council commissioners, the Environment Court and then the High Court.

The latter ordered the case be re-heard in the Environment Court.

St Mary of the Angels was closed after earthquakes last year, as it only meets 15 to 20 per cent of the building standard in this area.

Earlier this month, the parish launched a fundraising drive to bring the heritage-listed church to 100 per cent of building code.

To begin work, the church needs $3 million, of which it has already raised $2 million.

Patrons include former prime minister Jim Bolger, former governor-general Sir Anand Satyanand, former chief District Court judge Sir David Carruthers, businessman Sir John Todd and chief ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem.

But another $7 million is needed to complete the project.

The church had already spent $500,000 analysing the structure's weaknesses and planning its restoration, Fr Scannell said.

He said parishioners had been generous, but the fundraising appeal was to "the whole of the Catholic community, and to the city".

Sources

• Dominion Post
• Wellington scoop
• Newstalk ZB
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: St Mary of the Angels