Heritage buildings for future use

A new lease of life for several heritage buildings is a step closer as the Christchurch City Council explores multiple options for their future use.

All four buildings – the Old Municipal Chambers, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Thomas Edmonds Band Rotunda and Thomas Edmonds Pavilion – are in the central city.

Earthquake repairs have been undertaken at the pavilion, but the other three require work.

Earlier this year, the Council asked groups and individuals to express their interest in helping to restore and/or reuse these buildings.

After reviewing the expressions of interest (EOIs), staff made several recommendations to the 7 June Council meeting about the next steps that should be undertaken to help determine future uses for the buildings.

Further work is planned to make the Robert McDougall Art Gallery weathertight.

Councillors gave the green light to the next stage of the process. The Council will explore the viability of shortlisted EOI responses for three of the buildings and carry out several investigations into possible future uses outside the EOI process.

Council Citizens and Community Principal Advisor Brent Smith says the options are being thoroughly explored to better inform a final decision.

“We are relooking at one of the buildings, the Old Municipal Chambers, and plan to carry out a further EOI to collect additional information from interested parties,” Mr Smith says.

“We are offering another opportunity for groups or individuals to express their interest while still holding the door open to previous submitters who may wish to amend and resubmit their proposals.

“We are also investigating options to repair, strengthen and upgrade the building ourselves so that we can potentially lease all, or part, of the site, or operate the building ourselves as we did pre-earthquake as Our City O-Tautahi or similar.”

The Council plans to carry out further work on the Robert McDougall Art Gallery to make it weathertight while exploring future uses. It will investigate the option of carrying out further repair and strengthening work so the building can be leased for the display of art and decorative art and decorative crafts and supporting activities.

“We remain committed to making the most of this lovely gallery building tucked away in the Botanic Gardens,” Mr Smith says.

With the Thomas Edmonds Band Rotunda, the feasibility of the EOI responses will also be taken into account.

“It’s important to note that the building must be reconstructed and restored to function as a stage for musical performances and other suitable community and commercial activities,” he says.

“When it comes to the pavilion, we hope that the use of the building will complement activities at the rotunda.”

Staff will report back to the Council with their recommendations for each building before the end of the year.

The Council has completed a separate application process to explore funding and future use options for 13 community heritage buildings across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

Applications from the community helped the Council to prioritise building repairs and funding in its 2018-28 Long Term Plan, which was finalised in June.

“We are pleased with the level of response we received and are very grateful to those who participated,” Mr Smith says.

“With the funding confirmed, we are now able to begin the next stage of the process. We are currently working through these details with our community boards, leasing and legal teams.”