Demolition order 'pouring money down the drain'CHARLIE GATES Last updated 05:00 19/03/2012
TO GO: The Armson Woolstore, which has had $300,000 spent on it since 2004, is due to be demolished.
A Christchurch heritage building slated for demolition benefited from $225,000 of public money for preservation and strengthening work.
The Armson Woolstore building was given a demolition order by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority this month.
The historic building, which has the highest heritage ranking, was completed in 1881 and is a brick structure at the back of the former Rialto cinema.
The Historic Places Trust commissioned engineers who recommended the building could be saved.
The building's previous owner was granted $75,000 from the trust in 2006 and $225,000 from Christchurch City Council in 2004 for repair and strengthening work. The council grant came with a covenant restricting any development that would affect the heritage building.
Heritage group Iconic chairman Ian Lochhead said Cera's demolition order was "pouring public money down the drain".
"Cera is unjustifiably using its legislation to set aside the public interest that has been backed up with nearly quarter of a million dollars of public money," he wrote in an email.
Trust heritage adviser Dave Margetts said it was regrettable that the building would be demolished after public investment.
"It is a loss of investment in heritage where a building has been identified as having unique values and an ability to reuse a site for a future economic use," he said.
Cera operations general manager Warwick Isaacs said the building owner could not afford to restore the building.
"A commercial owner wants to ensure their building is as safe as possible. It is hard for them to get insurance for old buildings and really give assurance to future tenants that they are as safe as they can possibly be," he said.
Isaacs also said the building could fall on to the railway line beside it if it collapsed in another earthquake. "The building was damaged by the quake. We had an issue raised by the rail network operator, saying they were concerned. It may collapse into the railway line."
KCL Properties managing director Bryce Barnett, who represents the Australian building owner in New Zealand, said its engineers had advised that the building could not be saved.
"Cera has a say on everything and they have made the call to demolish it. Our engineering report clearly said it can't be saved. The building is past repair," he said.
"It is leaning into the main trunk railway line so it is probably beyond fixing ... "
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March 16, 2012, 08:40:21 PM