St Mary of the Angels needs $1.3m more to complete earthquake strengthening

St Mary of the Angels

As at 30 September $8.7 million has been raised or committed to the seismic strengthening of St Mary of the Angels, an inner city church in Wellington. A further $1.3 million is required to complete the project.

It is a category one heritage building with outstanding cultural and heritage significance.

St Mary of the Angels was closed following the earthquakes on Sunday 21 July 2013.

While the earthquakes did not damage the church, subsequently, engineers discovered the building was 15-20% of the New Building Standard.

After considering several strengthening concepts, mid 2014 it was decided to settle on one that retains the Church’s integrity and strengthens it to be as close as possible to 100% of the New Building Standard.

Work began St Patrick’s Day in 2015 and over the last 18 months the project has consumed 30,000 hours. Currently 40 tradespeople are on site.

The addition $1.3 million in needed to

  • complete the structural work including
    • 1200 sq meters of new roof
    • 370 sq meters of sprayed concrete walls on the side chapels
    • 50 tonnes of structural beams and braces
    • 500 sq meters of new flooring and
    • 100 LED lights
  • reinstate the Maxwell Fernie Organ
  • remedy the drainage problem in the Crypt and Choir Room
  • reinstate the vestry and sacristy
  • repair and reinstate 14 stained glass windows in seismic frames
  • reinstate the gardens and laws.

Speaking to parishioners at Mass, Fr Scannell expressed considerable gratitude for the generous donations received from individuals, family trusts, charitable foundations, the Lotteries Commission and Wellington City Council.

“Your generous support is allowing work to continue uninterrupted.

“If the generousity continues we will finish work in time to celebrate the 2017 Easter liturgies in the church”, he told parishioners.

Fr Scannell also expressed his thanks to the project’s patrons: Right Honourable Jim Bolger, Sir David Carruthers, Sir Anand Satyanand, Sir John Todd (RIP) and Dame Beverley Wakem.

Look at video of the work

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