Trustees say there's a lack of clarity about the marae building's earthquake-prone status.

Processes and priorities vary throughout the country it seems, with various councils managing engineering inspections and subsequent instructions differently.

Under the earthquake-prone building regulations of 2017, a building is considered earthquake-prone if it falls below 34 percent of the New Building Standard.

Confusion at marae

The Wellington archdiocese commissioned two engineering assessments for Te Kainga Catholic Marae.

Both found the 1950s-built former RSA building fell below the New Building Standard.

Given the building's earthquake-prone status, the trustees were confused to find Te Kainga was not listed on the national earthquake-prone building register.

Nor was it required to display a warning notice to visitors.

Boy Thompson, chair of the Te Kainga Catholic Marae, says that despite this the trustees decided to limit use of the marae and stopped overnight stays.

"That was a decision that we made because we couldn't handle it if someone got tragically hurt in the building under our watch."

A Wellington City Council spokesperson says the Catholic marae does not fall within the scope of buildings they assess under the regulations.

That is why it isn't on the earthquake-prone building register and the reason trustees haven't been asked to display warning notices to visitors.

"But if an owner identifies their building as less than 34 percent, they can provide the assessment information to council and we will issue an earthquake-prone building notice in line with the legislation" the Council spokesperson says.

Multiple approaches

Councils across the country are approaching the task of identifying potentially earthquake-prone buildings differently, particularly marae.

Structural engineer Massey University professor Regan Potangaroa (pictured) is concerned at the ad hoc approach many Councils are taking to marae safety inspections.

In his view this approach doesn't work, as it is not giving iwi the confidence and certainty they need that their marae buildings are safe.

There is also a range of choices - with their own pros and cons - which trustees and building owners must consider.

One possible advantage is that marae buildings often have a uniformity which could save a lot of time and expense, he notes.

"For most traditionally-built marae, the building typology is effectively the same."

The work needed at the Catholic marae will need careful thinking through, he says.

The choices sound like a tug-of-war with well-matched sides.

"At Te Kainga marae we're talking about taking out the brick infill walls because it's those heavy materials that are driving the earthquake load" the professor says.

"But if we replace those walls with timber, we quickly raise the earthquake rating of the building."

Source

• Te Ao News

They are among 79 such buildings in the Masterton District. Some of those buildings are in need of urgent work to bring them up to standard by 2026.

In all cases, owners must fix their buildings within a given timeframe so they are no longer earthquake-prone.

Concerns about whether the buildings will be repaired in time are rising now that Masterton District Council has finished auditing building notices in the town.

Among those included on the register are three churches - St Andrews Church on Upper Plain Rd and St Matthews Church in Church St (pictured) and St Teresa's Catholic Church.

In last week's parish newsletter, the Parish Finance Committee advised the church building in Greytown had finally been sold.

For many months, the church had been on the market, and while there had been many offers, the parish finance committee submitted only two to Archbishop Paul Martin.

The committee recommended they accept the higher offer, which was accepted.

Council and ratepayer concerns

Masterton's Deputy mayor Bex Johnson is worried some owners might walk away from their buildings rather than undertake the required strengthening work.

She says that would leave The Council responsible for either fixing or demolishing the buildings.

Her concern is explained in a report filed last week with the Council's Infrastructure and Services Committee.

It warns: "In instances where owners have not fixed their building, the Building Act sets the expectation that the Council will remove any danger to building users and the public.

"Council will incur significant costs to remove such potential dangers.

"While we [Council] can put a charge on the land to recover costs, it's unlikely full recovery of costs will be achieved."

To ensure the public is not endangered, the Council will have to install hoardings around the buildings, undertake the strengthening work, recover the cost from the owner, or start proceedings to demolish the building.

Johnson said the question could impact ratepayers.

Alternatively, it could affect rejuvenation plans for the CBD if some buildings were not going to be there.

Proactivity an option

Johnson is looking ahead to find ways to avoid the potential problem.

"I'm wondering if we can be proactive with this, not reactive, and whether we are having early conversations with the building owners so that we can perhaps identify those that are going to walk away" she says.

Source

• RNZ
• 1News
• TimesAge

Earthquake-prone building regulations, ageing populations and shrinking Mass attendance have all had a part to play in deciding to close the buildings.

Cardinal John Dew, of the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese, said at least one Sunday Mass or Vigil Mass would be celebrated in both remaining Wairarapa churches - St Patrick's in Masterton at one end of the parish and Featherston's St Teresa of Avila at the other end.

He said with only one priest covering the whole of the district, providing masses in all five Catholic churches "is not an option for the future".

One of the parish churches to close is St Anthony's Church, which is on the main road into Martinborough.

The average age of the active parish members of its congregation is around 75.

The church building has been out of use since it was deemed earthquake prone in 2018.

Parishioner Yvonne Riddiford (95) is "desperately sad" to find her church will probably be sold for other purposes.

While she acknowledges the challenges such as shrinking congregations, lack of priests and repair costs, she's dismayed at what she calls "defeatism".

"... just to close it on those grounds, you'll never open it again."

Carterton's St Mary's, which is also earthquake-prone, and Greytown's Sacred Heart are also earthquake-prone and they will also be closed.

Victoria University of Wellington religious studies lecturer Dr Philip Fountain says the Catholic churches closing in the Wairarapa reflects broader trends of decline in some traditionally prominent denominations.

"One of the big stories of religious change in New Zealand has been a fairly steady decline of Christian affiliation across New Zealand census data since the 1980s," he says.

This comment is borne out by the 2006 census where 508,812 indicated they were Catholic, as against 492,324 in 2013 and then fewer than 470,000 in 2018.

Like rural areas, metropolitan centres parishes are also consolidating heavily.

Fountain says the counter-balance to this trend is growth in new religious communities.

"These dynamics are reshaping rural communities in important ways," he says.

"Indeed, while the urban stereotype of rural areas is that they are the ‘conservative rump' of New Zealand society, they are better considered as spaces of vibrant and dynamic religious innovation," Fountain says.

Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty, says at a sentimental level, he agrees it is a shame the Carterton church where he was baptised, made his first holy communion and was confirmed is no longer going to remain operational.

"At the same time, we have to face up to the fact that a lot of these buildings are earthquake-prone ... it's very much a case of use it or lose it.

"The church is faced with significant costs to keep up buildings that a relatively small number of people are attending, they can't keep these buildings going for large congregations twice a year at Christmas and Easter."

Source

• Stuff
• Image: Stuff

Parish priest Father Mark Field says the bell tower meets only 20 per cent of the modern earthquake code, so it needs to be removed.

The newer part of St Mary's is continuing to operate as usual.

The old section with the bell tower has been fenced off since the report came in.

Work on removing the structure will take place over the next month.

Field says they are considering selling the existing site on the corner of Cameron Road and Elizabeth Street.

If the parish decides of this course of action, one possibility would be to relocate the church to Pyes Pa Road.

"We have purchased a property next to Aquinas College (a Catholic co-ed college), which would be ideal," he says. "But no decision has been made yet."

He says if they did move the church, they can incorporate the old bell into the new building.

Bell towers were not common on new church buildings as they often did not get past the resource consent stage due to complaints from neighbours, says Field.

"So they are a thing of the past."

A church has stood on the site of St Mary Immaculate Church in central Tauranga since 1871. It has existed in its present form since 1991.

Field says the diocese requires all of its churches across New Zealand, built before 1970, to be checked for structural integrity.

St Mary's is just one of several Catholic churches in the Bay of Plenty that have earthquake issues.

The church in Te Puke meets only 15 per cent of the code and has been closed, while the towers at Te Puna and Matakana churches "probably have problems", mainly because of the weight of the bells.

Source

• sunlive.co.nz
• taurangamoanacatholic.nz
• Image: taurangamoanacatholic.nz

The building, which was first issued with a safety notice six years ago, has a "risk of failure" in the event of a moderate to severe earthquake. Continue reading

The Christchurch City Council decided in principle earlier this year to contribute $10m toward the $104m earthquake-damaged cathedral's restoration but wanted to consult with the public before making a final decision. Continue reading

The monastery's heritage status means demolition would be very hard to achieve.

Chairman of the monastery trust and former MP Gordon Copeland said the monastery and an adjacent church were judged well below the minimum percentage of allowable earthquake standards.

"They had the church at about 26 percent and the monastery at about 18 percent," he said.

"We have always been concerned that that estimate is wrong, and that is why we need to test it with another evaluation." Continue reading

Jackson and wife Fran Walsh have bought St Christopher's Church in Seatoun for $1.06 million in a move that saves the earthquake-prone church and neighbouring hall from potential demolition.

Now, the Miramar Peninsula Community Trust has been established to run the buildings for the community, and will lease the buildings back from the Oscar-winning couple. Continue reading

The rebuilt Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament would include a part of the original building, but would not entirely replicate it.

Some areas, including the sanctuary, cannot be saved.

And because of budget constraints and the demolition of the buildings in the rear section, the plan does not allow for the dome to be returned.

However, after four years of testing and modelling, it is believed the nave can be retained.

The plan is not a guarantee. An application will be made to the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) to deconstruct the badly damaged areas surrounding the main body.

Cathedral Management Board chairman Lance Ryan said by doing so, church engineers will be able to undertake an in-depth study of the state of the nave.

"Those studies could then reveal if the nave is too badly damaged to be saved, or the ground conditions too unsuitable, and in that case we would have no option but to move to a full demolition of the Cathedral," he said.

The church hopes to raise around $15 million to help with the work which should be completed 2019-20.

Read Press Release

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• tvnz.co.nz
• 3new.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: upload.wikimedia.co

The theme will be the stars of midwinter: Ave Maris Stella - Matariki.

Matariki is the Maori name for the seven-star constellation that rises in the north-east before dawn in late May / early June.

In Western astronomy it is known the Pleiades, and it forms the shoulder of Taurus the Bull.

The festival will take place in St Patrick's College hall in Kilbirnie.

It will begin at 10:00am with a formal ceremony, and conclude at 6:00pm.

The Catholic Community of Wellington is a microcosm of New Zealand Society.

Along with the Tangata Whenua it includes people who have come to New Zealand from many different parts of the world, Dutch, Samoan, British, Tongan, Chinese, Polish, Tokelau, French, Indonesian, Kiwi, Indian, Italian, Korean, German, Filipino and many other places.

All of the these ethnic communities have been invited to showcase their cultures.

During the day there will be a programmed series of events that will give an opportunity for each of the ethnic groups to demonstrate or perform some aspect of its culture.

The St Mary of the Angels choirs will also be involved.

The organisers are asking for a response from all of Wellington's parishes and communities.

Anyone one who is interested in taking part can contact Robert Oliver:
robert.oliver@paradise.net.nz
04 934 2296;
021 0257 4375

Source

• Supplied
• Image: Farm4.static.flickr.com matervictoriae.altervista.org

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

St Brendan's church is likely to be demolished and the diocese will use the proceeds from the sale to to upgrade facilities elsewhere.

The original stained glass windows and door hinges will be used in an extension to St Bernardette's church and parish centre in Hornby. Continue reading

There is graffiti on the gothic stonework, windows and doors. There's graffiti in places that would have involved a determined person, who was probably channelling Spiderman, to create.
The windows are boarded up, broken or covered in dust. Continue reading

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 Archdiocese of Wellington has made a submission on behalf of all the New Zealand dioceses to the Select Committee considering the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill.

The Bishops fully support of the intent of the legislation which is to improve safety. However they think that more work needs to be done to analyse the impact of the proposals on all.

In a press release issued on 23 April Dew says that the owners of many of the commercial building in the CBD of main centres have good reasons to improve their buildings and many will be able to access the resources that will allow them to do so.

But, he says, Church communities do not have access to the capital needed to achieve all the improvements legislation will require within the timelines proposed. "Left to ourselves the decision is a stark and difficult one."

"With the support of our parishioners, others in the community, and local and central government some buildings will be able to be improved."

"Many of our communities are struggling towards achieving this now he says, but the cost is high."

Dew says that while they the places where people gather must be safe for all, "the balance to be achieved between safety and affordability is the challenge we are currently faced with and the one this Bill attempts to address."

"The challenge is not black and white or easy. It is not about choosing between one priority and another."

"Funds to improve our buildings will have to be specifically raised from our communities. Many of our communities cannot even afford the increased insurance costs on their buildings following the Canterbury events."

"The reality is that there are competing demands and massive need. Church communities that are most likely to be affected by the Bill are small parishes who have an asset in the form of a building but lack the necessary cash-flow to maintain them, let alone support the activities that are the very reason for their existence," Dew says.

He says they look forward to being part of society's wider conversation. As a society we need to ask the following:

• How do we understand risk and safety without it becoming a matter of mere compliance with a legal minimum?
• Does this legislation provide building owners who comply with protection from other legislation where an incident is earthquake related?
• Has government itself found the balance in the way it manages its own buildings and tenancies on our behalf?
• What other assistance can government (central and local) provide to those without the commercial, capital, and taxation levers to respond to the new and increasing demands?
• Should legislation provide more clarity about the policy intent and avoid phrases with multiple meanings like "earthquake prone" so that people understand the issues without it all being left to the technicalities of regulation, code, and standard?
• Have analysts fairly examined the true cost of this legislation for owners that do not have the benefit of cash-flow related to building ownership?
• Has enough care been taken to understand the impact of the provision of initial assessments by councils, when the cost of detailed assessment is beyond the reach of many?
• Should all buildings be required to display notices outlining their seismic status?
• Has the wider social impact of seismic activity been considered? "We have made a submission to the Select Committee considering this Bill.

Source

• Supplied by The New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference
• Image: Marist Messenger

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 two churches have a long history of supporting each other during tough times. "We feel this is a practical way we can help our neighbour church," Rev Allister Lane said.

The close association between the two churches goes back to the 1850s, when a priest from St Mary of the Angels offered to conduct a service at St John's in the City while the Presbyterian community waited for a minister to arrive from Scotland.

In the 1990s, St Mary of the Angels' Boulcott St church was closed for renovations and Masses were held at St John's in upper Dixon St. The co-operation between the two institutions continues today, with a combined Advent service each year using a joint choir from both churches.

St Mary of the Angels parish priest Father Barry Scannell, SM, expressed gratitude for the St John's offer.

"It will also help our parishioners come together for worship while we undertake the earthquake strengthening of our church building."

ST MARY SUNDAY MASS TIMES

7am - St Mary of the Angels Parish Hall, Boulcott St;

9am - Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Hill St;

Noon - St John's in the City (with Robert Oliver's Gregorian chant choir) and

5pm - St Joseph's, Mount Victoria.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Historic.org.nz

Rex Nicholls, a Wellington property developer and husband of a former Mayor has, by way of a letter to the editor, offered the church some free advice on how to fund the earthquake strengthening of St Gerard's.

"I realise the current use of it can't pay the strengthening costs, but its tenant could operate from an unused church or hall in the suburbs. There are plenty to choose from. The building needs a new use. A high-quality hotel or expensive apartments would work", he says.

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust lists St Gerard's as a Category 1 which means it is considered to be a building of "special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value".

In an interview given earlier this year St Gerard's maintenance and restoration trust chairman, Gordon Copeland, said the Church and Monastery stand at about 27% of the standard required for a new building.

It would cost up to $10 million to bring them up to even 67 per cent of those standards.

Copeland said that was beyond the sum anyone could expect to raise in a public fundraising campaign and he suggested it would probably be more realistic to strengthen the buildings to 34 per cent of code, although it was yet to be determined how much that would cost.

The Historic Places Trust trust has been working with the Wellington City Council to encourage strengthening but it was a challenge, central region general manager Ann Neill said. "There's a gap between the market value of the building, in this recessionary time, and the costs. That's a deterrent for an owner and a barrier to their decision."

The trust wanted to persuade owners they had good reason to strengthen - even if the initial work was minor. She suggested Wellington adopt a strategy from Dunedin, where a targeted rate on heritage buildings will be used to fund low-interest loans for strengthening work.

The church was built by the Redemptorists in 1908, the Monastery in 1932. In 1988 increasing rates and declining numbers forced them to put the property on the market. In 1992 It was purchased by the International Catholic Programme of Evangelisation (ICPE) for use as a retreat and training centre for evangelist missionaries.

In recognition of the monastery's importance as a historic landmark, the Wellington City Council purchased land in front of the monastery to prevent it being obscured by new buildings.

Source

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

However, parishes are being asked to ensure buildings are safe and to check them again if there are further earthquakes.

The Archbishop of the New Zealand dioceses, the Most Reverend Philip Richardson, says people are builders of community and this is a time when the church across the province can respond by supporting the communities of Marlborough and Wellington in prayer.

"With the ongoing earthquakes there can be feelings of uncertainty and tired nerves, so the message is one of love, support and prayer, as communities face possible further earthquakes in their day-to-day living." Continue reading

An initial evaluation assessment found the 37-year-old St Canice's Catholic Church was only 18 per cent compliant with the New Building Standards, said Father Raymond Soriano.

This gave it a grade E rating, the lowest possible, and meant it was 25-40 times more liable to collapse in a quake than a 100 per cent compliant building.

The parish had decided to continue to hold services at the church, but would leave it closed at other times, said Fr Soriano.