Friday 2 March 2012

Christchurch City yesterday confirmed a major programme of engineering assessment work to be undertaken on Christchurch City Council-owned buildings.

The programme details the order in which Detailed Engineering Evaluations (DEEs) will be carried out on almost 1000 Council-owned buildings under the Council’s Facilities Rebuild Plan. Community boards will be asked for their input on the way buildings have been prioritised for assessment over the next six weeks before a final prioritised list is taken back to the Council for approval.

The Council is proactively undertaking these assessments to help it better understand the level of damage its buildings have incurred and their capacity to withstand future earthquakes. The results of the DEEs will also help to inform any decisions about a building’s future.

Ten major Council facilities – the Convention Centre, Centennial Recreation and Sport Centre, Christchurch Art Gallery, QEII Recreation and Sport Centre, AMI Stadium, Central Library, Sockburn Service Centre and the Manchester Street, Lichfield Street and The Crossing car park buildings – will not be included in this process. Options for these facilities are to be presented to the Council for consideration as part of this year’s Annual Plan. There will also be community consultation around these options.

At yesterday’s Council meeting, the Council also agreed that where a facility has been demolished, the empty lot should be maintained to a reasonable level and, where appropriate, Council staff should look at how the land could be used temporarily.

General Manager Community Services and Facilities Rebuild Project Sponsor Michael Aitken says the DEE programme is just the beginning of a challenging project for the Council, with assessments expected to take until mid 2014 to complete.

“We are very aware that our residents want to know what is happening with community facilities and this will give them some idea of what is happening in their area.

“We are making good progress with these assessments but, due to the limited engineering resources available and the sheer number of buildings included in the programme, it will take about two years to complete these assessments.

“We will be asking elected members to make decisions about buildings that have already been assessed while assessments continue on other buildings. We know that replacing or repairing some of these facilities in some communities will be no-brainers. However, there may be good reasons to look at a variety of options in other communities.”

To see when Council facilities are scheduled to receive a Detailed Engineering Evaluation and for more information about the Council’s Facilities Rebuild Plan, visit www.ccc.govt.nz/facilitiesrebuild

ENDS

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