New Heritage Consultancy to Help Fix those Building Blues

New Heritage Consultancy to Help Fix those Building Blues.

Auckland, New Zealand – March 3, 2015 - Bruce Petry (formerly a director of Salmond Reed Architects), is taking a fresh look at the way heritage advice is being provided to nervous building owners, by establishing a new heritage consultancy firm called Reverb.

Bruce has established Reverb Consultancy to address both the rapidly changing expectations and needs of the existing building market, and the post-Christchurch Earthquakes uncertainty that permeates the property world in NZ.

“Our focus for Reverb is to provide clear and robust heritage advice to clients who would like much-needed clarity around the management of identified historic places,” says Bruce. “This involves working constructively with owners, design professionals, project managers and contractors to ensure sound cost effective results.”

For old buildings, what was once a need for refurbishment and reuse, now inevitably means refurbishment as well as seismic strengthening, before there can be any reuse.
There are more than 600 earthquake-prone buildings in Wellington alone, double this number in Auckland, and as many as 25,000 nationwide. Many building owners are confused about how they can economically strengthen and protect their buildings whilst retaining their heritage values.
Much of this is referenced in Heritage New Zealand’s ‘Autumn 2015 Quarterly’ , which leads with the article “Creative Approach in Heritage Retention”, in which CEO Bruce Chapman also offers a realistic appraisal : “Owners do face difficult choice in strengthening earthquake-prone buildings. The economic reality is that in some cases strengthening cannot be done, so we need to prioritise and be smart about what can be kept”.

But the requirement to strengthen buildings is going to happen despite the uncertainties: “as a result of Government regulation and tenant pressure, building owners will need to get in early and have a plan – costs will surely only go up as time passes”.

Bruce has some clear thoughts as to who needs to lead the charge in encouraging systematic approaches to the sustainable protection of our cherished heritage and what well-prepared owners can do.
“Contrary to common opinion, there are in fact, quite a few deductible costs when you break project costs down. This means a reduction in the total project cost, and investment returns are protected if not enhanced”.
“As I noted at a public meeting late last year, organised by the Hon Maggie Barry, Minister of Culture & Heritage, the best way to manage the sustainable retention of historic and significant places is to provide clarity around what is required, and incentivise this.”
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Submissions from building owners, on the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill currently wending its way through select committee, have regularly highlighted the difficulty owners face in balancing heritage and economics.
This is a core focus of the new company:
“We are committed to finding the balance between economic use and heritage preservation that leads to the long-term sustainable and economic re-use of historic and other significant places.”
“The best way to beat the ‘building blues’ is to have a clear plan – it’s never too early!”

ENDS

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