MEDIA RELEASE
27 April 2005

Auckland City probe underway on hundreds
of heritage building nominations

Auckland city’s significant historic buildings may have better protection as the assessment of public nominations continues.

In October last year, Auckland City called for nominations of heritage buildings and sites on the isthmus for possible scheduling in the district plan.

“The response was very encouraging with 1195 nominations involving 912 buildings being received,” says chairperson of the Environment, Heritage and Urban Form Committee, Councillor Christine Caughey.

Nominations have been collated from a range of sources including the public, Auckland City heritage experts and heritage agencies. Auckland City heritage staff have prioritised the proposals based on the detail of information received.

“In some cases the information we received went as far as including conservation plans, details about the original architect, associations with historic people and photographs,” says Ms Caughey. “Many Aucklanders are passionate about protecting our heritage and have demonstrated this in their submissions.”

Some places suggested are already protected in the district plan schedules.

The proposals for new protection have been classified into three priority groups:
- Priority 1 (around 25 per cent) where sufficient information for assessment has been supplied, including relevant historical background material, or are in one of the areas where heritage/character studies have been carried out (Mt Eden, St Heliers, Kingsland, Eden Valley, Ellerslie, Symonds Street, Grey Lynn and West Lynn).
- Priority 2 (around 35 per cent) where little information was supplied with the proposal. More information has been requested and addresses are being verified using aerial photographs.
- Priority 3 (around 40 per cent) where no information was supplied.
Auckland City heritage staff are focussing their attention on the priority 1 and 2 proposals and carrying out initial assessments.

Assessments will determine whether it is likely that a building will reach an evaluation score close to the threshold of 50 points required for it to be scheduled as category B in the district plan.

If analysis of information provided with the nomination indicates that the score level is close to scheduling, then individual property owners will be contacted to discuss the next steps in assessment and evaluation.

Nominated buildings are not being made public at this stage to help protect them from any pre-scheduling demolition or other work.

Ends

Note to editors:

Auckland City also received a list of 10,000 properties from a community board member who subsequently declined to provide additional information. Auckland City’s resources will be dedicated to nominations with supporting information.

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