Council approves list of 30 priority facilities

Christchurch City Council has today agreed that 30 facilities across the city and Banks Peninsula should be prioritised for funding, further investigation and, where possible, repairs.

The Council accepted a Community, Recreation and Culture Committee recommendation that 27 facilities should be prioritised for immediate action. However, it also added three more facilities to the list – South New Brighton Community Centre and the Scarborough Jetboat and Lifeboat facilities (Click here to see a list of 30 priority projects, which are not in any particular order http://www.ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/councilfacilities/updateonfacilitiesrebuildplan.aspx#jumplink2)

Council staff were asked to take immediate action and to report back on the status of all the 30 key facilities by December. A draft prioritised programme for the rest of the 1000 non-residential facilities included in the Council’s Facilities Rebuild Plan project was also approved. This programme will now be circulated to community boards for their input and a finalised programme will be presented to the Council later this year.

Now that the Council has approved the list of top 30 facilities, work will continue as a priority to understand more about them, such as the type of repairs and earthquake strengthening needed, the cost of this work and how much of this will be covered by insurance. It is expected that repairs will get underway on some of the priority facilities this year.

Community Recreation and Culture Committee Chairman Yani Johanson says the list of 30 significant projects will give Christchurch and Banks Peninsula residents a clear signal that the Council is committed to re-opening key community facilities.

"There has already been a huge focus on our Central City facilities but it’s important that our community sees we are making progress on the community facilities that are important to them, including swimming pools, libraries, service centres, community halls and housing. Identifying a number of key community projects will help to give the public visibility on the progress being made and challenge us as an organisation to get things happening in a timely manner.”

Council General Manager Community Services Michael Aitken says work will also be continuing on the facilities that are not part of the significant 30 list.

“Residents can be assured that we will be continuing to progress work on all our facilities. We’ll be carrying on with engineering assessments, progressing insurance discussions and looking at repair and strengthening options. We expect to be able to also get on with repairs on a number of these buildings by the end of this year.”

The proposed list of 30 ‘significant projects’ includes a range of facilities across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula that are currently closed. Some were closed following the earthquakes while the Council has closed others after receiving Detailed Engineering Evaluation (DEE) assessments which shows they are below 34 percent of the New Building Standard (NBS).

They were selected based on a criteria that considered a number of factors, including the impact the building’s closure is having on the community.

At today’s meeting, he Council also received a monthly progress report on the Facilities Rebuild Plan project and its Detailed Engineering Evaluation programme. The report included a prioritised programme for the remainder of the Detailed Engineering Evaluation (DEE) assessments that will be carried out on social housing facilities over the coming year. Read the report here: http://www1.ccc.govt.nz/council/proceedings/2012/september/cnclcover27th/clause4.pdf

Background

The future of a number of Council-owned facilities has already been outlined in the Council's Annual Plan 2012/13. The future of the facilities in the Central City will be dependent on the final outcome of the Central City Development Unit's Blueprint. The Council is continuing to work with the Council regarding the Blueprint:

These are:
Christchurch Town Hall
Convention Centre
Christchurch Art Gallery
Former AMI Stadium
Central City Multi-Sport facility and QEII facilities
Centennial Pool
Central Library
Lichfield Street Carpark
Manchester Street Carpark
Sockburn Service Centre

The Council has already approved repairs to a number of other facilities. Repairs and earthquake strengthening to 100 percent of the New Building Standard (NBS) have been completed on Fendalton Library and Service Centre and Cowles Stadium. Repairs are underway on Curator’s House, Poseidon Café in Sumner, Linwood Community Arts Centre, Youth Hostel Association Hostel in Worcester Boulevard and Avebury House in Richmond. Repairs have also been approved for Victoria Clock Tower (Jubilee Clock) and Edmonds Clock Tower.