Grandstand budget ‘a placeholder, not a goal’
A 97-year-old grandstand needs to be earthquake-proofed, but councillors are frustrated the budget may already be blown.
Rangitīkei District Council deputy mayor Nigel Belsham was careful at the November 24 full council meeting to emphasise their $1 million budget to strengthen the Taihape grandstand was a placeholder, not a goal. ‘‘I’m starting to feel we’ve accepted there is $1m in the budget ... I understand there has to be a cost . . . but we should always be referring back to the fact this was always going to be externally funded,’’ he said.
One organisation they hoped to get funding from was Heritage NZ, but they were yet to be consulted, so councillors had to guess which options may best preserve the building’s heritage. The options ranged from $1.39m to $1.6m.
Mayor Andy Watson, Belsham and councillor Dave Wilson were also careful to note they wanted the options’ estimates to include the full project cost, and not just the construction costs.
It had already cost $110,000 to come up with the four options they were considering. Whichever option they favoured wasn’t a done deal, but would proceed to a detailed design stage.
The options included installing steel beams, timber beams, or strengthening the building from the inside.
The council voted 5-4 in favour of the cheapest option of steel beams, coming in at $1.39m.
Councillor Gill Duncan led the charge on the motion, saying, although she wasn’t against the interior option, she thought beams would best preserve its heritage.
Fellow northern ward councillor, which geographically included Taihape, Cr Angus Gordon, spoke against the option. He preferred to keep extra steel out of the wooden grandstand, and instead line the interior with plywood. It would cost $1.41m.
The third northern ward councillor, Tracey Hiroa, also supported the internal option.
The list of options, compiled by the council with engineer and architect input, noted a layer of plywood could hide water damage.
Previous council reports said the concrete in the changing room had cracked so would not be waterproof.
There was an option to reinforce the building with timber in the same way the steel option would, for an extra $10,000, but it was not discussed before elected members voted in favour of progressing the steel beam option.