Flash new digs for IRD
The Inland Revenue Department will soon begin moving staff into its new Palmerston North office, inside a $25 million building which has just opened.
More than 100 people gathered on Victoria Ave yesterday for a dawn blessing of the building led by Rangita¯ ne kaumatua Wiremu Te Awe Awe and Manu Kawana.
Horizons Regional Council owns the premises through its subsidiary company, MWRC Holdings. As well as Inland Revenue, the building will also host emergency operations centres for the Palmerston North City Council and Horizons.
Inland Revenue deputy commissioner Sharon Thompson said the blessing marked an important return to stability for the department’s 220 Palmerston North employees, who will finish moving in by the end of the month.
‘‘We were at our previous site [on Ashley St] for over 25 years, until we had to leave abruptly in June when the building was found to be earthquake-prone,’’ Thompson said.
Since then, Inland Revenue
The blessing marked a return to stability for the department’s 220 Palmerston North employees.
has worked from temporary sites.
Horizons chairman Bruce Gordon said the new building was the only ‘‘importance level four’’ office in Palmerston North, the second-highest category of earthquake resilience under the Building Code. This was a requirement for buildings that have to remain operational immediately after a disaster, such as hospital operating theatres and emergency shelters.
‘‘The building’s features will [also] include . . . solar-assisted water heating, electric-vehicle charging points, and sophisticated heating and cooling systems.’’
Inland Revenue will take up most of the ground and first floors, and IT company Objective is the second-floor tenant.
The emergency centre on the second floor will be able to operate off the grid for 48 hours after a disaster through its own supply of water and power.