Lack of funds puts cathedral on hold
Work to earthquake strengthen New Zealand’s oldest stone church has been put on hold with rising costs leading to an $8.4 million funding shortfall.
Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary/ Mere Tapu is listed as a category 1 heritage building and was closed in 2016 for earthquake strengthening.
Early estimates in 2019 put the cost at fixing the building at $10m.
By last year, that had escalated to $16m and last month the cost had increased again to $21.4m, operations manager Frances Brown said last week. She said since 2023, two thirds of subcontractors had put up their prices because of inflation.
“One critical contractor increased their price by $700,000,” Brown said.
A press release about the pause said funds to complete the project were being sought. Should the money be found it was hoped work would begin within the next 24 months, subject to contractor availability.
Other projects in Taranaki have also been hit by the increase in construction costs during the past two or three years.
The proposed $200m Mt Messenger bypass has gone up $80m since it was first announced and phase two of the Taranaki Base Hospital rebuild increased by $100m.
The total cathedral project is now estimated to cost $28.8m and included building Te Whare Hononga, renovating the vicarage, exhibition costs, professional fees, consents, the strengthening test and strengthening of the cathedral.
Moving and upgrading the vicarage for Te Manu Hononga: Sir Paul Reeves Centre, and creating Te Whare Hononga had been completed, at a total cost of $7,014,650.
Despite initially proposing to prioritise the cathedral strengthening, in 2021, the Taranaki Anglican Trust Board was able to begin the project by renovating the vicarage and building Te Whare Hononga because it received funding for their completion. At the time there were insufficient funds to strengthen the cathedral, Brown said.
While the organ has been repaired, the only work done on the cathedral has been a strengthening test of the southern wall at a cost $700,000, with the total cost expected to be $1.1m.
Specialised grout was pumped into a section of the central cavity of the southern wall and steel pins were drilled into the wall. The trial was a success, cathedral precentor Rev Dan Lander said. “One section of the wall is finished. The good news is it went really well.”
The strengthening work was originally due to start in 2019 with services expected to resume in the cathedral by the end of 2020.
Built in 1846, Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary is New Zealand’s oldest stone church.
In a press release about the stalled project, Taranaki Cathedral Dean Jay Ruka said St Mary’s church and Te Whare Hononga together provided a unique educational opportunity for peace and reconciliation in Taranaki: “Reconciliation is not a destination. It is a long journey of shared experiences. A remediated cathedral will be an overflow of a remediated relationship with iwi Māori.”
Taranaki Cathedral has received funds from various sources over the years for the project, including the Anglican church, MBIE Kānoa, Toi Foundation, New Plymouth District Council, Lotteries and Heritage New Zealand, the George Mason Trust, and the wider Taranaki community.