Council keen to save old Museum Stand at Basin
An earthquake-prone stand at Wellington’s premier cricket ground will be saved from the wrecking ball.
After years of debate, Wellington City Council is proposing to save the Museum Stand at the Basin Reserve and re-open it by 2020.
The heritage-listed stand closed to spectators in 2012 after being found to reach just 23 per cent of new building standards. Anything under 34 per cent is considered quake-prone.
Next week Wellington City Council will debate the proposal to save, refurbish and strengthen the 93 year-old structure, which also houses the New Zealand Cricket Museum.
Three proposals have been prepared for councillors’ consideration. They range in cost from $7.4 million to $11m, and all would enable the stand to reopen.
The option favoured by council staff is to spend $7.7m on bringing the Museum Stand up to 50 per cent of code.
The money would come from funding already earmarked for developing the Basin Reserve, meaning no rates hike would be needed.
If the option goes ahead, the expected cost to Wellington ratepayers will be $6.7m, with the Basin Reserve Trust contributing the remaining $1m.
The stand’s roof is the main area of concern in the event of an earthquake.
The council’s upgrade options propose to strengthen the roof structure to 100 per cent of code.
Councillors look likely to give the proposal the green light, clearing the way for construction to begin at the conclusion of the next home cricket season in late March.
Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months, meaning the stand could be open again by 2020.
Last year, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said his preference was to bulldoze the stand, which seats about 1000 people.
Yesterday, he said his opinion changed after new information came to light.
Initially, it was thought the building would be ‘‘terminal’’ because of the nature of the concrete and construction. It was previously estimated to have a 15-year lifespan, even with strengthening, which was not worth spending millions on.
But a second peer-reviewed engineering report revealed its lifespan was ‘‘much more promising’’ and strengthening it would give it another 50 years.
Cricket Wellington chief executive Cam Mitchell said the decision was great for cricket and for the city.
‘‘We are driven to maintain this as a premier cricket ground.’’
‘‘We are driven to maintain this as a premier cricket ground.’’