Building new cheaper than a quake refit
It will cost almost $200 million to earthquake-strengthen Wellington’s central library, up to $67m more than building a new library from scratch.
Wellington City Council released details of an engineers’ report into the earthquake-prone building yesterday, revealing a range of options for restoring the central city facility that closed in March last year.
Among them are three strengthening options ranging in cost from $90.8m to $199.8m.
The latter would involve a full building services upgrade, including base isolators, internal reconfiguration, and better connection to the Civic Square precinct.
Construction would begin about mid-2022, with the building to open around February 2026.
A ‘‘mid-range’’ strengthening option was also provided, with a projected cost of $151.8m.
But the report also revealed that demolishing the existing library and constructing a new one of the same size would cost just $133m – making that option $67m cheaper than a potential redevelopment.
Constructing a new library using the whole building in which it is situated – including the third and fourth floors, which are currently occupied by office space – would cost $160m.
No timeframe was given in the report for new builds but Wellington mayor Andy Foster said during an online media briefing that it would take about one or two years longer than a redevelopment.
When asked if he had a preference, Foster said he was looking forward to hearing the views of Wellingtonians.
However, the council’s officers had ‘‘clearly given us advice we need to go with a high-resilience option’’.
The project would be funded through borrowing, adding to the council’s cost pressures in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
‘‘This is a major decision,’’ Foster said. ‘‘All of the options are very costly. They are basically ‘large’ and ‘larger’.’’
However, the building would have a very long lifespan and the cost would be paid back over a long period of time.
In a statement, Foster said the council wanted a resilient, modern and exciting library.
‘‘This is a huge opportunity to move our central library services from the 1980s into the future. Many of us have seen how modern libraries like
Christchurch’s Tu¯ ranga and our own Johnsonville Library in Waitohi are engaging and connecting people to both the collections and [to] learning in new ways.’’
City councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who holds the capital’s libraries portfolio, said the current building was no longer suitable for a 21st-century library.
‘‘The central library is a precious public space where everyone is welcome,’’ she said. ‘‘Residents are really missing it – we need to get is open as soon as possible.’’
The proposals will be considered by councillors on Wednesday before going out for public feedback in June.