Council votes to demolish tower
Gore’s water tower will be demolished, after a report from a structural engineer said falling concrete from the tower was a significant potential risk to anyone in the close vicinity.
The report says the tower, on Hilbre Ave, does not present any significant hazard of immediate collapse, but the Gore District Council has imposed an exclusion zone and installed warning signs at the site.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, councillors voted to spend an estimated $500,000 to demolish the tower. They also voted to construct a new pump station, which was estimated to cost $200,000.
The pumps that are in the bottom of the tower would be relocated to the new pump building.
Council Three Waters manager Matt Bayliss said the tower was no longer in use, and demolition of it sooner rather than later seemed to be the only logical option.
However, councillors Neville Phillips, Stewart McDonnell and John Gardyne raised questions about the costs, saying they believed the new pump station would cost more than had been estimated.
Bayliss said the estimates were based on a preliminary design, and it would be possible for the new building to be designed in-house to save costs.
The new pump building would be soundproofed so that neighbouring residents would not hear the pumps operating.
The report from Beca suggested that the council could retain the tower, but recommended
annual visual inspections and maintenance, including the removal of any loose or spalling concrete and scrubbing back and treatment of the corroding
reinforcing steel.
Council chief financial officer Lornae Straith said the Three Waters team had done a cost analysis, and believed it would be cheaper to demolish the tower.
Councillors voted to demolish the tower, but councillors Phillips and Gardyne voted against the motion.
Bayliss’s report says the existing Hilbre Ave reservoir has previously been identified as being in poor condition, and was programmed for replacement in the 2022-23 financial year of the council’s 2021 long term plan.
Before the reservoir can be replaced, the Gore water treatment plant interconnecting pipeline project (including a crossing over the Mataura River) must be constructed.
As a result of the March 2022 Environment Court decision regarding the Longford Shared Bridge, it is now expected that the Hilbre Ave reservoir will not be replaced prior to the Government’s proposed Three Waters reform transition date of July 1, 2024.