Council’s HQ faces roof, crowding issues
The Waimate District Council is juggling overcrowding, a dodgy roof and asbestos issues at its headquarters.
A long overdue $8000 seismic and structural report on the building in Queen St reveals its tiled roof is at risk of becoming dislodged or falling during an earthquake.
At the same time, two staff are being temporarily rehoused to the Waimate Event Centre after asbestos was found in part of a ceiling and council has also leased extra office space for up to eight staff as it tries to deal with overcrowded work spaces in the building.
The building’s roof is constructed of concrete tiles, fixed in place by hooking the lip of each tile over a timber batten, that collectively weigh 56 tonnes.
The council’s chief executive Stuart Duncan would not provide The Timaru Herald with the engineers’ report, but quoted from it: ‘‘As part of our assessment we note that the existing roof tiles are not attached to the roof structure and so may become dislodged or fall from the roof during an earthquake event.
‘‘No reduction in the reported seismic rating has been made due to this risk as the roof has a shallow pitch and so the risk to life during an event is thought to be low.
‘‘To further mitigate this risk, canopies could also be added to the building’s other exits; it should be noted that due to the unsecured roof tiles the weather tightness of the building could be seriously affected following a large earthquake event.’’
Duncan said the report stated the council building’s earthquake rating was 60 per cent of the new building standard ‘‘and would increase to 75 per cent if the tile roof was replaced with long run iron’’.
‘‘This report is primarily to test the safety of the occupants in the building with the safety assessed against the status of the building with respect to earthquake proneness . . .’’
Duncan said a third party, perhaps an architect, would now be engaged in terms of the possible options.
‘‘I really don’t know what happens next. We now know the roof is too heavy and leaks. It’s now about how we can capitalise on the roof replacement project. Duncan also confirmed the two relocated staff would be at the Event Centre until Christmas. Recent tests had identified asbestos in a section of the ceiling.
‘‘In the next couple of weeks we have people coming in to work on it over a three week period.’’
Duncan also confirmed that up to eight staff will be shifting in midJanuary to a former veterinary clinic on Gorge Rd which council had leased for two years. ‘‘Council will now continue to assess all options for the library refurbishment and local government centre improvements.’’
A long list of concerns about the building were contained in an April 2018 report. It was revealed a planned $1.5 million extension to Waimate’s library (housed in the council headquarters) had morphed into a redevelopment proposal taking in the district council’s offices and chambers, as concerns had been raised about the building’s condition
The extension plan has been on the council’s books for 18 years.
The council has proposed an ‘‘extension’’ for 2020-21 as a more far-reaching ‘‘redevelopment’’.