Hotel gains $300k for seismic upgrade
A project to strengthen Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has received a $300,000 cash injection from the Government.
The owners of the building have received a grant from the Heritage Equip fund, which will help them to carry out the work required for seismic strengthening.
Owner Ping Lim said the Grosvenor, which is listed with Heritage New Zealand as a category two building, needed significant investment to get it to the minimum standard of 34 per cent of the new building standard (NBS).
Buildings under 34 per cent of NBS are deemed earthquake prone under the Building Act and are required to be strengthened.
‘‘We will endeavour to keep the disruption to a minimum, and that the hotel will carry on as per normal,’’ Lim said.
‘‘The first phase will take a year. The whole strengthening process will take over a decade. We will phase out the development stages to ensure that the project is financially viable and sustainable.’’
The Grosvenor is a three-storey building with a cellar.
It was designed by architect James S Turnbull and built in 1915 of brick and stone with cement and plaster by the Shillito Brothers.
After hosting the Queen and Prince Philip at a luncheon during the 1954 state visit the hotel was nicknamed The Lady of the South.
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Grant Robertson said the grants were available to regional building owners faced with lower rental income and a shortage of locally available professional advice.
‘‘The funding will go towards the strengthening of the masonry parapet and walls. It recognises the importance of the building to the central city landscape,’’ he said.
Lim said it would cost several million dollars to bring the building up to the required NBS.
‘‘We are thankful that there is a bunch of local tradies, consultants, Government and local authority officials that are working closely with us to ensure that the money is to be used wisely,’’ Lim said.
‘‘Heritage Equip has a hands-off approach to enable us to work through the issues ourselves rather than having to be micro-managed by the ‘big brother’,’’ he said.
‘‘Yes, the process is tedious and precise but it needs to be that way. We are talking about enhancing the safety of a historical building and preserving a piece of local heritage for future generations.’’