Waiora CBD new name for old building

The old Farmers building has been renamed Waiora CBD but not without a fight.

Renaming the former department store sparked heated discussion at this week’s board meeting, with the name Dame Hilda Ross touted as an option.

The DHB is refurbishing the large office block on the corner of Alexandra and Collingwood streets, but the refit has been marred by delays and budget blowouts.

Material provided under the Official Information Act in September showed the budget was revised from $7.7 million to $14.7m.

Waiora Central was the original name proposal for the site, still referred to as the old Farmers building.

But not everyone liked it. ‘‘Around the name Waiora – and I don’t mean any disrespect – Waiora Central sounds kind of like a train station,’’ board member Martin Gallagher said. ‘‘I think, tragically, many people will still call it the old Farmers building.’’

The board also received a formal request from the Toti Trust to name the building after Dame Hilda Ross.

But a now-demolished Hilda Ross House, formerly on the hospital campus, and a Ryman resthome named after the dame meant any more facilities named after her could cause confusion.

Gallagher said if the DHB didn’t name the site Hilda Ross, her legacy should be honoured some other way.

‘‘I am generally worried that Dame Hilda Ross, in terms of what she meant for health and advocacy in her work – in an era gone, is lost from the history of this health board.’’

The building project will see 800 staff relocated to the central city, with staff originally forecast to make the move at the end of 2017. Now, the first lot of staff are expected to move at the end of this year. It will house Population Health, Healthshare, some mental health services, and diabetes services, among others.

Dave Macpherson agreed Waiora Central sounded like a railway station. The DHB should have honoured the memory of Hilda Ross when the hospital’s Hilda Ross House was torn down, Macpherson said, rather than waiting for it to be pitted against another name.

‘‘It’s an unfortunate competition. I don’t think any of the suggestions here are going to gain credence with the general public to be honest.

‘‘Calling a former department store downtown [Waiora], trying to attribute a Ma¯ ori name to it doesn’t ring right for me.’’

The DHB consulted kaumatua, who wanted to see the building named in alignment with the Waiora Waikato campus – generally referred to as Waikato Hospital. They said the area had great significance and the name ‘‘waiora’’ – which means health and soundness – carries mana.

Te Ao Katoa of Nga¯ ti Koura is said to have performed one of the last ancient rituals there during his visit to Kirikiriroa with King Ta¯ whiao in 1881, when he removed tapu from the hill, now home to the Wintec city campus.

Tania Hodges didn’t have a problem with the former store being called Waiora.

‘‘[Dame Hilda Ross] was fortunate enough to have a building named after her,’’ Hodges said.

‘‘But there would be a heap of a lot of other people I could probably come up with and another dozen other names who we haven’t recognised.’’

Waiora CBD – rather than Waiora Central – was agreed upon by the board, opposed only by Macpherson.