Building evacuated while engineers ‘investigate further’
Workers in a central Wellington office building were told to leave yesterday after it was deemed unsafe to occupy.
Jacqui Hastie, from Wellington City Council’s building resilience team, could not confirm exactly why the building at 79 Boulcott St was being cleared out but said engineers had expressed concerns.
‘‘The building owner’s engineers have been looking at the building and until they have some more information, they’re not confident saying that it’s safe to occupy right now.’’
The building is owned by Brian Galt and his son, Dean. The engineering assessment was requested by their property manager.
‘‘Because the building hasn’t been given a dangerous building notice and is not at imminent risk of collapse, there is no concern for public safety risk,’’ Hastie said.
Occupants were told about 2pm that they had until 4pm to leave.
It is understood engineers working on the building had found ‘‘something’’ and wanted 48 hours to investigate further. An evacuated worker said a crack had been found in the building.
Annabel Young, executive director of the New Zealand Shipping Federation, which is based in the building, said she was aware staff were coming in to address what were thought to be superficial cracks in the property.
They would be out for at least 48 hours while the building was being assessed, she said.
Another worker from the building, who did not want to be named, said staff had been told they would be working from home until further notice.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) chief executive Chris Roberts said there were plans, made months ago, for ‘‘non-earthquakerelated’’ strengthening work to be carried out on the site.
‘‘The last update we had on that was [on Wednesday], when we were told there were no safety concerns with the building and it was safe to occupy. Something has obviously changed since then.’’
Tenants were told that engineers wanted 48 hours to assess the building, he said.
TIA staff were taking precautions and moving a lot of belongings, including documents for Trenz – New Zealand’s biggest annual international tourism showcase next month.