Quake risk confined to Reading Cinema

The seismic strength issues at Wellington’s Courtenay Central are confined to just the Reading Cinema levels.

Wellington City Council put out a statement yesterday after meeting Reading Cinemas, which owns the Courtenay Place building, on Wednesday.

The building, which houses a cinema and several other retailers, closed abruptly on Saturday after a draft engineering report discovered a potential risk in parts of the building if an earthquake was to occur.

Council business engagement manager Phil Becker said Reading’s engineers identified ‘‘several discrete areas on the cinema levels of the building that may perform at an unacceptable level during a major earthquake’’.

As the areas of concern were contained wholly within the building, engineers have confirmed there was no increased risk to neighbouring properties or people in Courtenay Place, the council said.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester’s office confirmed businesses on the ground floor of the building had to remain closed because, although they were not on the problematic third floor, they were beneath the questionable structures.

Reading had instructed engineers to do further investigations to better understand the draft findings that led to the closure.

Reading did the right thing by putting occupant safety first and closing the complex once it became aware of the engineers’ findings, Lester said.

‘‘I am happy there are no risks to pedestrians on Courtenay Place. Hopefully a satisfactory engineering solution can be found quickly and the cinema can be reopened.’’