Last-ditch bid to save derelict eyesore
A group fighting to keep the Gordon Wilson Flats from being demolished, despite the building having sat empty for years, has come up a bold new plan – one that includes a cable car.
The Architectural Centre – a group that successfully appealed to the Environment Court to keep the building on the heritage list in 2017 – shared its vision for the site, including the neighbouring McLean Flats, in an open letter to Housing Minister Chris Bishop.
The letter outlines a “robust, contemporary rationale for the retention and refurbishment” of the building, to be used for housing. The plan includes a cable car to the Kelburn campus, refurbishing and keeping the 150-bedroom flats, landscaping the site, and adding a new timber office building.
“In summary, this building can be modified for contemporary needs, facilitates a good standard of living, is efficient in form and compatible with passive design that is worth celebrating and recovering for the future residents of Wellington City.”
Reusing the concrete apartment building would be much more sustainable, the letter said, and it would be “environmentally negligent” to demolish a sound building.
“We’ve had a long history of campaigning and trying to retain the building. And obviously it’s a critical time now with the housing minister making a call on whether to delist the heritage of the building,” Architectural Centre president Paul Harvey said.
Bishop is expected to make his decision on the Wellington City Council’s district plan, including higher building height limits and removing 10 sites – including the Gordon Wilson Flats – from the heritage schedule, by the end of the month.
Harvey said the group deliberately steered clear of the question of the building’s architectural value and heritage in the letter, because those topics could be “quite divisive”. Instead they chose to put forward a design that lined up with the university’s previous intention to build a gateway to the campus.
“Considering the expense of demolition and rebuilding, and factoring in the current price of new construction materials around the world, we think it will be economically favourable,” he said.
Victoria University of Wellington, the owner of the building, sent out a letter to nearby residents earlier in the month. In the letter chief operating officer Tina Wakefield commended the council on its decision to delist the Gordon Wilson Flats.
“[The council’s] recent recommendation opens up exciting opportunities to look at a range of options to redevelop the site at 320 The Terrace for the benefit of our students, staff and the people of Wellington as a whole.”
But because of the university’s financial woes, those options will look different to the flashy gateway to the university announced in 2020.
“We are considering all options for the site, including its potential to house purpose-built student accommodation, something that was not feasible while the flats were heritage-listed and had to be retained,” Wakefield wrote in the letter.
In a statement yesterday, she said the open letter from the Architectural Centre would be considered as part of the options analysis process. “We have taken on board positive comments about the potential for student accommodation on the site, and this is one of the options we are considering while we await the minister’s decision.”
Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul said it would be a “total mistake” if the university built anything other than affordable student housing. “I’m stoked to see that option back on the drawing board. We don’t need any more research institutes or teaching facilities, we need affordable student housing.”
While she could understand there were environmental concerns with using new building materials rather than reusing existing buildings, the student housing situation was “dire enough that we just need to get on with it”. Reusing the existing building was likely to be slower and more costly than starting afresh, she believed.
Local councillor Geordie Rogers said it was good to see the university reconsidering its options, and showed the impact of the council’s District Plan decision. “Victoria University is looking at student accommodation, that’s exactly what we’re asking for.
“The minister hasn’t even made his announcement, and people are already looking at it and saying: ‘We’re ready to go’.”
“We don’t need any more research institutes or teaching facilities, we need affordable student housing.”
Tamatha Paul, Wellington Central MP