Museum safe to open - architect

The closure of Southland Museum and Art Gallery was based on incorrect assumptions, and the facility should reopen to the public according to an Invercargill architect.

Public interest in the fate of the museum was apparent at yesterday’s meeting of the Invercargill City Council, with extra chairs required to cater for the overflowing public gallery. Several people were still required to stand.

It was announced earlier this month that the museum was an earthquake risk. It was closed and at least 25 of the museum’s 41 staff face losing their job.

Architect Bob Simpson addressed the public forum of the meeting and called on chief executive Clare Hadley to reverse the decision to close the museum, suggesting the museum could reopen as soon as Monday, April 30.

In Hadley’s report, presented to the April 9 extraordinary meeting of council that moved to close the facility, it says: ‘‘The recommended decisions would be easily reversible should different information come to pass’’.

‘‘I like that, so I’m going to provide some information,’’ Simpson said.

The museum was closed after a 2013 seismic assessment by engineering consultants Opus and a subsequent peer review by structural engineer Win Clark.

The underlying assumptions Opus used to make their initial assessment had flaws, Simpson said.

‘‘An auger has tested the ground and it proves ... that the ground conditions aren’t what the Opus report proposes, our view is that if you look at the occupancy codes for the building they aren’t correct either.

‘‘If you put those two facts together into the equation the building goes from 30 per cent roughly to 50 per cent [strength], and that’s a simple five-minute calculation.’’

He noted the inherent stability of a pyramid structure, and said the older buildings contained within were all constructed in line with earthquake codes that were implemented after the 1931 Napier earthquake. The museum complex incorporates buildings constructed in 1940, 1959 and 1960, with the pyramid roof structure added in 1988.

Simpson was unable to fully complete his presentation because of time constraints. Meeting procedures say the mayor may choose to extend this time limit at their discretion, but Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt did not exercise this power.

Cr Darren Ludlow asked how the older buildings would ‘‘work together or against each other in an earthquake’’.

The lighter construction of the buildings helped to mitigate the risks, Simpson said.

Cr Ian Pottinger asked for clarification of whether Simpson saw the older buildings to be earthquake prone.

‘‘There is some inappropriate language around about earthquakes, some people say things are earthquake safe. Well nothing’s bloody earthquake safe, it depends on the size of the earthquake and the characteristics of it.’’