Coronation Hall in Bannockburn likely to be demolished
because of its earthquake risk. Photo by Lynda Van Kempen.
The Bannockburn community wants a new hall built as soon
as possible to replace the 99-year-old Coronation Hall, which
has been closed because of the high risk of it collapsing in an
earthquake.
Fifty-six residents attended a meeting this week to gauge
support for the rebuild and asked for the matter to be
"treated with urgency" by the Cromwell Community Board. The
community relied heavily on the facility, and it was used
daily by community groups, hall committee member Sue McNamara
said.
The Cromwell Community Board has already agreed to rebuild
the hall and the next stage of proceedings will be to
consider cost estimates for the work, board chairman Neil
Gillespie said.
The hall is owned by the Central Otago District Council and
it was closed earlier this month after an engineer's report,
done because of plans to extend the facility, revealed there
was a "very high risk of complete structural failure of all
stone walls" during a moderate earthquake.
The front parapets over the entrance were also likely to
break and there was an unacceptable risk of multiple death or
serious injury, the engineer's report said.
"The meeting this week was a chance for the community to
raise any questions it had and for us to get feedback," Mr
Gillespie said.
"There were some questions about whether we'd been too hasty
in saying the building would need to be demolished, but we
explained there was no other option available to us, really.
It's a matter of risks and liability."
The intention was for the design of the new building to be a
replica of the old one, with the planned addition included.
"We're conscious of the heritage values of the existing
building and the new one will be in keeping with that." He
did not want to speculate on the cost of the new hall or how
it would be funded.
"First we have to get a design finalised and then look at
estimates. At this stage we don't know what the funding
requirement is."
Mrs McNamara said it was a positive meeting and residents
understood there was no other choice but to demolish and
rebuild the hall.
"There was overwhelming support at the meeting for the
rebuild and we'll do everything we can to facilitate and
support the planning, funding and building, with the aim of
having it reopened by August 2012," she said.
- lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz
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