But the city council has no plans to upgrade the toilets at the mall.
An earthquake-damaged former Plunket building is being demolished by the city council, but one business owner thinks the building should be revamped as a toilet facility.
My Mens Store Bishopdale owner Barry Souter said the former Plunket building would have been a great spot for a ladies toilet and family room.
“It would be easy to bring it up to earthquake standards,” Mr Souter said.
The sign on the fences surrounding the building say it is surplus to city council requirements.
Said Mr Souter: “They may be surplus to the council requirements, but they are not surplus to the needs Bishopdale and the users of the mall.
“If you’re going to run a shopping centre, you had better have good, clean toilets. But at the moment, they just aren’t adequate.
“It’s a permanent issue in Bishopdale, these are the things that stop people going.”
The city council has been making improvements to the Bishopdale area, but Mr Souter said there is still more to be done to bring people back to the mall.
“If [the city council] was really genuine about it, they would make toilets a priority, because that’s what brings people to a mall,” he said.
City council head of community support, governance and partnerships John Filsell said the Plunket rooms are not suitable to be refurbished as a toilet block.
Said Mr Filsell: “The Plunket building is to be demolished soon because it is 12 per cent of building code, unreinforced concrete block.
“There are currently no plans to upgrade the toilets at Bishopdale Mall. The toilets will be part of our next round of toilet condition assessments and will be prioritised alongside other toilet blocks based on condition.”
