Sometimes, it seems that demolitions have a more vivid place in people’s memories than do heritage conservation success stories. Everyone remembers Aniwaniwa.
Today, government policy and legislation are providing huge challenges for heritage. The National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 encourages urban intensification, with little regard for heritage value, and the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 supports its implementation.
In addition, seismic strengthening deadlines introduced with amendments to the Building Act in 2016 are almost upon us. The first of these is 1 July 2027, as territorial authorities in high-risk seismic areas were to have identified potentially earthquake-prone buildings in “priority” categories (according to building type, construction technology, use and location) by 1 January 2020, with owners then having 7.5 years to undertake the remediation work. The required work is expensive for most owners, prohibitively so for many, and there is little public funding for it. Without remediation, a building, or a part of a building, effectively becomes ‘red stickered’. Buildings in smaller towns where rental incomes are lower are particularly at risk.
The bigger picture, however, is that climate change is also upon us and, as American architect Carl Elefante wrote in 2007, “The greenest building… is the one that is already built”. Retention of existing buildings makes best use of their embodied energy and is consistent with the reduce/reuse/recycle ethos. Retention of heritage buildings is further important because they are valued by communities and individuals; they contribute to place, memory and people’s sense of identity.
