https://wellington.gen.nz/harcourts-building http://ionapannett.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post.html Great news today that the Environment Court has for the second time said no to demolishing the Harcourts building on Lambton Quay. The decision just made public essentially has vindicated the Council position: that our District Plan sets a high bar for demolishing heritage buildings and that in this case, the bar was not reached. Interestingly, the Court also found no fundamental conflict between the operation of the Building and Resource Management Acts and found that leaving the building standing would not fundamentally compromise public safety. harcourts-building earthquake-strengthening election-2013-candidates local-body-elections Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://ionapannett.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post.html Iona Pannett 2014-11-01T00:00:00Z -41.2845319 174.7756861 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6012, New Zealand/Aotearoa http://eyeofthefish.org/dunajtschik-demolition-a-done-deal/ News just in via the Stuff website that Mark Dunajtschik has won his appeal in the High Court against the Environment Court. But it does not mean that Mr D has the right to go out and demolish the building straight away – instead, a rehearing has been ordered. This legal stuff is exhausting, and expensive. With the amount that Mr D has spent on the legal costs so far, you might think that he could quite easily have just strengthened the building instead. harcourts-building heritagebuildings earthquake-strengthening localhistory architecture blogs Fri, 02 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://eyeofthefish.org/dunajtschik-demolition-a-done-deal/ Eye of the Fish 2014-05-02T00:00:00Z -41.2845319 174.7756861 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6012, New Zealand/Aotearoa http://eyeofthefish.org/harcourts-decision/ For those that are interested, the following is the text of the final paragraphs of the decision on the Harcourts building: (302) In the end, for the reasons we have outlined, we have concluded that the demolition of the Harcourts building would not constitute sustainable management of an important physical resource, namely a heritage building [...] harcourts-building earthquake-strengthening architecture blogs Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://eyeofthefish.org/harcourts-decision/ Eye of the Fish 2013-02-26T00:00:00Z -41.2845319 174.7756861 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6012, New Zealand/Aotearoa http://eyeofthefish.org/demolition-not-the-answer/ So: the results are out from the Commissioners: Mark Dunajtschik may not demolish the “Harcourts” building. That’s an interesting result – and opposite to that recommended by the Council’s own planning officers – and Mr Dunajtschik is furious. We wrote about it here, and also here, and this decision sets out quite clearly that demolition [...] harcourts-building earthquake-strengthening architecture blogs Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://eyeofthefish.org/demolition-not-the-answer/ Eye of the Fish 2013-02-25T00:00:00Z -41.2845319 174.7756861 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6012, New Zealand/Aotearoa http://eyeofthefish.org/more-dunajtschik/ Regarding the old Temperance and General Building on Lambton Quay – known to next to no-one as the Harcourts building. Submissions on it’s proposed demolition are due in a week – by the end of the month. It is a crunch point for Wellingtonians – should a building owner be allowed to demolish their building [...] heritagebuildings consultation harcourts-building localhistory earthquake-strengthening architecture blogs Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://eyeofthefish.org/more-dunajtschik/ Eye of the Fish 2012-10-22T00:00:00Z -41.28452427913499 174.775661171894 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, Wellington Region, 6012, New Zealand http://eyeofthefish.org/dunajtschik-demolition/ So the time has come at last: the first of a presumed wave of proposals to demolish perfectly good buildings in Wellington. Christchurch has had to put up with a swathe of demolition over the last couple of years, and they are getting so good at destroying everything down there, that they have forgotten that it is not compulsory. Cranmer Courts is their city’s latest disgrace – the Harcourts building is ours. heritagebuildings harcourts-building earthquake-strengthening localhistory architecture blogs Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://eyeofthefish.org/dunajtschik-demolition/ Eye of the Fish 2012-10-02T00:00:00Z -41.28452427913499 174.775661171894 Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, Wellington Region, 6011, New Zealand