Dunedin should have a cricket field big enough to host major tests from next year, after a compromise was hammered out between the Dunedin City Council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
The compromise means the trust will support the council's resource consent application to demolish part of the protected historic former art gallery at Logan Park, as long as the council places a binding covenant on its title ensuring the remainder of the building stays put.
The $5 million project, with resource consent to be lodged next week, would allow the University Oval to be expanded to allow for an outfield about the size of Wellington's Basin Reserve.
The agreement would also mean the Sargood Wing, at the Caledonian end of the building, now the home of the New Zealand Academy of Sport (South Island), would make way for an outdoor seating area.
The academy and the Highlanders rugby team, which also uses the building, are expected to move, with the Forsyth Barr Stadium being proposed as their new base.
While the organisations involved lauded the plan as the best way forward, Dunedin historian Peter Entwisle said yesterday it was "remarkable" the trust had agreed to the partial demolition of a category 1 historic building.
"It's like saying the Great Pyramid of Giza is an important building, but we don't need one corner."
The consent application follows extensive negotiations between the council and the trust.
The Sargood Bequest and descendants of the Sargood family have also backed the plan.
The former art gallery was built for the 1925 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, and is thought to be the only surviving in-situ building from any of the exhibitions in New Zealand.
It is a registered historic building, and recognised on the council's district plan.
Two of the building's bays were removed in 2001 to expand the University Oval.
The plan to apply for resource consent was announced at a press conference yesterday, presented by representatives of both the council and the trust.
Cr Paul Hudson said that following a "long, slow, drawn out process", the historic places trust supported the proposal.
Trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham said the loss of any part of the building was an important matter for the trust, but so was ensuring options for its survival and ongoing use.
"While the full retention of this iconic Dunedin landmark would have been the ideal outcome, this is a practical and pragmatic decision made with the council that opens the way for the continued use of the building as part of the wider community," he said.
The Sargood Wing, a later addition, would be mostly demolished, with some or all of the walls kept to provide a sheltered area that could be used for events associated with cricket, or for weddings and other events.
A conservation architect said saving the original building was more important than retaining the Sargood Wing, council community life general manager Graeme Hall said.
A decision on the consent was expected in August, with demolition next year.
The $5 million for the project is allowed for in the annual plan.
