Three years after being earmarked for demolition because of its earthquake risk, Bannockburn's Coronation Hall has been given a reprieve and reopened for business yesterday.
The 103-year-old building was ''red-stickered'' in March 2011 and closed to the public after an engineers' report found there was a very high risk of complete structural failure of all stone walls in a moderate earthquake.
However, a more detailed report completed recently by a different engineering firm assessed the hall as meeting about 80% of the national building standard. A building is deemed to be potentially earthquake prone when it is less than 34% of the standard and the higher percentage it meets, the safer it is deemed to be.
The Central Otago District Council owns the hall but a community group, the Bannockburn Community Centre Management Committee manages the facility, as well as the nearby community-owned church.
''We're absolutely ecstatic to have our hall open again,'' committee chairwoman Kerry Stainton-Herbert said yesterday. The committee heard the news on Thursday night and a party would be organised soon in the venue to celebrate, she said.
Plans to upgrade the hall kitchen and do some repairs to the building sparked the initial engineers' report, as building consent was needed. Since the hall has been closed, the community has debated whether to demolish and rebuild it or whether to strengthen and redevelop it. Rebuilding was estimated to cost about $1.3 million, while strengthening would cost about half that.
The committee had raised about $8000 in the past year for the project and would be considering its plans for the building again, in the light of the latest report, Mrs Stainton-Herbert said. District councillor Nigel McKinlay, of Bannockburn, was also thrilled at the news.
''Now they have reopened the hall, the community can control its own destiny again. The hall is very much the heart of Bannockburn and it's a growing community,'' Mr McKinlay said.
The Cromwell Community Board had pledged $192,000 towards the redevelopment of the building and would also be ''revisiting'' that decision, council properties and facilities manager Mike Kerr said. The hall stage needed repair work and that area would remain out of bounds until that had been done. Mr Kerr said he was ''naturally surprised'' at the difference between the two engineering reports but was confident it was safe to reopen the building.
''At the time when we got the initial report which said it was an unsafe building, it was signed by two engineers and peer-reviewed so we had no reason not to act on that, taking into account public safety, and had no option other than to close the hall.''
Mrs Stainton-Herbert received a call this week from someone wanting to book the hall for a wedding reception in February.
''I'll be able to phone them back now and tell them they can book it after all.''
