Members of the not-for-profit community group will apply to have the building listed in Ashburton District Council’s District Plan Heritage Schedule, which is reviewed every 10 years.
The review is pending as the last one was formally adopted by the district council in 2014.
Gilkison said the group would be putting forward Balmoral Hall when the district council called for nominations of potential heritage buildings as part of that plan.
"But it takes at least another two to three years before they work through that and get it adopted. Balmoral Hall will likely be demolished before then," Gilkison said.
He said Ashburton has lost many heritage buildings in recent times, including the district council-owned Cavendish Chambers late last year and the privately-owned Ashburton railway station in 2013.
"It’s disappointing that what little heritage we have left that’s owned by the council, that seems to get tossed on to the pile," he said.
Balmoral Hall was built as an assembly hall for the former Ashburton Technical College.
It is used for a wide range of purposes, including meetings and dance lessons.
A recent rally cry from dancers to get ratepayers to submit to the district council’s Long Term Plan in support of the hall failed to attract enough support.
Of 1266 who responded to a question of what to do with the hall and its neighbouring polytech land, 57 per cent said to sell both sites.
Only 24 per cent chose for the hall and polytech site to be retained and repaired, and eight per cent chose a none-of-the-above option, reflecting a theme of retaining the hall but selling the polytech site to help finance upgrading the hall.
