Wellington Basin Reserve Grandstand Marked Earthquake Prone
The 88-year-old grandstand at the only historic cricket ground in Wellington has been marked with an 'earthquake prone' warning by the city council.
The Basin Reserve grandstand is now being assessed to find out the extent of work needed to make it safer in the event of an earthquake.
Council spokesman Richard MacLean told Dominion Post said the council is waiting for the official assessment before it decides on how the heritage-listed structure would be brought up to code.
"It's one of the many hundreds of buildings that we have been looking at and the next step is to determine how to carry out any work necessary," Mr. MacLean said.
Councillor John Morrison, a member of the Basin Reserve Trust, said the council expects to arrive at decisions by the end of the week.
"It is being inspected in terms of its earthquake preparedness, but we haven't come up with any conclusive results at this stage... We are certainly on the case and having a close look at it, but it is too early to tell if it's a hopeless cause or not," Mr. Morrison told Dominion Post, adding that anyone can see the Basin Reserve grandstand has been marred by signs of deterioration.
"We have been concerned for some time because it is obviously an old building. It's a bit tired and has a lot of heritage in terms of history, but the bottom line is it has to be safe," said Mr. Morrison.