Minutes of an extraordinary meeting of the Nelson City Council
Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson
On Thursday 16 July 2015, commencing at 11.04am
Present: Her Worship the Mayor R Reese (Chairperson), Councillors L Acland, I Barker, M Lawrey, B McGurk, G Noonan, T Skinner, and M Ward
In Attendance: Chief Executive (C Hadley), Group Manager Community Services (C Ward), Group Manager Corporate Services (N Harrison), Acting Group Manager Infrastructure (S Davies), Manager Communications (P Shattock), Manager Administration (P Langley), Administration Adviser (S McLean), and Consulting Engineer (R Kirby)
Apologies: Deputy Mayor P Matheson and Councillors R Copeland, E Davy, K Fulton, and P Rainey
1. Opening Prayer
Councillor Noonan gave the opening prayer.
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Resolved CL/2015/010 THAT apologies be received and accepted from Deputy Mayor Matheson and Councillors Copeland, Davy, Fulton, and Rainey |
3. Confirmation of Order of Business
Her Worship the Mayor advised of one minor late item which had been tabled (M1360), regarding the Trafalgar Centre – Geotechnical Assessments, Structural Implications and Costings. She said the public forum section of the agenda was missing in error.
There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.
5. Public Forum
5.1 Kerry Neal and Ian Hatton
Mr Neal tabled information on the foundations of the Trafalgar Centre (A1387930). He spoke about the need for quality information and highlighted the agreed level of funding for the Trafalgar Centre in the Long Term Plan 2015-25.
Mr Neal provided detail on the piles of the northern building part of the Trafalgar Centre and said he felt it should not have been closed as the integrity of the building had been proven.
Mr Hatton spoke about the design of the existing wooden floor and highlighted that the piles could be adjusted in height.
It was noted that the public forum part of the meeting would be adjourned until after the Trafalgar Centre item.
6. Trafalgar Centre - Geotechnical Assessments, Structural Implications and Costings
Document number R4565, late item memo M1360 refers
Consulting Engineer, Richard Kirby, presented the report.
Mr Kirby emphasised that the second clause under 4.1 of the report, regarding health and safety obligations, was the overall driver of the report and assessments undertaken to date.
Mr Kirby highlighted the involvement of Gibbons Construction and Downer in the development of the estimates within the report.
Mr Kirby pointed out that adding steel to the main building glulam portals may still result in an unusable building after an earthquake, but would allow people to safely exit the Trafalgar Centre. He highlighted the differential deflection that would take place with additional steel and by potential transfer of building loads from the plies to the ground under the Centre.
Mr Kirby said that in light of findings from Arup, the ground remediation works would cost less than previously thought, therefore it had been a good investment by Council.
Mr Kirby highlighted that information previously produced by Tonkin & Taylor was correct and in line with the building code, but had not been linked to a site specific assessment.
Mr Kirby advised that the Arup report was still to be peer reviewed, and would be released to the public once finalised.
Attendance: The meeting adjourned from 11.49am to 11.58am.
In response to questions, Mr Kirby confirmed the existing building braces in the Southern Extension were brittle based on seismic load calculations. He advised the Trafalgar Centre was under 34% of New Building Standards and therefore earthquake prone, which was why Council chose to close the building.
In response to a question, Mr Kirby said that earlier advice on the Trafalgar Centre could have been followed, but aboveground aspects would not have been appropriately addressed.
Attendance: Councillor Acland left the meeting at 12.04pm.
Mr Kirby spoke about involving contractors in design work to minimise risks in costing. He confirmed that work to strengthen the building would bring the Trafalgar Centre up to at least 34% of New Building Standards, with some components being higher than this.
In response to questions, Mr Kirby provided background information on Arup, highlighting they were internationally renowned. He said Holmes Consulting had confirmed the brittleness of the Trafalgar Centre.
Mr Kirby advised that a Quantity Surveyor was involved and helped scope the estimates presented in the report. He said the same Quantity Surveyor would be developing the final priced schedule on the detailed design. He added that Downer and Gibbons Construction would be engaged in pricing the schedules.
In response to questions, Mr Kirby confirmed that a rebuild of the Northern building would include the foyer and bathrooms. He said that any compliance issues in the existing building would need to be addressed in order to obtain consent.
Her Worship the Mayor thanked Mr Kirby, the consultants and contractors for the work undertaken to date on the Trafalgar Centre.
7. Public Forum
7.2 Gaire Thompson
Mr Thompson said he was concerned that a three dimensional programme had not been used to assess the Trafalgar Centre. He raised comparisons to Cowles Stadium in Christchurch which had been earthquake strengthened for approximately $500,000.
Mr Thompson also spoke about the $1.9 million budgeted for an additional road to the Trafalgar Centre. He said he would rather see this money spent on the building itself.
Her Worship the Mayor confirmed that a three dimensional programme had been used by Arup.
There being no further business the meeting ended at 12.32pm.
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings:
Chairperson
Date