Popular city library to be demolished and rebuilt

One of Christchurch’s busiest suburban libraries will be demolished and rebuilt, but it won’t happen for at least another two years.

Christchurch City Council made the decision yesterday after being told it was cheaper to demolish South Library than to repair it – $24.9 million versus $26.6m to rebuild.

However, the council has only previously budgeted $13.6m for the project and the additional funding has yet to be approved. It will be included in next year’s draft annual plan.

Councillors were also told by staff a rebuild would result in lower carbon emissions than a repair because a new building would be more efficient.

The library and service centre building, which was built in 2003, did not perform well in the 2011 earthquakes, with its foundation sinking between 350 millimetres and 450mm.

Temporary strengthening work was done in 2012, but the building still sits at 34% of the new building standard. If it fell below that it would have to close immediately.

The need for a rebuild surprised councillors and the community. Council head of vertical capital delivery Brent Smith acknowledged it had been a shock and said he would take the criticism ‘‘on the chin’’ and learn from it. He said the community would be consulted on the design.

Councillor Aaron Keown questioned how a building built in 2003 could have performed so badly in the earthquakes, just eight years later.

Structural engineer Helen Trappitt, of consulting engineers Lewis Bradford, said with hindsight it was easy to pick holes in a design, but the original design had a number of deficiencies.

Keown asked if the council had any comeback with the designer, but staff said it was an inhouse city council design.

Trappitt pointed out the building code in 2002 had since gone up by about 40%, so if you designed a building to 100% of the code then, it would now be deemed 60% of code.

She said while there was no immediate risk to life from being inside South Library, a new building would be five to 10 times time safer.

Keown and fellow councillor Yani Johanson wanted the council to ‘‘sweat the asset’’ and squeeze as much life out of the building as possible.

Keown said the council was ‘‘haemorrhaging money’’ and he did not believe it ‘‘sweated its assets enough’’.

He said it was a great facility that was loved by the public and, while parts of the building were uneven, it was nothing people did not already put up with in their own homes.

Johanson said the cost of construction was huge and maybe the council could look at other options for repair.

If funding, designs and consents were approved, the earliest construction would start was in 2024.

The council would consider operating a temporary facility during the closure.

Long-term repairs have been in the pipeline for some time, having first been signed off in 2016. At the time the work was expected to cost $8.6m.

South Library is the third-busiest suburban library, behind Fendalton and Shirley, with 4552 weekly visitors.