Simpson: Unnecessary fear sparked by pillar safety suggestion

Invercargill architect Bob Simpson says the information was easy enough to find that goes a long way to proving four key pillars in Invercargill are not earthquake prone.

Four pillars in Dee St which the Invercargill City Council has suggested could potentially be earthquake-prone.

An Invercargill architect believes unnecessary fear has been sparked via suggestions four prominent city pillars might be earthquake-prone.

The Invercargill City Council met recently to discuss what to do with Wachner Place and Lower Esk St in the future.

In all of the options put forward the four nearby pillars on Dee St were earmarked for demolition.

However, that received pushback from some members of the public, including architect Bob Simpson, who wanted the four pillars to remain standing.

When it came to discussing the matter earlier this month Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark said the council had received information that the pillars were potentially under the earthquake-prone level of 34% of the National Building Standards.

If that was to be the case, Clark said the council would have 12.5 years to either strengthen the pillars or demolish them.

But he added the council would need to look at the “moral” and “ethical” matter of not acting given they were sitting on a main arterial road.

“While you can technically say; ‘well, we have 12 and half years to fix it’, it doesn’t sit well morally if people are hurt by pillars that collapse,” Clark said at the time.

Clark said they needed advice on the earthquake-prone status following some analysis of what the base of the pillars was sitting on. He hoped to have that advice before today’s (Tuesday) council meeting.

BMC Consulting had prepared a report for the council ahead of its Wachner Place deliberations which had stated that the assessment of the pillars was dependent upon the size of the foundations, “for which there are no details available”.

However, Simpson said that information was already easy enough to find.

Simpson located an electronic copy of A.S. Major Consulting Engineer’s drawings from one of the original designers of the columns, architect John McCulloch.

They were initially erected in the late 1990s.

Simpson said the drawings showed the foundation provided more than twice the foundation area that BMC determined was necessary for the columns to not be earthquake-prone.

“There is a good chance a site investigation will determine the columns are not earthquake-prone.”

Simpson felt there was no need to spark fear amongst the community by publicly suggesting they could be earthquake-prone when the council could have accessed that information.

“There has been unnecessary fear created,” Simpson said.

Simpson hoped the council would address the earthquake-prone suggestion at its Tuesday meeting.

However, if it is confirmed they are not regarded as a safety issue the debate about whether the pillars should or shouldn’t remain, as part of the upgrade to that particular area, will remain.