Council’s Civic Square building stays closed
Wellington City Council’s Civic Administration Building in Civic Square is to remain closed to staff and the public in the immediate future while engineers continue to assess its condition following last week’s big earthquake.
The six-storey building, constructed in the early 1990s, did show signs of movement in the earthquake but did not suffer any obvious serious structural damage.
The City Council’s Chief Executive, Kevin Lavery, says after initial engineering checks immediately following the quake, the building was closed while the “messed up” interior was cleaned up.
“Our engineers want to have a closer look at some of the building elements and how they performed in the earthquake, so the building will remain closed until this work is complete.”
The CAB building normally houses about 450 Council staff along with, on the ground floor, a public service centre and the iSite visitor centre. The iSite has been temporarily transferred to the Michael Fowler Centre. The service centre is to be shifted to the ground floor of the adjoining Municipal Office Building.
Mr Lavery says Council staff who normally work in the CAB building have either been transferred to other Council buildings or are working from home as part of the Council’s ‘business continuity’ procedures.
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