It is undergoing a $73.55 million restoration, with an estimated reopening timeframe of 2027 or 2028. <\/p>\n
The Rotorua Museum building. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n
The Blue Baths closed in January 2021. The building has a seismic rating of 15% of the new building standard and the council said it was too risky to keep it open.<\/p>\n
The Spanish mission-style bathhouse was built in 1933 and sat unused from 1982 to 1999, before reopening as a multi-purpose events venue and mineral bath spot.<\/p>\n
It sits unused again, with nesting pigeons and rat traps the only signs of life when Local Democracy Reporting visited.<\/p>\n
The Government has proposed to scrap the new building standard system.<\/p>\n
Instead, buildings will be assessed on their material make-up and proximity to public places and neighbouring properties. <\/p>\n
Concrete buildings three storeys or taller will need to be checked using a renewed methodology.<\/p>\n
Tapsell said the changes would have had little impact on the cost or method of the museum\u2019s restoration.<\/p>\n
However, she said the proposal \u201cpotentially opened up the doors\u201d for eventually reopening the Blue Baths.<\/p>\n
Tapsell will soon meet with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to make sure that if possible, it should be prioritised,\u201d Tapsell said.<\/p>\n
She wanted clarity on \u201crequirements we\u2019ll need in government policy\u201d to ensure historic buildings like the Blue Baths can \u201copen in a safe but also affordable manner\u201d.<\/p>\n
A closure letter on the door of the Blue Baths. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n
Despite understanding the \u201cimportant connections and memories\u201d the community has with the Blue Baths, she warned investigations indicated reopening \u201cwill be difficult\u201d due to structural and geothermal issues. <\/p>\n
The museum, therefore, remains the priority. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce our wider facilities strategy and museum rebuild is completed we can turn our attention to the Blue Baths and future options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tapsell said more would be known in about six months after the proposal is ratified.<\/p>\n
A Rotorua Lakes Council spokesperson said no decisions had been made about the Blue Baths\u2019 future.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil has been focused on other priorities since the Blue Baths were closed,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n
Future options are included in ongoing work regarding a facilities strategy, and will be \u201cpotentially considered as part of the next long-term plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
The council carried out monthly inspections to ensure the baths complied with building warrant of fitness requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything found to be broken or a risk to the security of the building is repaired, and this has included the likes of fixing loose roof tiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council was \u201cclosely following\u201d the earthquake-prone buildings announcement and was \u201cencouraged by the minister\u2019s positive direction\u201d.<\/p>\n
The council was \u201cunable\u201d to confirm which of its buildings might be affected or how because the proposal was still being consulted on.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the new rules are in place, we\u2019ll carefully review our situation and make informed decisions based on the updated guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council hoped that if the changes happened, \u201cthey could offer greater clarity and help reduce costs and delays for property owners\u201d. <\/p>\n
Former Blue Baths leaseholder Jo Romanes, who previously estimated it could take $12m to get the building back to an operable standard \u2013 excluding the more extensive seismic repairs \u2013 could not be contacted. <\/p>\n
Pak’nSave Rotorua. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
The city centre\u2019s Pak\u2019nSave is also listed on the register of earthquake-prone buildings.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Pak\u2019nSave owner Foodstuffs said it was \u201ckeeping an eye\u201d on regulation changes but there was \u201cno sign\u201d they would impact the Amohau and Fenton St site.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson also confirmed seismic strengthening at the store had been completed to \u201cwell above\u201d required standards, and work on the fuel station was imminent.<\/p>\n
The proposed changes are included in the Building (Earthquake-Prone Building System Reform) Amendment Bill, which will go through a select committee process and is expected to be passed into law early next year.<\/p>\n
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotorua has 80 buildings on the register, including the category-one heritage-listed Rotorua Museum and Blue Baths buildings. Rotorua…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74735,15497,674,198,4500,124,6752,8993,3012,12472,10934,117,111,43,139,69,74737,29056,1230,2574,1327,38715,6122,312,74736,44160,56661],"class_list":["post-102331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-baths","tag-blue","tag-building","tag-can","tag-changes","tag-could","tag-earthquake","tag-heritage","tag-hopes","tag-laws","tag-mayor","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pave","tag-proposed","tag-reopen","tag-reopening","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-rules","tag-says","tag-strengthening","tag-tania","tag-tapsell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}