Grants Subcommittee

So any further questions? If not, thank you, Steven. No worries. We don't need you anymore. Okay. So I'm going to move it. It will be seconded by the Mayor. I'm going to say very little because I think we've heard far too much from me anyway. But I would just say that just looking at this in particular, I'm drawn to the Wellington Heritage Festival because I remember when that started, and it started off in a very shaky way, and the council did step in to help, and it has grown from strength to strength, and it is now one of the major sort of cultural events of the city, in my humble opinion. So anyway, I am in full support of this, and I'd just like to thank the officers for all the help in analysing what is a very complex area of trying to, you know, peaches and pears and pumpkins, and you've got to work out they've all got to be assessed the same way. And I'd now like to call on the Mayor who is seconding.

Councillor Foone, you look as though you're wanting to speak. I just want to acknowledge the Hockey Club and their mahi. It's in our ward. So yeah, just fully supportive really, and thank Councillor Al-Rubayyi for coming up to that meeting that day. I think it was really helpful to have you there given that this was the process they had to go through. So yeah, no, really appreciate the work from officers as well on this. And Councillor Abdurahman, do you want to have a right of reply? Okay, so I'll put the motion which has been moved and seconded. You know what to do. That has been carried unanimously. Hmm? Everything— well, it's the most difficult meeting, but all the votes are unanimous. So now we come to the Heritage, Resilience and Generation Regeneration Fund, and I'd like to welcome Adam McCutcheon to introduce the report. Welcome, Adam.

This is the 4th year of the Heritage Resilience and Regeneration Fund.

This is one of 2 reports that comes to this committee each year. It reports on the progress of previous grants and updates on the allocations that we've received for this— the applications and allocations for this financial year. Heritage-listed buildings and buildings within heritage areas are eligible for funding. This year there's a total of $350,000 available. Of that, $255,000 is reserved for seismic strengthening, $45,000 for conservation works, and $50,000 to support heritage resource consent fees. The split is locked in within the terms of the fund. Grants under $100,000 are approved by the business unit manager, grants over that figure by the committee. Applications for seismic strengthening grants this financial year reflect a trend that we were seeing in previous years where there's a lack of interest and there's hesitation within the community of building owners to progress strengthening works. We're seeing the drivers for this being changing earth earthquake regulations that were consulted on earlier this year, and this council made a submission on those, and extensions that have been provided for building owners to delay works to a later date. So for those reasons, we're, we're seeing a lack of applications. On the other hand, we have an oversubscription of applications for conservation works. These include works to windows, veranda repairs, and façade restoration. 2 grants have already been allocated under delegations, one for St Gerard's, another for the Prudential Assurance Building on Lambton Quay.

This exhausts the $45,000 for the conservation portion of the fund. There are 8 requests that are left unfulfilled. It's recommended that the unallocated seismic strengthening funds are transferred for conservation use and figures which would result are set out in the paper. This would require approval from the Social Cultural and Environment Committee. It would include 2 buildings in the Courtney Place heritage area, 3 within the Cuba Street heritage area, 1 on Te Aro Park.

So full committee? Yeah. Shame we couldn't just do it here, but I'll take the process as So, are there any further questions? No? So, Adam, thank you very much, as always, for all your help. I will move the amended substantive, which is in front of you on your screens. So, what I would just say is that it used to be that the seismic and heritage funds were far more 50/50, but that was changed because of all the huge seismic work. And now, so the question that I was asked as Chair is, did I— what did I want to do? Did I want to leave the money in the seismic fund? So there are 5 buildings in here which I have asked for the money to be moved across. That's why it's an amended substantive. So 2 of them are in Courtney Place in the area which will be part of the Courtney precinct where various companies like Willis Bond and I think some architects Firms and Resene are going to be working to upgrade the Courtney Place area, and these buildings are right in the middle of the area. They're two of the ones that are affected. Then Cuba Street, again, it's one of our sort of most precious and quirky heritage areas, and it's just a way of helping the owners. It's a very small contribution, but these owners tend to be sort of elderly couples. These are not big corporate owners. They're little family businesses, And so they're in the heritage area, but Cuba Street and Courtney Place I think are two of our most interesting and attractive streets for tourism, for hospo, entertainment, etc. So that's the reason why. So that's the end of my speech. And I hope you support it because, you know, that would be helpful. So do I have a seconder? Councillor Al-Rubahi is seconding. Thank you. Oh, do you want to speak? No, thank you. Is there any debate? So do I have to do this or just go straight into the substantive? OK, right of reply. There is no right of reply. Go to a vote. Great. Off you go. Thank you. Another unanimous vote. I'm amazed you've had enough time to be in here for this long, to be honest. So now we come to the decision register. You can see this is the most interesting part of the meeting because everyone's Rushing to leave. So the decision register— oh, you've got to do it, sorry.