Waikato Herald

Drama continues

Theatre’s demo budget extended by nearly $1m

The budget for the controvers­ial demolition of Hamilton’s Founders Theatre has been extended by almost $1 million after newly discovered asbestos.

Hamilton City Council’s Community and Natural Environmen­t Committee approved the budget extension of $954,000 on Tuesday.

This extension includes a contingenc­y for possible further asbestos in the basement and brings the total budget for stage one of the project, which involves complete demolition of the building and returning the site to grass, to $3.65m.

Stage two of the project originally included an extensive developmen­t of a community space and multipurpo­se park, including space for open-air performanc­es.

However, after the new asbestos finds, the council needed to tone down the project with the remainder of the total $4.1m redevelopm­ent budget, meaning $510,000, now being used to fund a more simple developmen­t, prioritisi­ng pathways and restoring the Dame Hilda Ross Memorial Fountain.

Demolition of the theatre, led by Auckland-based company Yakka Demolition, has been underway since November last year.

In a release, the council reiterated it had always been aware of asbestos being present within the theatre building, however, changes to the building over time had hidden the true amount of asbestos present.

“In the last three months, asbestos has been found in four areas that were inaccessib­le before work began. This includes wrapped around old pipes set in concrete, in wall cavities and in both the stagehouse and auditorium roofs,” the council said.

“Despite intense, invasive asbestos surveys carried out before work began, further discoverie­s of the material in unusual places have added time and cost to the project.”

Yakka Contractin­g Director Bruce Levin, said it was not unusual to find additional asbestos during demolition, but for his team, the additional places asbestos has been found on this project were totally unpreceden­ted.

According to him, the roof sections contained the largest amounts of unforeseen asbestos.

“In 17 years of demolition projects, we have never come across this usage of asbestos before.”

Council’s independen­t asbestos assessors, Thomas Consultant­s, also stated that the use of asbestos under roof sheeting is “extremely unusual and not easily identified in a predemolit­ion asbestos survey. It is only through the removal of materials during the demolition phase that the new asbestos has been found.”

Mayor Paula Southgate said the age and structure of the building have also made asbestos removal more challengin­g for contractor­s.

“The building was unfortunat­ely in worse shape than had been assumed.

The safe removal of asbestos must be our top priority,” she said.

“Council is still focused on creating a beautiful park space for the community but we’ll have to keep it simple, to keep within Council’s budget.”

Stage one, the complete demolition of Founders Theatre, is now expected to be completed in August.

Founders Theatre opened in 1962 and has hosted world-famous musicians such as Louis Armstrong, the Beach Boys and Lou Reed, plus our own home-grown heroes including Split Enz and Crowded House.

It was closed in 2016 due to significan­t safety concerns and has since been identified as earthquake­prone.