Members of the Save the Cambridge Water Tower group Peter Fulton (left), Mike Kilgour and Dave Linthwaite. Photo: RNZ / Natalie Akoorie
The fate of an earthquake-prone water tower in Cambridge hangs in the balance as Waipā District Council looks to demolish the 122-year-old structure.
But before resource consent can be issued, a group of residents hope to sway the council in favour of saving the heritage-listed tower.
Built in 1902, the 19-metre high water tower served the town's 1000 residents until it was decommissioned in 1926.
Since then it has stood on a greenbelt at the former entrance to Cambridge from the north, which has slowly been enveloped by housing and retirement villages.
In 2014, an earthquake assessment found the tower, a Category 2 Heritage Building, at risk of collapse during a seismic event.
Two years ago, council deputy chief executive Ken Morris said building work at nearby Resthaven retirement village could cause ground movement and recommended fast-tracking strengthening, estimated at $1.69 million.
The rest home, a community-owned facility - first opened in 1972 with more wings added until 1985. One of those wings is just 10m from the tower.
During the council's enhanced annual plan process earlier this year it emerged it would now cost $6m to strengthen the brick tower to 67 percent of the national building standards.
The tower was assessed as being at 25 percent.
An alternative option was to knock it down and replace it with a commemorative structure and signs marking the tower's history, at a cost of $800,000.
Of the 223 submitters, 62 percent - or 138 people - said they preferred demolition and the council applied for resource consent.
But a group of Cambridge residents said they wanted to work with council to keep the industrial water tower, which they believed was iconic to the character town.
Save the Cambridge Water Tower chairperson Peter Fulton said the circular structure was an important slice of history.
"It's a heritage structure. It's part of our history - I think that's the most important aspect of it. Plus it's actually a very fine piece of architecture.
"The other thing is, it's iconically Cambridge. It's certainly part of the fabric of the whole town. It's part of the original infrastructure."
Group member Mike Kilgour said the tower had been allowed to deteriorate and there was a corroded steel walkway attached to the top that prompted the council to fence off access.
"It's almost demolition by neglect because it hasn't been maintained and it's getting to the stage now where it's time for it to be fixed.
"There's no roof on the water tower for example so the water's coming down through the tower and there's an internal staircase that I guess is dangerous. It needs action."
Kilgour said the tower, which now attracts pigeons, acted as a welcome to Cambridge and that the group would like to retain that.
He said it could be used as an attraction, or as a viewing platform for the predominantly flat town, which was now home to 21,800 residents.
Another group member, Dave Linthwaite, said while work at Resthaven had prompted the need to fast-track strengthening, he questioned why the rest home was allowed to be built so close to the tower.
Despite that, the trio said they and other members of the group were keen to work with the council to come up with a solution to keep the tower.
The heritage-listed water tower next to Resthaven retirement village and rest home. Photo: RNZ / Natalie Akoorie
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga operations deputy chief executive Nic Jackson said it was a rare example of a brick water tower, with the only other one in New Zealand in Invercargill.
However, that one was square, and the Cambridge one round.
She said Heritage New Zealand recognised the value of the tower through it's historic place listing made in 2010, and she described it as being both functional and decorative when it was built.
She said the organisation was keen to find a solution to keep the landmark, and said strengthening it to 34 percent would make it safe.
Heritage New Zealand would now assess the council's resource consent application to decide whether to object.
That included analysing the $6m estimate for strengthening, which included up to $3m for land acquisition and a contingency of almost $1m.
Jackson said it would be a shame to lose the brick tower, the only one in the North Island.
"Once it's gone it's gone. They're not building water towers like this anymore.
"It's disappointing that the council hasn't acted sooner in this situation because, well we've been in discussion with council over probably the last 10 years looking at possible restoration and strengthening methods for this structure."
However, she said it was up to the community to ultimately decide, though she noted it remained an important piece of the identity of Cambridge.
"You can't help but notice it as you come into town. It's very prominent and quite a beautiful structure."
The council said because the building was heritage-listed it could not do any work other than maintenance on it - including demolition - without resource consent.
Waipā mayor Susan O'Regan said the application process would extend into next year and was likely to include a hearing and if appealed, it could end up in the Environment Court.
In April, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk announced the Government was bringing forward a review of earthquake-prone buildings with work to start immediately, including extending the deadline for remediation by four years.
O'Regan said the consent process would allow time for the council to negotiate any new rules that might affect the tower's earthquake-prone assessment.
She said the council was open to ideas to save the tower, after hearing passionate submitters on the topic during the annual plan process earlier this year.
"This tower was not only precious to them but they felt certain that there were alternative outcomes that could be considered and as a result, our council said that whilst we wanted to proceed towards resource consent demolition, we were going to keep an open mind as to alternatives."
O'Regan will meet with Fulton next week to brainstorm ideas.
Resthaven Trust Board chairperson Greg Liddy said when the village was initially built the water tower was not classified as an earthquake risk.
He said the board had not had safety concerns about the tower, but acknowledged the need to strengthen it.
Liddy said the board supported the council restoring the tower if the costs were managable but was concerned that $6m was too significant a financial burden for Waipā ratepayers.