Fight to save Wellington's Begonia House continues with offers from tradespeople

A handful of tradespeople have offered their help to save Wellington's Begonia House from demolition.

City councillors are considering the future of the glass house as they look for savings.

Wellington City Council staff say a patch-up job won't do, and a full replacement would cost in the range of $25 million.

City councillor Ray Chung told RNZ a developer has offered to take care of its redevelopment in exchange for a lease for a restaurant at the site.

"And he said 'look, I reckon we can just do a deal on this because I can access glass at a reasonable cost and so I can actually do that in exchange for a lease to open up a restaurant in the Begonia House at night.

"So, he's very interested," Chung said.

While it was a back of the envelope kind of conversation, Chung said he mentioned it at council.

"There was some interest in that and then when I said that however he does want assurance that there would be carparking available for the people who actually go their to dine because of course we've got all of this controversy about people not going to the botanic gardens anymore because they can't park anymore because of the cyclelane, that no one uses, on Glenmore Street."

The councillors and mayors did not want to risk they cycleway, he said.

Chung is currently in Japan but said he would see the glass house when he returns.

"I do believe it's saveable."

"I was told by the chief operating officer that the framework needs a lot of repair and it just doesn't seem to be worthwhile repairing but I've heard these things before and they're all very vague.

"Everything the council seems to do seems to be three times the cost that it'd cost anyone else to do these things."

Supporters of Begonia House say they want that offer to be taken seriously and that it is a good way to save the beloved site.

Friends of the Botanic Gardens president Mazz Scannell, one of the organisers leading a fundraising push, told Nine to Noon the group wants the glass house to stay in the rose garden "and not at the dump, which is the alternative".

"We're looking at it and saying why would you get rid of rare and exotic plants?"

Scannell said she knows the council has to make cuts but Begonia House is an icon of Wellington.

"We don't want anything gold plated, if you can just keep the lights on until such time as you can do more work I think that's fair enough, nobody would criticise them for that."

She said she's had builders, glaziers, resource consent lawyers and architects contact her saying they would do the work pro bono because they believe it is important.

Just under half a million people a year visit Begonia House, she said.

"It is one of three iconic things, it is on all of Wellington's advertising, so it's the cable car, St Gerards and the Begonia House. I have had emails from people all over the world going 'oh my god, that was the highlight of my trip to Wellington."

A lack of maintenance has led to this, she said.

"I have been involved with the Begonia House for the last eight years and during that time we have had squillions of reports, we've had a lot of opinions but there's been very little work actually done on it.

"This wide umbrella, the Begonia House is actually four things, it is a conservatory, a glass house full of rare and exotic plants. It is an asbestos ridden, mouldy staff annex out the back where they also keep all of their equipment, it is the toilet block and just like the rest of Wellington, there's a whole lot of pipes that need to be replaced.

"Everybody has their own little agendas, but I think the Begonia House is bigger than a little agenda, it is bigger than Wellington. It is about conserving exotic plants and sharing them with New Zealanders."

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