The naked-looking Seafarers Mission building on Nelson’s Haven Rd will soon come alive with the clatter of forks and the chatter of diners.
Nelson photographer Jose Cano bought the building over a year ago and has confirmed he is restoring the building to turn it into a ‘‘beautiful restaurant or cafe’’.
The building that was once clad in blue weatherboards was shifted off its foundations.
Cano said with new foundations the building would be back in her original location before winter.
He said the building’s foundations would be poured soon then it would have to dry for three weeks ‘‘before we move the lady back’’.
Originally set up by boatbuilder Jack Guard in the 1950s, the building was a seafarers chapel, before becoming an upholstery shop and a diesel engine repair workshop.
Once the chapel is back on her foundations work would start on restoring the original windows, redoing damaged weatherboards and finally reinstalling the rimu floor.
The ‘‘real work’’ starts when a new electrical system is put in place and a ‘‘fantastic artisan and old school builder’’ does the restoration work, Cano said.
‘‘It would be much easier and cheaper to do a new cement building from scratch, but then we would lose forever a beautiful building that gives Nelson the personality and roots.’’
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, May 4th, 2016)
Questions asked of staff about oversight
A ‘‘soft spot’’ discovered at the construction site of Golden Bay’s new multimillion dollar recreation centre is actually the remains of an old swamp.
The swamp was filled in during the early part of the 20th century and also contains layers of soft silts, a new geotechnical report says.
Construction on the centre’s foundations suddenly stopped in March after workers encountered an unexpectedly large area, about four by six metres, of ‘‘soft organic materials’’.
Tasman District Council (TDC) communications manager Chris Choat said after a two month break contractors were now back at work on site and were backfilling the swampy area.
The complex was now expected to be finished in the first week of December. This is only a month later than originally planned.
Questions are now being asked how earlier geotechnical investigations failed to identify the old swamp, which many people knew existed.
Choat said a second round of geotechnical testing and research at the site was carried out after the discovery of the soft spot.
That report has been peer reviewed by independent geotechnical engineers and concluded there was once a swamp or pond at the site.
The area had been back-filled during the formation of the recreation park playing fields during the early 1900s. Choat said the swamp area encountered in early March was located between the investigation test pits.
After the swampy area was discovered further tests were carried out using special drilling equipment. These tests found that across parts of the building site there was also the presence of discrete layers of soft silts, mostly at a depth of 4m to 6m.
The centre has a total budget of $4 million, $3.2 million of which is being provided by council.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, May 5th, 2016)
The day is nigh for the demolition of a well—known former farmhouse on the Appleby Highway, near Nelson.
Preparation for the pull-down is already underway, with corrugated iron panels starting to be removed from its exterior.
Yellow weatherboards are visible as the outer layers are peeled back, offering a glimpse of what the house would have looked like more than 50 years ago when it was a family homestead.
Last July, owner Robert Morrison announced he planned to demolish the building within the next eight months.
The homestead’s character, its mis-matched corrugated iron exterior along with a giant fan palm standing straight and tall beside it has made the old empty homestead along Appleby Highway the subject of thousands of pictures and artworks for more than 40 years.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, May 5th, 2016)
Housing prices are still on the up, according to latest QV statistics, with areas that were once overlooked now becoming favourable to buyers.
QV Nelson registered valuer Craig Russell said Atawhai is one of the new up and coming markets.
‘‘Higher value properties in Atawhai are in strong demand with this location receiving good interest from out of town buyers. We are also seeing high prices paid for other locations close to good schooling.‘‘
‘‘Atawhai has been a slow mover over the past three years with purchasers now seeing real potential in the area.‘‘
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, May 5th, 2016)
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese appears to have gone cool on the idea of shifting the Elma Turner Library.
A month ago she floated moving it from its Halifax St site beside the Maitai River to the city’s main street, Trafalgar St, to occupy the vacant State Advances building and possibly part of Civic House.
She said then that such a move would be an exciting and adaptive use of space, bringing the library’s cultural values and activity into the heart of the city, and releasing the valuable riverside site less than 100 metres away for development with private sector investment.
That brought a flurry of letters in protest to the Nelson Mail, and more than 90 submissions against the idea to the city council’s draft annual plan.
Verbal submissions have been held this week, with a number of residents expressing their disapproval to the assembled council.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, May 5th, 2016)
A proposal to ban cyclists and walkers from some trails on Rabbit Island is tipped to be ‘‘one of the more controversial changes’’ in the beloved reserve’s draft management plan.
Due to go out for public consultation on tomorrow, the draft Moturoa/Rabbit Island Reserve Management Plan comes after more than 660 individuals and groups provided written feedback during an initial consultation period over the summer.
At its meeting yesterday, the Tasman District Council community development committee agreed to publicly notify the draft plan.
The draft plan says that use of some roads and trails within the forestry blocks by recreational cyclists and walkers has grown in popularity, particularly since the opening of Tasman’s Great Taste Trail. However, there have also been increasing conflicts between operational activities in these areas and recreational use.
Submissions are due to close on July 8.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, May 6th, 2016)
One of Nelson’s oldest surviving homes is back on the market after the current owners have finished restoring its exterior.
Woodstock House in Stoke was built in 1854 for Captain WR Nicholson and is thought to be the oldest architecturally designed cob house in New Zealand.
Nicholson and his wife arrived in Nelson in 1850 and he established himself as a successful merchant and shipping agent.
His company built the first deepwater wharf in Nelson.
The large five-bedroom house has a sophistication which suggests a trained architect was involved in its design.
The category one Heritage New Zealand property in Covent Drive has several unique features, including a wine cellar, four fireplaces, stained glass windows and two wells – one for the house and one for the horses.
Nicholson was involved in the early racing industry, and there was a training course in front of the house.
Woodstock was built back from the main road and old photographs suggest it once had substantial presence in the landscape. It was once visible from from Main Road Stoke but is now surrounded by large trees.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, May 6th, 2016)
An old settlement, the mayor’s house and a design aiming to capture the essence of two oystercatchers are all winners from the 2016 Nelson Marlborough Architect Awards.
The awards held on May 5 at Saxton Oval rewarded houses for their unique architectural and engineering feats. The judging was a peer-review process run by the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
Twelve winners from the two regions were selected, 11 of them from around the Nelson region.
Sir Ian Athfield’s legacy lived on with the award for Enduring Architecture going to Athfield Architects’ Awaroa Bach. The judges credited Athfield’s 45-year old project as having lessons for the future.
Mayor Rachel Reese and partner Richard Harden’s Allan St house in Nelson South, designed by Jerram Tocker Barron Architects, was given a housing award, with judges congratulating their approach to building on tough terrain.
In the Tasman, a house in the Waimea Estuary won an award for its metaphorical approach to creating two oystercatchers in the house design.
The projects that won in the region are eligible for the New Zealand Architecture Awards which will be decided later in the year.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, May 6th, 2016)
A moonboot from a recent fall might be causing her some discomfort, but for Stoke mother-of-two Megan Pullyn the benefits of having some decent insulation in her house extends far beyond the comfort factor.
‘‘I’m just looking forward to not having $600 power bills anymore,’’ she says.
The scheme was initiated by the Rata Foundation but is now governed by its own steering group, which has so far made $1.2 million available for insulations in the Nelson and more recently, Marlborough.
Further support has come from the Nelson Tasman Housing Trust, the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and both the Nelson and Marlborough district councils has boosted the operation, as well as central government support from the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority.
Checking in on another happy tenant, Warmer Healthier Homes chairman Bill Dahlberg was pleased with how far the scheme has progressed in just two years.
Pullyn’s installation takes the number of homes fitted with insulation under the scheme to just over 300.
Dahlberg said with Marlborough now involved that number was expected to climb beyond 450 by the end of the year.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, May 7th, 2016)
Questions have been raised over why work continued on the Shed 4 development at Mapua after the budget was reached.
The $1.2 million Tasman District Council-owned retail complex at Mapua Wharf was opened in mid-December. However, work on the related landscaping was not expected to be completed until next week.
TDC commercial manager Gene Cooper told councillors at the corporate services committee meeting on Thursday that the building was completed $20,000 under budget but there had been issues with the land and landscaping including the discovery of ancient human bones.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, May 7th, 2016)
The controversial proposed sale of the Mapua causeway has been laid to rest.
At its meeting on Thursday, the Tasman District Council’s corporate services committee heard that the proposed purchaser – the owner of the Mapua Leisure Park – no longer had an interest in buying the causeway.
As a result, the councillors resolved that no consultation or further action would be taken.
The move comes after some members of the Mapua community raised concerns about the proposal and gathered their own information in support of their opposition to a potential sale of the causeway.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, May 7th, 2016)
"It does not matter how slowly you go
as long as you do not stop".
Confucius