A pop-up shop hoping to gather your views on some of Invercargill’s heritage buildings is set to open next week.
Invercargill City Council Senior Planner Liz Devery said Council was keen to get the public’s opinion on City Centre heritage, and the pop-up shop at the former ASB Bank building on Esk Street will be one of the ways they would gather those opinions.
Ms Devery said there would be multiple ways for people to show Council which buildings they believed were important at the pop-up shop, including:
- Photographs of every protected heritage building in the City Centre. People will be able to ‘sticker’ those that are their favourites.
- Photographs of the buildings that have been recommended to be removed from the heritage register.
- A place where people can let Council know what Invercargill heritage means to them.
- A way of voting to find out how people think ratepayers should assist owners of heritage buildings. Is the care of a heritage building just the responsibility of building owner, or does the community have a responsibility too?
Council staff will be on hand to answer any questions people had.
An online survey was launched last week, so that people who can’t make it to the pop-up shop won’t miss out. It can be completed here: online survey
The pop-up shop will be located in the old ASB Building on Esk St and is to be open from 10am til 2pm from Saturday, 17 March until the following Saturday, 24 March.
As part of Southland Heritage Month, a pop-up museum celebrating the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage will also share the space.
Background information:
As part of the Council’s obligations to protect heritage from inappropriate development, the Invercargill City District Plan has rules about heritage buildings in the City Centre.
There are 169 buildings protected. Some are identified for their contribution to the streetscape and their heritage character, and there are 42 sites which are on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga register.
When building owners want to develop a heritage building in the City Centre, they may need to apply for and be granted a resource consent, especially if the façade of the building will be altered.
As part of that consent process, the applicant and the Council will consider how the proposal addresses a number of heritage related matters.
Heritage architects Origin Consultants Ltd, were recently engaged by Council to revisit all the Invercargill City Centre heritage buildings and to assess their heritage values from a streetscape point of view.
As part of their recommendations, it was suggested that 26 buildings be removed from the protected list.
To give effect to these recommendations the Council would need to undertake a change of the District Plan, which involves consultation with the community.
While the pop-up shop and survey does not form part of the formal consultation involved with a possible variation to the District Plan, it will help Council decide if considering a variation is worthwhile and important to the Community.
