The old and the new
'Do-gooders and their grand ideas'
This week I’m on the subject of old and new, and the bits in between.
I’m to see a resolution regarding the future of an historic city school building. The infants’ building, at Arthur St (Dunedin’s oldest school) is being retained on the site.
“The Ministry of Education has made the decision to invest in the redevelopment of the Infant’s Building. It will become a facility that will provide hard materials education for students at Arthur Street School,” the newsletter from principal Kim Blackwood said.
I have some released emails under the Official Information Act concerning the building, which was built in the 1890s. And I should declare I have an interest in the school, where one of my children is enrolled.
Those documents revealed the cost of upgrading the building was estimated at being around $1.6 million quite a few years ago.
The building had been a former library, but a 2016 report noted some concerns with the building, including buckets being a permanent feature to catch the drips from the leaky roof.
“There is significant fungal growth on the carpet directly beneath the water leakage and collapsed ceiling tiles,” said another report.
“There is a distinct and permeable mouldy smell.”
The building faced being moved to Christchurch, as the school underwent an upgrade, but that attracted the attention of heritage advocates who wanted the building retained.
One school board member wasn’t happy, writing: “I would like to express my disatisfaction with the ongoing bad media our school has been hit with by do-gooders with their grand ideas for the infants’ building but aren’t coming forward with the cash to do it”.
Well, now the Ministry will stump up the cash.
Here is their response from Simon Hatherill, General Manager, Asset Management.
“After consultation and discussion with various groups, including Southern Heritage Trust and Heritage New Zealand, we have decided to retain the Arthur St School Infants’ Building and redevelop it as a facility complementary to the school rebuild. At this stage, we don’t have an estimate of the cost or exact purpose for the refit, though initial thoughts are for curriculum activities like metal work and woodwork. We are still working with the school and school board to scope the refit to make sure it supports the education and learning needs of ākonga at the school.”
Another institution having an upgrade, of sorts, is the University of Otago, which released a proposal for a new Māori name and tohu (symbol), created in collaboration with mana whenua.
I’d like to stress that the University of Otago name will remain, with the proposal about changing the current Māori name from Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo, to Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka – a metaphor meaning A Place of Many Firsts.
Here is an explainer:
Looks good, as does this just in from the Dunedin City Council, of a design for a new bus shelter in Broad Bay.
I had a couple of Official Information Act requests that I’m going to share here, and I’ll let you judge whether they were worthwhile.
The first involved a request to the Dunedin City Council about grants from the Dunedin Heritage Fund to the Toiora Cohousing.
If you are not familar with the project, it is on the old High Street School site, and you can read more here.
I run by the site every morning and recently noticed signs saying that the work on the fence, pictured above, was paid for by the fund. I would later notice another portion of the fence with the same sign, and more notices in council agendas confirming another successful grant. Hence the OIA request.
This is what I got:
Application 2021/22 #40 Approved grant of $15,000 - Due to uplift 19 May 2023
Adaptive re-use of the former High Street School’s 1905 cast-iron fence, specifically the remaining fence on Alva Street adjacent to entranceways and gates
Application 2020/21 #17 Approved grant of $15,000 - Due to uplift 19 May 2023
Refurbishment of existing railings and posts along the High Street site boundary
Application 2019/20 #35 Approved grant of $5,000 - Due to uplift 19 May 2023
Restoration & Repairs to cast-iron fence.
Application 2019/20 #6 Approved grant of $5,440.00 – Paid 28/08/2020
Restoration & Repairs to cast-iron fence
Application 2017/18 #5 Approved grant of $2,000 - Paid $1,665.00 27/09/2017
Assessment and remedial action report on the War Memorial Arch & Gate
That’s a grand total of $42,440. I have no issues with ratepayers contributing towards Dunedin’s heritage, particularly the preservation of the war memorial, but I’m not 100% on council funds going to revive the fence, which is described as being of wrought iron and some 90 metres long.
If you want more information on the fund, please read here. And here is a list of recent recipients, and the addresses of those properties.
One of the Toiora Cohousing applications noted that the cohousing project represented a group of 22 households of diverse ages and backgrounds “who are working to form a cohousing community which will promote social and environmental sustainability, based on respect and shared responsibilities”.
“Whilst building to a very high standard, we are trying to keep costs to a minimum so that a wide range of people, including young families, can buy homes.”
What do you think?
And speaking of heritage, do you know where this photo in Dunedin was taken?
Please answer in the comments below.
My second OIA request concerned the recent visit of the newly appointed Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall, which was covered by the Otago Daily Times here.
It was a big deal, as it was essentially her first undertaking in the new role.
So why the hell didn’t I know about it?
A Government contact told me that the minister came down on a fact-finding mission about the project, and was adamant she didn’t want local media present. However Te Whatu Ora Southern contacted the ODT.
I had quite a tense phone call with a comms’ person from the former DHB, who I argued shouldn’t be playing favourites with local media, particularly with the size and spend on this project.
There has been something of an information void on the project, and a recent document dump from Te Whatu Ora is trying to rectify that. That’s pleasing.
This needs to happen more, otherwise we are doomed for the politicians to fill that information void, and in an election year no less.
So, I unlocked my pettiness badge and asked for all emails/documents from Te Whatu Ora about the ministerial visit.
This is what I got.
An urgent email, sent “in confidence” on February 1, from Te Whatu Ora New Zealand, said “the new Minister of Health wishes to meet with the project team for the New Dunedin Hospital to understand more about Te Whatu Ora’s largest infrastructure build”.
The briefing noted the current status of the hospital was that “Outpatients remains on track”.
Foundation beam work will begin in May, with the “above ground structure” to start from July.
“Enabling works for Inpatients will begin in January 2023. Construction start date for the Inpatient building is expected to be slightly delayed due to the value management work and the change to design.”
So far, so good.
The briefing gives an over run of the project and notes some of the cost-saving, which includes the removal of the Pavilion building and the link bridge, as trimming about $47 million from the project.
“The decision to remove the intended Pavilion from the current plans is a substantial part of the $90 million cost saving.
The Pavilion Building was going to provide a collaborative staff workspace and other staff amenities like a staff café, bike storage and changing facilities. Collaborative staff workspaces and operational services can be delivered from existing infrastructure and repurposed space in the outpatients building.”
And, of course, there was the line I was waiting for (I told you I was petty).
“Recommend just a photo-op with Minister on site of the new Dunedin Hospital.”
Last time I looked other media outlets with journalists in Dunedin, apart from Allied Press (ODT, CH39 and The Star), included Stuff, RNZ and TVNZ.
So that photo op only appeared in the ODT, who were also able to ask a few questions of the minister.
Released info from those working comms for Whatu Ora Southern show they were pretty happy about the visit:
Well done yesterday, it all seemed to go pretty smoothly!
Just a quick check in to see if you are happy for us to post on Facebook regarding Minister Verrall’s visit
yesterday?
I’m keeping it super simple.
Social Media Content
Heading: Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall visits Dunedin
Te Whatu Ora Southern welcomed the new Health Minister yesterday to the New Dunedin Hospital Project office, and the Inpatients and Outpatients construction sites.
Here’s the picture.
It comes as RNZ revealed Verrall featured in a profile piece in Te Whatu Ora Southern’s Better Health February 2023 newsletter, under the heading “New Health Minister reveals strong Southern roots”.
The details were mainly from her maiden speech to Parliament in December 2020, and it was not only published in the newsletter but also the Otago Daily Times and some of its other community papers.
Again, from the same RNZ story:
“I was not aware of the advertisement, and did not approve it. The first I learned of this matter is through a Written Parliamentary Question,” her reply said.
Verrall said Te Whatu Ora Southern sought approval from her office to use a profile of her in the advertisement, but the approval was mistakenly given by a former staffer, who did not seek her approval.
“I would not have approved the profile because I do not believe it is an appropriate use of public funding,” her reply said.
The online advert has since been pulled down.
So what the hell is going on? We have a Minister who prioritised Dunedin as her first port of call, who recognised the importance of the hospital project, but who was treated somewhat poorly at a local level.
The new Dunedin Hospital project needs to be better communicated, after all we have a stake in it. I have only ever received a handful of emails about the project, that weren’t from politicians. Having oversight in the form of media attention, is a good thing. You would hope.
I got a range of feedback after several stories last week, including some about the ORC councillor who walked out of a meeting when a karakia started.
I won’t share those, but would point out New Zealand has a lot of dickheads.
I also wrote a small court story about a woman sentenced after throwing hot coffee over her ex-lover’s new partner. When I put a story through, I have no say where they are placed in our respective newspapers or online. But because a photo byline *shudder* and email address are often included in stories, we often get feedback.
This is an example:
Good afternoon Hamish,
Woman sentenced after throwing hot coffee on mum and toddler
I cannot see the point of this article being the lead story on stuff when there are so many good things happening in New Zealand with kind people and gestures.
Stuff never ceases to amaze me on ridiculous, non important stories.
A very concerned young nz mum
So just for this special reader, who sent the email from her DHB work, I wrote a cute animal story. I hope this cheers her up. You can read about Pesky Pete here, and thanks for the tip from a reader.
And ICYMI, this week I reported on the end of a long-running case between Aramoana identity Just Doi and the DCC. Great to see both sides reaching an agreement. You can read about that story here.
Earlier this week I got one of the more interesting press releases this year:
Mayor Challenged to Make Dunedin NZ’s First Plant-Based City
The Vegan Society Aotearoa has issued a challenge to Dunedin’s mayor, Jules Radich, for Dunedin to become the first city in Aotearoa to become a plant-based city. By doing so it would be joining its sister city Edinburgh who became Europe’s first capital to sign the Plant Based Treaty.
I’ll let you know if it happens.
On event on the horizon is the Townbelt Traverse, an 8.2km walk from the Southern Cemetery to Woodhaugh Gardens via the city’s Dunedin Town Belt on Sunday April 16.
More details here.
This week’s Tweet of the Week is a tweet calling for the return of the Dunedin City Council to bring back its Flashback Friday tweets. I love the attached clip of pedestrian chaos at Queens Gardens. Enjoy.
Despite the 90s love of a video shot on a fish eye lens, this is one of the best. PLAY. IT. LOUD.
Have a great week.
Larnach Castle
The Mish is great Hamish! I was trying hard not to subscribe to anything new due to all the streaming stuff the kids are subscribed to but I just couldn't hold out.. Keep dishing up the good stuff!