A historic building looks set to upset plans for the Bank of New Zealand's new $30 million national headquarters.
Monday, January 24th 2005, 1:45AM
by The Landlord
Auckland's Jean Batten State Building could get a stay of execution, following a new analysis that shows it has historic significance.
Ian Grant of Auckland City's heritage division said yesterday that in preparing a report on the building he found it qualified as a category B building. He scored the building at 59 points, meaning it was worthy of preservation, but said his evaluation was yet to go before Auckland City heritage manager George Farrant.
"This is a preliminary evaluation," Grant said. "It needs to be verified by our researcher."
But he said the building had historic value and called for it to be integrated into the Bank of New Zealand's redevelopment.
"Personally, I think it could be adapted with the co-operation of the BNZ and we could still achieve their requirements and get a satisfactory outcome."
BNZ executives are due to meet council heritage staff on Friday to iron out a deal.
