2019 Photographic pop up display, in the foyer of the Karori Event Centre.

 

What is the Karori Event Centre (KEC)?

It will be a multi-purpose facility allowing for an array of community and cultural events and activities to occur. The KEC will be operated by the Karori Community Centre and available for everyone in Karori and beyond. The KEC helps ensure we have a city that provides fit-for-purpose community, creative and cultural spaces that contribute to thriving suburban centres. It will also strengthen resilience as a hub for response and recovery in a future civil emergency.

Click here to see some of the exciting things that will happen in the KEC.

Why do you need to make a submission?

If we don’t let Council know our community wants them to honour their decade’s old commitment, then we will never have a community hall like this.

What is best for Karori? A finished community hall, or a bulldozer through it, or having it sold to a developer?

It only takes a couple of minutes to make a submission by clicking here. Encourage your family, friends and work colleagues to make a submission too. Every one counts.

Why are Wellington City Council considering pulling the funding?

WCC are under fiscal pressure after their decision not to sell the Wellington Airport shares. Consequently the Long Term Plan 2024-34 is being amended to make some savings. While large civic projects that are not yet started, like the Golden Mile ($116m), are going ahead, many small community projects are being cut.

We understand the challenges, and that Council has to make tough choices. To cut the Karori Event Centre is not the right choice.

WCC should first finish things that have already been started, especially as to finish the Event Centre is a drop in the bucket compared to other spending plans, and the amount to be saved ($1m) is small change in Council’s overall budget.

Our community will never get the community hall we have long needed, and Council has supported for decades, if they sell or bulldoze the Karori Event Centre.

How much funding has Wellington City Council committed to finish the Karori Event Centre?

Council estimated at the end of 2022, that it would cost $1.9m to complate and open. They committed $2m of funding, instead of using the money from the eventual sale of the St John’s site (on the corner of Campbell St and Karori Rd), which is what they had promised in 2013. This is why we gifted the Karori Event Centre to them.

Since gifting to Council, the building has deteriorated. A weather tightness inspection in mid-November 2022 summarised that ‘the building is in sound and dry overall condition’. After two years of doing nothing to it, Council say there are now weather tightness issues that need fixing.

WCC now also want to protect it from a 1 in 100-year flood. This was after a flood assessment was done in September 2023 that identified WCC’s stormwater pipes in Lewer Street will not cope. This will cause flooding to private and public buildings in the catchment area through to lower Campbell Street and into Karori Road.

These additional expenses, along with continued increase in building costs has seen their budget blown, and no visible progress towards opening the building.

The Trust has committed to fundraise for the retractable seating block, furniture and other fitout items.

Why should Wellington City Council keep its commitment to FUND, FINISH and OPEN the KEC?

The KEC was gifted to Council in December 2022 based on their commitment in September 2022 of $1.9 million to FUND, FINISH and OPEN the KEC. The Deed of Gift, signed by Wellington City Council included a further commitment that they would make ‘reasonable endeavours’ to complete the Karori Event Centre. That commitment has not yet been fulfilled.

That commitment also matters because it replaced an earlier undertaking from Wellington City Council. The St John’s site at the corner of Karori Road and Campbell Street is where three community halls were previously located.

In 1999, the Methodist Church partially gifted this site to the Council for community use. In recognition of this gift and its intent, in 2013 Council agreed to provide the proceeds from the sale of this site for the new Karori Event Centre. Wellington City Council still holds this corner site as an asset, until the recent sale of this land is finalised, which will offset the funding committed.

Why was the KEC built?

Wellington City Council has repeatedly recognised the need for this facility. Reports they commissioned in 2006 and 2016 both confirmed there is a strong need for a new community hall. That need has only increased as the population has grown. Since 2005, ten hall spaces have also been lost to our community.

How was the build of KEC funded?

KEC was constructed by the Karori Community Hall Trust for a cost of about $2.8 million. Over $2m came from community grants and donations, and voluntary efforts. Much of this was with the understanding that Wellington City Council would provide funding for the project from the sale of the St John’s site. The Council provided $610,000 as an advance on the proceeds of the future sale of that site, and $310,000 from costs it avoided to upgrade the old community halls that were there.

Why was KEC built without funding for the fitout?

In 2016, the Trust awarded a contract to proceed and complete the base build to get a weather tight structure.  This was because it had $750,000 in grants for the build that would have expired, if not used then. The Trust’s intention was to continue to raise funds for the fit out separately, having had positive indications of support from funding bodies. However, the priorities of philanthropic funding bodies changed after the Kaikoura earthquakes in 2017. The Trust also knew that WCC had committed to provide the proceeds from the eventual sale of the St John’s site. 

What is the history of community halls on the St John’s site and why was KEC developed?

The following is a short summary of the history of community facilities on the Karori site, of the gifts to WCC and the rationale for the development of the Karori Event Centre (KEC).

 1841 - The first community chapel was established on the land where the Karori Library now stands.

1893 - The Methodist Church purchased land on the corner of Karori Road and Campbell Street.

1923 - A church, school and parsonage had been established by this date, on adjoining properties.

 1959 - St John’s Church was built on the corner of Campbell St and Karori Road and the old church made available for community use.

 1987 - The parsonage had been converted into the Karori Lighthouse Community Centre as a joint venture between the Methodist Church and WCC. Several community facilities were now co-located on the corner of Karori Road and Campbell Street: the St John’s Church, the old wooden church hall, the old school building (used by the St John’s Op Shop) and the Lighthouse Community Centre.

1994 - The St John’s Church became a community hall.

1999 - The entire St John’s site was sold by the Methodist Church to WCC for $500,000, significantly less than the market value. The Methodist Church indicated at the time that the difference was a gift to WCC on the basis that the land would continue to be used for community purposes.

 2001 - Karori Town Centre Development Project was started by WCC. Key elements including a new community centre (on the current site of 7 Beauchamp Street) and moving the old wooden hall onto the current site of the KEC, for use as a community hall.

2005 - WCC decided that repurposing the wooden hall was too expensive. Later that year, the Replacement Community Hall Committee was formed which proposed the development of a new community hall to WCC. This recommendation was accepted by Council.

2007 - The Karori Community Hall Trust (KCHT) was established ‘to develop, design, build, equip and manage a multi-purpose community hall on land provided by the Wellington City Council adjacent to the Karori Community Centre in Karori, Wellington, as part of the community centre facilities’.

2007 - The old wooden hall and Lighthouse Centre were demolished.

2009 - Resource consent was granted for new community hall.

2011 - Fundraising for the KEC started.

2013 - WCC allocated $260,000 as a grant (equivalent to the cost avoided by not moving the old wooden hall + cpi). WCC also agreed to sell St John’s site and that the net proceeds would be allocated to KEC (consistent with the intent of the original gift of that site by the Methodist Church). These commitments were contingent on KCHT raising a further $1m.

2014 - The KCHT fundraising target of $1m was achieved.

 2016 - KCHT awarded a contract to construct the KEC having raised $2.8m. This included $610,000 from WCC as an advance on the net proceeds from the future sale of the St John’s site. KCHT did not have sufficient funds to complete the full build. However, because KCHT had $750,000 in grants for the build that would have expired, the decision was made to proceed and complete the base build to get a weather tight structure. The intention was to continue to raise funds for the fit out separately.

 2017 - The St John’s Church was demolished after being ‘yellow stickered’ as an earthquake risk.

Jan 2018 - Base build work of the KEC was completed on time and under budget.

2019 - KCHT made a submission to the WCC Annual Plan for 2019-20 to include $800,000 funding to complete the fit out. Fundraising efforts by KCHT had stalled due to changes in the fundraising environment post Kaikoura earthquake. This bid to WCC was declined, but councilors directed council officers to work with KCHT to resolve funding.

2020 - WCC approved a package of arrangements to complete the building and provide for future use of the facility by the community and Footnote New Zealand Dance Company. As part of those arrangements the Trust agreed to gift the completed building to WCC.

May 2022 – Footnote Dance NZ withdrew from the arrangement.

1 September 2022 – WCC agreed to $1.9 million capital funding to complete the KEC build and fit-out. They also agreed to accept the gift of KEC from the KCHT and noted that the capital project would be managed by WCC.

14 December 2022 - The Trust gifted the building to WCC prior to completion with the expectation that WCC would complete the required fit out for the long-awaited replacement community hall.

July 2023 – WCC officers again revised estimates for completion of KEC to about $3.2m. This included remedial works, deferred maintenance, and considerable added costs for increased fire protection and for costs arising from a flood impact assessment provided in February 2023. Those costs are associated with potential flooding caused by inadequate WCC storm water drains. The modeled flooding impacts lower Campbell Street and Karori Road, including the Karori Community Centre, Library, Mobil, and homes and premises in the surrounding areas. KCHT believes remediation costs should not be included in the KEC fit-out costs as they relate to a wider systemic problem that WCC needs to address separately. KCHT believe the KEC fit-out can be completed for the $1.9m still currently in WCC’s budget.

November 2023 - WCC  considers proposals to cut service levels for the Long Term Plan 2024-34. Included is a proposal to investigate selling the KEC which would also remove the $1.9m funding commitment from their budget. After lobbying from the Trust, Councillors removed the option of selling and asked for further information on the costs to complete KEC. WCC officers subsequently advised the Trust that they will be recommending the removal of the previously committed funding as part of the draft Long Term Plan. That decision will be made on 15 February 2024.