Film director Peter Jackson has two years to start strengthening the lovely bones of a historic Wellington chapel that he saved from property developers.
Our Lady of the Star of the Sea chapel, valued at $10 million, had been listed as earthquake-prone by Wellington City Council when Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, bought it last year.
The couple, along with other Seatoun residents, had been upset by moves by the Sisters of Mercy to have the 84-year old chapel removed from the council's list of heritage buildings and the 1.35-hectare site put up for sale.
A consent to strengthen the brick chapel had already been approved when Jackson took ownership but work had to start by June 30. Jackson commissioned structural engineers Clendon Burns & Park, which applied for a six-month extension.
The council's regulatory processes committee decided to allow two years for work to start, a decision that councillor Stephanie Cook said was fair.
"I think it is laudable that they are convinced they can do it in six months. But we don't want to put them in a position where that expectation couldn't be met and they had to come back to us, or be penalised in any way."
Councillor Rob Goulden denied any suggestion that the council was showing favouritism to the Oscar-winning director.
"I don't think the public would be too concerned if we granted this extension because the proposed development that was going to take place there - up to 50 townhouses - was repugnant to the locals."
Committee chairwoman Leonie Gill said the chapel was unoccupied and sat in isolation.
"So there is very little danger to the public of this building falling on top of them [in an earthquake] anyway," she said.
The cost to strengthen the building had not been revealed but is estimated at $900,000.
Jackson said last year that the chapel would be used by his visual effects company, Weta Workshop.
"It will be something with computers.
"The way Weta runs is they often have isolated [independently working] groups. Our goal is to strengthen the chapel and use the surrounding buildings for low-key work and film editing."
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