New entrance plan for Nelson Cathedral

A new city-facing entrance to Nelson Cathedral is planned as part of a move to enhance public use of the landmark building.

The proposal was part of a successful resource consent bid to the Nelson City Council that includes the seismic strengthening of the 100-year-old cathedral on the hill.

A new northern annex, with a covered entrance foyer, is proposed to be connected to the Church Steps so people walking up from the central city can go straight into the cathedral.

The Anglican Church would make a substantial contribution to the project, but would also need funding from central and local government.

The cathedral Dean, Graham O’Brien, said he regularly met confused visitors, particularly overseas tourists, who got to the top of the steps and found themselves at the back of the building with no entry.

“In a sense the building is the wrong way around,” he said.

The proposed new entrance would make the cathedral more approachable, and the foyer could house a display about the history of the former pā site – known to iwi as Piki Mai – and the 40-year construction of the cathedral that began in 1925.

The annex would also provide much needed storage space for items such as portable stages used for performances, and for internal toilets.

O’Brien said the idea for the new entrance sprang out of the requirement to strengthen the building that does not meet earthquake standards.

At the same time the church considered how to enhance it as a public space. Its 300-seat capacity and excellent acoustics made it ideal as a classical music venue, and for events such as the Te Ramaroa light festival, which would return with a 20-minute display inside the cathedral in July.

Around 19,000 people a year visited for events, services, weddings and funerals and there were an estimated 21,000 additional visitors. There was no entry charge.

“In terms of a building to visit, it’s on the to-do list, and especially when you get European visitors who are used to visiting cathedrals,” O’Brien said.

“They come in, they light candles, they take time and pray. Even by day, local residents come in and use it, it’s peaceful and quite a treasure for Nelson and its people.”

The seismic work involves structural improvements to the nave (where visitors sit) which is the original part of the cathedral made of Tākaka marble. The transepts (the arms of the cross-shaped church) and the sanctuary at the northern end of the building were added later and are made of concrete but also require upgrading.

The concrete bell tower needs steel bracing and separation from the main structure, as well as plaster repairs.

The seismic work has been estimated to cost $17 million, but O’Brien said it would hopefully be less once the Government’s changes to the earthquake-prone building system became law, potentially before this year’s election.

The law changes, currently before a select committee, will remove the current earthquake-prone rating system which the Government said had placed an overwhelming financial burden on owners.

Exactly how the cathedral upgrade would be affected by the new standards was not yet known, and the additional cost of the annex had yet to be nailed down. O’Brien said the resource consent had been sought for the requirements under the current rules so the work would be ready to proceed once details were finalised.

The cathedral’s upgrade plans were part of a Nelson Regional Development Agency report presented to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Nelson last week.

O’Brien said as the building’s owners, the Anglican Church would make a substantial contribution to the project.

“We’ve got to do our share, and we certainly will,” he said.

But it would also need funding from central and local government and the community because the building was “so iconic for Nelson, it’s so much part of the Nelson identity and it’s used so much by the community”.

The cathedral was run through donations from visitors and parishioners, with no council or government funding.

By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail