DCC may thwart plan to demolish lecture theatres

Otago Daily Times

09-05-2025

Plans to demolish award winning University of Otago lecture theatres have hit a snag as the city council moves to protect the building.
The Dunedin City Council has included the Archway Lecture Theatre building on a draft list of 146 buildings to be protected under changes to the district plan.
The council's heritage assessment says the building is unique, special and "without comparison" in Dunedin. However, the University of Otago says the building represents the "poorest quality" lecture theatres on campus and demolition had been on the cards for at least 15 years.
The proposed heritage changes will be considered at a hearing beginning on May 19.
In his written evidence, vice-chancellor Grant Robertson asked for the building not to be included on the list, saying the university was considering demolishing the theatres and the neighbouring Gregory Building — possibly replacing them with a formal garden space.
The university wanted to "maximise the value" of neo-gothic buildings on campus by developing the Union St entranceway, he said.
In March, Mr Robertson confirmed he was planning to move a significant proportion of the staff in the Clocktower building — including himself — into the consumer and applied science building.
"A formal garden space connecting the [consumer and applied sciences] building with Union St and the gothic heritage buildings of the Clocktower precinct, for example, offers a substantial enhancement to the university's heritage campus," he said.
"The Archway Lecture Theatres are a barrier to this entranceway."
The 2010 Campus Master Plan suggested removing the building in favour of a new teaching centre. However, following the Covid pandemic and "the changing nature of teaching and learning", the centre was not required.
Rather, the university had an "abundance of building space".
The Archway Lecture Theatre building was built in 1974, designed by notable Dunedin architect Ted McCoy, and won a New Zealand Institute of Architects Southern Architecture Award for Enduring Architecture in 2020.
The council's heritage assessment report proposed the entire external envelope and internal corridor be protected.
"When considered alongside other buildings on the district plan heritage schedule, the Archway Lecture Theatre is without comparison," the report said.
"This building is both unique and special to Dunedin. It also contributes to a nationwide body of Brutalist architecture."
University property and campus development director Tanya Syddall said while opposition did not come lightly, the building represented "the poorest quality" of tiered lecture theatres on campus.
"They are cold and austere, the seating uncomfortable and acoustics poor."
The building would likely be unused in about three years as demand for teaching spaces changed, making maintenance costs "impossible to justify" and demolition inevitable, she said.
Mrs Syddall said in 2010, Mr McCoy was asked about the proposal to demolish the theatres and told Master Plan lead consultant Chris Alcock "words to the effect of 'I'm fine if you want to get rid of them"'.
She said there was no timeline for any proposed demolition and the formal garden was as yet unapproved and subject to change.
The university had supported the inclusion of three of its other buildings — the former Dunedin Hospital Nurses' Home, former Queen Mary Maternity Hospital and the Hercus Building — on the heritage schedule, with some requested amendments.
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