8 Feb 2011

Push to preserve waterfront buildings

1:38 pm on 8 February 2011

Heritage campaigners say it is important that a clutch of buildings on Auckland's waterfront are preserved as part of the city's industrial past.

The eight buildings sit in the area known as the tank farm, or Wynyards Quarter, which is undergoing extensive redevelopment.

The buildings were erected in the 1920s and 30s and are currently occupied by marine shops and restaurants.

News that they are under threat follows a public outcry at the demolition of three Spanish Mission-style houses in St Heliers.

The Art Deco Society and the former Regional Council had been involved in a court battle with the former Auckland City Council over plans to abandon the buildings.

Society chair Dorothy McHattie says now the Regional Council has gone, the society wants the Waitemata Local Board to take up the challenge in the Environment Court.

She says while the buildings are not glamorous, they are a part of Auckland's history.

She says the eight buildings only make up 1% of the total area.