The Ashburton District Council plans to sell off its obsolete civic building and library facilities.
Once the new Ashburton library and civic centre, Te Pātaka o kā Tuhituhi and Te Waharoa a Hine Paaka, is completed next year, chief executive Hamish Riach said the old buildings will be put up for sale.
“The existing council offices, that includes the main building at 5 Baring Square West and the land that currently houses council car parking, garages and the relocatable chambers, and the library building will eventually all be offered for sale.”
A report on the proposed future sale of the buildings is expected to go to the council before the end of this year, he said.
Contractor Naylor Love Canterbury is building the new $56.75 million facility which remains on track for the revised completion of mid-2023.
At that time, the outdated buildings will no longer be required.
Riach said the council would likely relocate the building used as the council chambers to the EA Networks Centre.
“Where it could easily be converted for use by sports groups and organisations, or by health professionals like physiotherapists or massage therapists.”
The three-storey council building was built in 1974 with a basement and the ability to add a fourth storey, but that was scuttled by the changes to the building standards following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Issues with the building were first signalled in 2004 and while a new facility was on the radar, the council’s administration building has been periodically reshaped internally to accommodate growing staff numbers and changing community needs.
The earthquake-damaged library on Havelock Street was built around 1963 and has had several additions to the building over the years.
The new library, Te Pātaka a kā Tuhituhi, will be a major upgrade, both in size and modernity, from the existing library.
The project received $20 million from the Government’s shovel-ready infrastructure programme.

• By Jonathan Leask