Eyal Aharoni: property mogul says earthquake strengthening rule changes unlikely to slow down Wellington projects

A property mogul developing some of Wellington’s most infamous quake-prone sites has voiced support for recent Government changes, but says these won't slow down his large-scale projects.

Eyal Aharoni is currently working on reopening the long-closed Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place and the nearby Amora Hotel, which closed in 2019 and 2017 respectively because of earthquake damage.

Earlier this week, the Government confirmed it was watering down existing earthquake strengthening rules in a bid to balance safety and affordability.

Aharoni revealed why he's still determined to get these projects done.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
The owner of two of Wellington's most infamous earthquake prome
buildings says the new strengthening rules which were announced this
week aren't going to make them changes reno plans. El
Aharni is developing Reading Cinema on Courtney Place and the
Amora Hotel, which have both been shut for years because
of earthquake damage, and he's with us now eyol, Hello, Hello, Hello,
Why have you decided to stick to the old rules.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well, we're lost sticking to the old rules the new look.
First of all, I have to say that I only
know about the changes from the media and from a
bit of a brief so so I'm not that familiar.
You know, I'm not sure if I got it all right.
But they haven't. They changed the requirement off that you
don't need to strengthen answer from buildings if you don't

(01:00):
want to. But the markets, we believe the market and
us will require more resilient buildings, so we will. You know,
in fact, the Reading Cinema we've already committed to some
tenants to go there and they all assets to bring
the building to to a better rating than than just
over the aspect on threshold. And also the insurance. You know,

(01:24):
we all needed to have insurance, and the insurance doesn't
see a building with low seismic rating. And also we've
we've been through a few esquakes and we know that
the rating, the strength and needs actually improved the performance
of the building in an ethuk And we spent we're
going to spend a lot of money on this building,
put a new feet at and you know we don't
want to spend all that money and have another small

(01:46):
ethpect and we all have to do it all again.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I understand. So what do you what do you
think insurance is going to expect? Is insurance going to
look at the new rules and simply accept them.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well, I don't think the rules. Look as I said,
I'm not an engineer, and I don't think the rules
has changed. You still still have a building which is
weak and the building which is strong, and the insurance
won't have a strong building to protect the insurance. So
whether the government doesn't force you to bring it over
thirty four percent or not, doesn't I don't believe it

(02:21):
we're going to make any difference to the insurance.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, so the insurance, I mean obviously for some smaller buildings,
it will have an impact, right, because if you have
a building under under under three stories, you're you're not
really required to do anything. Do you think insurance is
going to be okay about that?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well, I think it depends on the top of the building. Again,
if it's non reinforced building, I believe the insurance will
still want you to do some work on it. Yeah,
I don't believe the insurance. Look, it's it's a it's
a it's a government arbitrary decision whether you need to
fix the building or not. I don't think it makes

(03:00):
any difference to the insurance. They're still going to have
a look at their risks, what happened to the building
and how much is going to spend on it if
if something happens.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
By the way, when need your build things opening.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Well we you know, we will hope for the reading
to open at the end of next year. That more
is going to take longer, but probably a year.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
After twenty six and twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, that's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I mean, this is going to be significant isn't it,
Because those are two buildings in a very crucial part
of Wellington that have really shut down that part of
It's had an effect, hasn't it on that part of town.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
I look, there's a lot of empty buildings, but these
two stand out, so people perceive them to be to
make a big difference. Maybe the reading does. I don't
know about them more. Yeah, yeah, hey, I'm raised a
very significant building.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
But yeah, absolutely, Eel thank you so much for you
time appreciated. E LAHRONI who's a property owner in Wellington.
Hither I'm in insurance. I'm a broker and the new
rules will have no impact on insurance and trying to
place insurance for buildings that are constructed under a certain
percentage that are going to fall over in strong quakes,
and insurance will judge this accordingly.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
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