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 (00:00):
Now, the owner of two of Wellington's most infamous earthquake
prome buildings, says the new strengthening rules which are 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 eyel Hello, Hello, Hello,
Why have you decided to stick to the old rules.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, we're lost sticking to the old rules the new look.
First of all, I have to say 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 of that. You don't
need to strengthen answer phone buildings if you don't want to.

(00:43):
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 ask us to bring the
building to a better rate than just over the aspect
on threshold and also the insurance. You know, we all

(01:08):
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 esquets and we know that the rating,
the strengthenings actually improved the performance of the building in
an ethic and we spent we're going to spend a
lot of money on this building, put a new feet out,
and you know we don't want to spend all that
money and have another small ethpec and we all have

(01:31):
to do it all again.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, I understand that. So 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 2 (01:43):
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, you still have a building which
is weak and a building which is strong. I mean,
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

(02:04):
it we're going to make any difference to the insurance.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
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 2 (02:23):
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

(02:43):
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 stand on it if
if something happens.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
By the way, when need your buildings opening.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Well we you know, we will hope for the reading
to open at the end of next year. The more
is going take longer, but probably a year after.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
So twenty six and twenty seven, Yes, that's fantastic. 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 2 (03:20):
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 a raised
a very significant building.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
But yeah, absolutely, Eale, thank you so much for you
time appreciated. E La Heroni, 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,
they are going to fall over in strong quakes and
insurance will judge this accordingly.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
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Speaker 1 (03:56):
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