https://www.rymanhealthcare.co.nz/

Ryman, Proposed Karori Retirement Village, 40 Donald Street, Wellington (2025)

10/03/2021

You may have noticed that razor wire has been installed along the top of our fence line, around the site. This is because all other attempts to keep vandals off the site have failed. Despite security patrols, fencing and timber hoarding on all of the building entry points, vandals are still climbing over the fences and accessing the site and buildings which is a major health and safety risk.

We will be installing taller poles along the fence line which will be bent inwards so that the razor wire is well inside our fence. We have also ordered warning signs, to make everyone aware of the razor wire. These signs will be installed along the fence line in the coming weeks.

05/06/2020

We would like to advise that on Monday 8th June at approx. 10.30am a machine will be delivered to site via Campbell Street.

Please feel free to get in touch with Tayla Beck if you have any concerns at tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com

18/05/2020

We would like to advise that tomorrow at around 10am a machine will be delivered to site via Campbell Street. There will be a spotter at the gate and the local school and neighbouring preschools have been advised.

Please feel free to get in touch with Tayla Beck if you have any concerns at tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com

06/05/2020

Last week we advised that the demolition contractors would be bringing equipment to site and resuming works from tomorrow. As you may have noticed, that work has started today and is permitted to do so.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Tayla Beck at Tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com

01/05/2020

We would like to advise that demolition machinery will be travelling to the Ryman Karori site on Thursday 7th May via Campbell Street. We have a permit for this route and date and will be working between the hours of 9am - 2pm, hours which have been discussed with the local school.

Once the equipment is onsite, demolition will resume under the same management plans as approved before the Covid-19 shutdown and with the addition of social distancing and hygiene management plans for all workers onsite.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Tayla Beck at Tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com

15/12/2019

Over the next few weeks and into the New Year you may notice contractors onsite as we begin the second stage of demolition, which includes demolishing all buildings approved to be demolished.

If you have any questions or concerns about the demolition, feel free to get in touch with Tayla Beck tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com

05/11/2019

Feel free to drop in next Wednesday or Thursday to view our updated plans for our proposed retirement village.

Please note, we will be staying until 7pm on the Wednesday to allow extra time for people to attend.

31/10/2019

Ryman’s re-use plans for Karori campus buildings altered for safety

Ryman Healthcare purchased the former Wellington Teachers’ Training College campus from Victoria University in late 2017.
Since then, Ryman has been developing the village design to ensure heritage features on this site are retained wherever possible.

Initial designs for the comprehensive care retirement village aimed to retain a number of the former teacher’s college buildings known as the ‘quad buildings.’

Ryman asked industry leading structural engineering firms, Mitchell Vranjes and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger to undertake rigorous structural engineering investigations of the quad buildings as part of the design process.

Based on the advice of the engineering experts, Ryman intends to retain three buildings, including the Allen Ward VC Hall, the Tennant Block and the Oldershaw musical Octagon, within the new retirement village.

These buildings can be safely upgraded without materially compromising heritage values. This means the public view of the buildings from Donald Street will be largely unchanged.
However, the experts concluded that the Waghorn and Gray buildings cannot practically and safely be upgraded for future residents and staff.

Any attempt to retrofit the buildings would also put construction workers at unacceptable risk.

Ryman acknowledges the historic values that the campus holds and so has also been working with heritage specialist DPA Architects to formulate designs for the new village which will retain strong connections with the past.

The village operator also thought it was a nice quirk of history that the site built for the education of baby boomers in the 1960s was now being converted into a different use for them in the next phase of this site’s history.

Ryman Healthcare’s Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod said the revised plans meant three of the significant buildings were still able to be retained.

“We made every effort to keep the Waghorn and Gray buildings, but Ryman is not prepared to put residents or staff at risk.

“We’re retaining three buildings with significant heritage values, and the team has come up with a sensitive design for the replacement buildings which we think will fit well with the character of the site.’’

Ryman will continue to talk to the community about the new plans for the site.

Ryman will also hold further community drop in days to present the updated plans in mid-November.

Wellington has an ageing population in line with the rest of New Zealand. The number of people aged over 75 is set to more than double over the next 30 years.

The village will include independent living options as well as resthome, hospital and dementia level care on site.

28/07/2019

We are still working through our design process and look forward to providing further updates as and when we have further information to show. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact Tayla Beck at tayla.beck@rymanhealthcare.com or by calling 0800 588 222.

06/02/2019

It was great to meet many of you at the drop-in days we held in May last year. Since then, we have advanced our plans for the site and we are holding two more drop-in days to present these and hear your views.

We welcome you to attend either of the sessions which will be held at the site (26 Donald Street), on Monday 25th February 11am-6pm & Tuesday 26th February 9am-4pm.

The drop-in days will be held in the Allen Ward hall, entry from Donald Street. There is no need to RSVP, please just arrive at a time convenient to you.

If the above times do not suit, please contact a member of our development team directly on 0800588222 to arrange a one on one meeting.

We very much look forward to seeing you!

23/01/2019

As many of you know and as our fence signage suggests, our site is currently a demolition site with many hazards. Unfortunately our perimeter fence and signage has not deferred trespassers and vandals from entering the site entrance on Donald Street, as pictured below.

Health and safety is paramount for us so to further prevent people breaking into the site and putting themselves at risk, we will be installing a chain-link fence along the Donald Street foyer entrance early next week.

We have also installed security cameras and sensor lights around the site.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our development team on 0800 588 222.

17/01/2019

As you will be aware, phase one of our deconstruction works started onsite last year including the site establishment and perimeter fence construction, asbestos removal and internal strip out of buildings.

Our contractors have now advised that phase two of deconstruction will begin on 22nd January 2019. A crane will be onsite during these works. High reach diggers will also be required, and these will start to be assembled onsite from 21st January 2019.

The initial works involved in phase two will be the removal of some of the exterior beams, columns and panels which we are proposing to keep and appropriately design into our proposed retirement village.

Please note that phase two deconstruction does not apply to the Waghorn and Quad buildings. We have also made the decision to retain and repurpose part of the Oldershaw (Octagonal shaped structure) music room.

Noise levels will be constantly monitored to ensure we do not exceed permitted levels.

Our contractors will start deconstructing the Theatre and Lecture Block in the first week of February.

Please note that our contractors are required and will continue to abide by the construction traffic management plan and noise regulations. Hours of operation will continue to be Monday – Friday, 7.30am – 6.00pm, Saturday, 8.00am – 2.00pm with no truck movements between the hours of 8.15am- 9.00am and 2.45pm-3.30pm, Monday – Friday.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our development team on 0800 588 222.

10/12/2018

Hi All,

We wanted to give a quick update on our site in Karori before the Christmas Break. We are still in ‘Phase one’ of the demolition process, which involves the asbestos removal and internal strip out of all buildings. As you will be aware, before ‘Phase two’ commences we will be sending out another update so everyone is informed.

We are continuing conversations with Council, Heritage NZ and a number of stakeholders and interested parties. Our architects, in conjunction with a heritage architect, are currently working on the external design and aesthetics of the proposed retirement village. We are aiming for a design that compliments, not replicates, the original Campus Quad buildings which we propose to retain.

We will be holding further community drop in days early in 2019. These drop-in days are an opportunity for neighbours, stakeholders and interested parties to come along and share views on our proposal and advanced plans. Details of these drop-in days will be posted on this page, as well as newspaper adverts.

We have received a few questions relating to the demolition traffic management plan and the noise monitors that are in place, so we thought it would be beneficial to address all questions in summary, as below.

Demolition Traffic Management Plan:
• Phase 1 involves the removal of all internal fit-out. This work will be carried out mostly by hand and using small light weight excavators and loaders that can work within the building.
• Access to the site will be from Donald Street only
• Hours of operation during demolition phase one will be:
o Monday – Friday, 7.30am – 6.00pm
o Saturday, 8.00am – 2.00pm
o No truck movements between the hours of 8.15am- 9.00am and 2.45pm-3.30pm, Monday – Friday.
• Truck sizes are limited to a length of 8m
• There is a pedestrian spotter at the entry / exit to assist in ensuring pedestrian safety

Noise Assessment:
• The internal strip out works in Phase 1 comply with all noise regulations
• Tools currently being used include; elevated work platforms and concrete saws
• When Phase 2 begins, noise monitoring will be in place along the boundaries of the site. A notification will go out before Phase 2 begins
• During Phase 2, where possible, breaking up of the structure will be taken to a central point to reduce noise volumes at the boundary
• During Phase 2, tools used will include but are not limited to; bobcats, dust fighter on a tandem trailer, excavators varying in size, hydraulic breakers and cracker jaws.

We look forward to seeing you at the drop-in days next year however in the meantime, feel free to get in touch with a member of our development team with any questions or queries regarding the site on 0800 588 222.

We wish you all a happy and safe Christmas break!

24/10/2018

Hi All,

On 29 & 30 October there will be contractors onsite, employed by Victoria University, to remove a data crate which is property of Victoria University. It is unlikely that the works will cause any disturbance as they will be contained within the Ryman site.

Please be assured that the works will be carried out following all health and safety regulations.

If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our development team members on 0800 588 222.

Thanks.

05/10/2018

Good afternoon,

You may have received a letter or have seen our face book post over the last few days advising of works about to start on our Karori site, please note that this refers only to stage one of the demolition process. During stage one we will be completing site establishment which will involve constructing a perimeter fence, asbestos removal and internal strip out of buildings. During this stage, the works will be contained within the buildings, externally the buildings won’t look any different as the windows and doors will still be intact and there will be no demolition of the structure or exterior of any buildings during stage one.

Stage two involves demolition of only the buildings approved to be demolished, this does not include the quad buildings and octagon as these will be retained. Stage two works are dependent on the completion dates of stage one however as soon as we have an expected start date and time frame for stage two we will be sending out further communication.

If you have any questions please get in touch with a member of our development team on 0800 588 222.

03/10/2018

Update on Karori Campus site

As you will be aware, Ryman Healthcare is proposing to construct and operate a comprehensive care retirement village on the former Victoria University Teachers College site.

We are working through the design phase and will be commencing site preparation works early. We will be retaining buildings known as the quad buildings and these do not form part of the demolition approval or site preparation works. Please refer to the attached plan.

To redevelop the site, we first need to carry out demolition of some buildings which will occur in two stages.

Stage one will involve site establishment and an internal strip out of all buildings on site. Asbestos testing has been completed throughout all buildings and the results showed the presence of asbestos. This will be removed by a licenced contractor in accordance with a construction management plan and the New Zealand Health and Safety at Work Regulations 2016.

Stage two will involve demolition of the buildings that are approved to be demolished. These are deemed structurally unsafe and/or not suitable to be repurposed given their specialist institutional design.

Before any works can commence, we will be installing a secure fence around the perimeter of the site and terminating all services within this perimeter. There will be no public access through the site from 8 October 2018, however the playing fields along Campbell Street and the cricket nets are still freely available for public use during this time. The public walkway that runs between our northern boundary and Karori Swimming Pool will also remain open for public access.

During this time, there will be some construction traffic in the area. Vehicle and pedestrian safety is paramount for us, particularly the safety of the children at the neighbouring school. We will have a traffic controller / truck spotter at the site entry and pedestrian fencing will be located on the footpath surrounding the site.

Trucks will be managed so they do not meet or pass each other while travelling along Donald Street and while entering or exiting our site. All trucks will be following the guidelines set out in our construction traffic management plan. To further ensure safety of pedestrians and school traffic, truck movements will be limited during school peaks of 8.15-9.00am and 2.45-3.30pm.

We plan to have the first stage of the demolition process underway in approximately 4 weeks’ time with an expected timeframe of 15 weeks.

For further updates please keep an eye out on this page.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our development team on 0800588222.

30/05/2018

Good morning Karori!

To update you all, since we held the community drop in days earlier this month, our team has been busy meeting with a variety of community groups while also speaking with locals who have great interest in the site. We are also continuing conversations with the Council and Heritage NZ.

Over the next few months our architects will continue working on designs which we will display and invite feedback on at further community drop in days.

For all further updates and information, please keep watching this page! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them on this page or alternatively you can get in touch with a member of our development team by calling 0800 588 222.

Ryman, Proposed Karori Retirement Village