Game changer for Whanganui heritage buildings
The Whanganui District Council has a new young heritage adviser who wants to help.
"I'm so happy to be back in Whanganui bringing what I have got to help the town, because I'm really passionate about the place," Scott Flutey said.
Brought up in Whanganui he studied history to honours level at Victoria University, then did a Masters of Museum and Heritage Practice. He's done heritage research at Whanganui's Alexander Heritage & Research Library in Napier and at Te Papa Tongarewa.
He's been working at the council since October, and is already "pretty busy" answering questions, giving advice and making site visits.
Flutey is the council's first point of contact for heritage matters, and already bringing considerable value, Whanganui District Council planning manager Hamish Lampp said.
He would like to see Whanganui's inner city heritage kept and treasured, with buildings strengthened, refurbished and in use. He's happy to be consulted about new developments too.
"I'm not there to say 'You can't do this'. I'm there to say 'This is what might work'."
There are fewer barriers to converting the upper storeys of central city buildings into apartments than you might think, he said.
He is part-funded by Government's Heritage EQUIP initiative, and helps people apply to it for funds to strengthen buildings against earthquakes.
He also advises on upgrades to inner city facades from the council's $100,000/year Heritage Grant Fund. It will pay 80 per cent of an upgrade that costs less than $15,000, and up to 50 per cent of more costly upgrades.
In its first 18 months the fund has already upgraded many building exteriors.
"I see that as a real game-changer."
One Heritage EQUIP project links eight buildings - one of them with Heritage New Zealand status - together for earthquake strengthening. The buildings have five different owners.
Flutey's father is George Flutey, a carpenter who works at Whanganui Collegiate School, and he's done a heritage woodwork course in Melbourne. He likes a site visit.
"I like to be hands-on. It helps to have technical knowledge. I don't think you can do this job if you are just theoretical," he said.
He's excited about Whanganui's range of heritage sites. The 2013 Wheeler Report gave the annual worth of the town's built heritage as $40 million.
There are 306 heritage sites listed in Whanganui's District Plan, which can be searched online. They are not all buildings.
The Durie Hill Elevator, navigation aids at Castlecliff and a former tram stop in upper Aramoho are all listed. Then there are precincts, such as a College Estate street that is all Californian bungalows, a St John's Hill street of modernist houses and a row of single-bay villas in Keith St.
Sometimes what's considered heritage is surprising, Flutey said. The Whanganui War Memorial Centre was an oddity in an Edwardian city centre, and is now "iconic" and a Category 1 Heritage New Zealand historic place.
"There's lots of people who come to Whanganui because they're so interested in the architecture."
•Flutey welcomes inquiries and can be contacted by emailing scott.flutey@whanganui.govt.nz .
Laurel Stowell
Whanganui Chronicle 29/2/20
