Wellington tertiary students forced to relocate after historic hall deemed unsafe

Over 100 first-year students at Victoria University won’t be able to live at Weir House.

Students moved in to Victoria University of Wellington halls today, but for 120 first-year students it wasn’t into the room they had planned.

That’s because on Friday afternoon, they received email marked ‘urgent’ letting them know their wing in Weir House, called James Hutchison, was structurally vulnerable and they would be relocated to other student accommodation.

“I didn’t know anyone in Joan Stevens (hall) so I was really kind of disappointed and really kind of… well you know, my heart dropped,” student Conall Sims said.

Sims said being told two days before move-in day was “unacceptable.”

“If the university has been doing the testing for months, they really should have known before that,” he said.

Sims said notifying affected students by a phone call where questions could be asked and more information about their new accommodation could be shared would have been better.

First-year student Molly Seton said she liked the architecture of the university’s oldest hall and thought it suited her.

“It’s alright, you know, it’s life… it’s still pretty best-case scenario… at least I still get to be at Weir, you know some people had to go to other halls.

“Now I’m in a flat just up there with a couple of other people so that will be really nice and we can still go to the main building to eat and everything and join in on the activities so that will be really good,” Seton said of her new accommodation’s close proximity to Weir House.

Her friend Jaime Butler said the news came as a surprise the day before she was moving.

“That was terrifying but now knowing where we are and settling in, it’s going to be good,” she said.

Butler said she’d rather be safe living elsewhere.

Another student who didn’t want to be named said she only found out where her alternative accommodation would be on move-in day.

Her parents said the situation had been a “fiasco” with poor communication,

Victoria University for Wellington chief operating officer Mark Loveard said the building can still be legally occupied with its current seismic rating but the university took this step as a safety precaution.

“It's very unsettling and very distressing so we apologise profusely to the students and the parents involved, it wasn’t a decision we took lightly,” he said.

Loveard said on Wednesday an engineer involved in the university’s accommodation seismic testing raised a wider issue about concrete blocks supporting the building, saying there have been instances elsewhere where they have been hollow.

Further testing was carried out on Thursday which showed some were hollow.

Weir House has been assessed for several months so far.

Geotechnical soil testing will be carried out in July to avoid noise disruption and from that, the wing’s new seismic rating will be known after then.

SHARE ME

More Stories