Wellington's century-old band rotunda could get new lease of life

November 22, 2018

The Oriental Bay feature's been sitting sad and empty for the past few years.

The 101-year-old band rotunda on the waterfront in Wellington's Oriental Bay could get a new lease of life, with the city council soon to assess options to revive the iconic building.

Seven Sharp reports that despite a proud history, these days the heritage structure owned by council makes for a pretty sad sight since falling into disrepair in 2012.

"It needs to be kept, but it has got major structural issues," Iona Pannett, a Wellington City Councillor said.

Grand architectural ideas, which have won an independent design competition, are providing a dreamy reimagining of just what the space could be.

Councillor Pannett said she thought the winning designs were inspiring.

The ideas are, however, set to stay as just that for now.

But the council will soon be assessing a range of options it has on the table to keep the rotunda.

"We just do need to make sure that the engineering and the design work is right," Ms Pannett said.

Wellingtonians can rest assured the future for the iconic spot is looking bright. 

"The dreams are what a city are based on, whatever kind of city you come from," Ms Pannett said. 

"And we love our harbour, it's very important to us. The waterfront is critical. So we need people to always be pushing the envelope a little bit, challenging the thinking. And so hopefully we will come up with a really really good solution for the building." 

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