Uplifting the CBD - Wendy advocates for Municipal building investment
“Councillor Wendy Schollum said the unfinished building is a ‘gaping wound’ and if it is not completed it would stop the investment in the arts precinct from being fully realised.
She said the entire Toitoi complex has multi-generational benefits to the community. As a child, she had performed in the Municipal Building and gone to a school ball there.
‘'There are countless people with those stories,’ she said.”
Quote from Hawke’s Bay Today 15 September 2020
The Hawke’s Bay Opera House and adjacent Municipal Building in central Hastings were closed in 2014 after engineers determined they did not meet the new earthquake regulations imposed after the Christchurch earthquakes.
While the beloved 105-year-old Opera House was earthquake strengthened and reopened in 2020, the heritage Municipal Building's future was left at risk when increasing costs meant the approved refurbishment budget fell short.
Wendy actively advocated for the preservation of the stunning building seeing both its value as part of Hastings history and its potential as part of the wider Toi Toi Arts and Events Centre.