Attraction going into lockdown

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Publication title: Napier Courier, The

The current leaseholder believes a full shutdown isn’t warranted and is disappointed that the old Napier Prison’s government agency owners have made the decision

The former prison is on Crown land administered by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (Linz).

It was built in 1862 on Napier’s Bluff Hill and decommissioned as a prison in 1993.

In 2002, couple Toro and Marion Waaka leased it, and over the years, it has served as a backpackers’ lodging, an escape room and a historical tourist attraction.

The backpackers stopped operating in 2009, but the prison tours have remained popular, and the site has won tourism awards and certifications.

“Linz owns the property. They notified me last week that they wouldn’t renew my lease,” Toro Waaka told Hawke’s Bay Today last week.

He said the government agency cited safety concerns relating to a section of wall on the property, which had previously collapsed and was fenced off.

The first fences were raised after problems with structural integrity were discovered in 2022.

Matt Bradley, Linz project and hazard management delivery team manager, said at the time the former prison was one of about 900 properties managed and maintained by Linz and earmarked for future Treaty settlements.

He said an engineering assessment of the 23 walls on-site found further work was required on the retaining walls.

“Linz is currently assessing repair strategies. In the interim, fencing has been installed around the walls as a further precaution,” he said.

Bradley said an engineering assessment found the front fencing to be in poor condition but “very low risk to health and safety”.

Waaka said he believed it would still be feasible to operate parts of the prison tour successfully.

“The wall is only one part of it. At least two-thirds of the prison would not be impacted by any wall if it fell over, so why can’t the rest of the prison still be open? It’s not credible that they are using a potential collapse of a wall as a reason.”

Linz head of Crown property, Sonya Wikitera, said the prison building, which is heritage-listed, and the surrounding retaining wall presented an earthquake risk and needed strengthening work.

Wikitera said Linz gave notice to Toro Waaka on March 18 that the...