Large blaze breaks out in Shelly Bay, cause of fire 'unknown'

What you need to know:

Police are investigating after an early morning fire on Wednesday tore through a landmark building at Shelly Bay, where a $500 million development is planned.

Nearby residents have been urged to keep doors and windows shut due to concerns about asbestos. The destroyed Sawtooth building was already slated for demolition despite opposition from the group Buy Back the Bay, which is fighting for buildings there to be saved and restored as intended in the resource consent.

“A large strong building like this does not catch fire on its own,” said group spokesperson Mary Varnham, as she called for Police and Fire and Emergency (Fenz) to investigate. Police confirmed they and Fenz were investigating.

Photos at first light on Wednesday show the razed sawtooth building has been destroyed. It was to be saved from the wrecking ball but, even before Wednesday’s blaze, was given a demolition order by the Wellington City Council in December after a report showed it and neighbouring wharves were at risk of collapse.

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Shelly Bay is where developer Ian Cassels has long planned a $500 million development with some involvement from local iwi Taranaki Whānui.

JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/The Post

Firefighters dampen down the remnants of a fire at Shelly Bay in Wellington.

But it has spent years bogged down in in-fighting, legal and consent battles, and a 525-day occupation. But the worst of the battling was recently over with construction finally getting under way.

A social media post from the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union said there no piped water at the scene meaning fire crews had to use seawater to battle the blaze.

Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed the building and land were council-owned, albeit with an agreement to lease the land to developers.

He was not certain if the fire would end up costing the council but said for now the priority was making the site safe.

A local resident on Wednesday said they woke to “popping noises” and saw “an unusual orange glow bouncing off the wall”.

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The sawtooth building at Shelly Bay after it was destroyed in a fire.

The cause of the fire in the derelict 50m by 40m building was not yet known, he said. The sawtooth building is on land owned by the Wellington City Council but leased to developers.

Fenz central shift manager Shannon Lucas said emergency services received multiple calls about 3am . It was well ablaze by the time firefighters arrived.

The fire had been out by 7am, and crews remained on scene to dampen the area.

Taranaki Whānui chairperson Kara Puketapu-Dentice said his main concern was confirming nobody was inside the structure.

Many of the other buildings at Shelly Bay had already been demolished to make way for the development but a popular cafe building remained there, he confirmed.

Juan Zarama Perini/Stuff

The smouldering remains of the old sawtooth buildng at Shelly Bay.

A statement from Mau Whenua, the group that led the 525-day-occupation at Shelly Bay, expressed sadness at the loss of the “iconic, and lately controversial” Sawtooth building.

“However our main concern is that no one was hurt, the negative effects on the environment are not too far-reaching and that the brave Fenz staff are ok after having to deal with such a dangerous situation.”

Motukairangi/Eastern ward councillor Sarah Free was at Shelly Bay about a week ago and said most of the wharves had by then been demolished but the sawtooth building remained.

Most other buildings at Shelly Bay had been cleared for the development except for the former officers’ mess.

Juan Zarama Perini/Stuff

The smouldering ruins of the sawtooth building at Shelly Bay

The long-running saga of Shelly Bay was just – once again – being litigated on Tuesday.

Developers are still trying to fend off claims from opponents, Mau Whenua, a group of Taranaki Whānui members, opposed to an earlier sale of Māori land there to developers.

Mau Whenua had previously filed High Court proceedings aimed at stopping the development and reversing the land sale.

That proceeding was abandoned but more recently Mau Whenua has turned to the Maori Land Court which provisionally agreed to hear its claim.

JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff

A picture of the buildings at Shelly Bay before the blaze that destroyed any remaining structures on the waterfront.

In a document dated June 6, which Stuff has seen, Shelly Bay Taikuru Ltd, the company that now owns the Shelly Bay land, asked the Māori Land Court for permission to appeal against its provisional decision to hear the Mau Whenua case.

Mau Whenua alleges there was not enough support for the sale of land for it to proceed and that the buyers knew that.

In the latest document Shelly Bay Taikuru Ltd said the Māori Land Court case was an abuse of process for a variety of reasons, and that the land was now general land, and the Māori Land Court did not have jurisdiction.

The High Court would have been the proper place to challenge the sale, but Mau Whenua had chosen to abandon that case, the document said.

It is understood the High Court proceedings failed after filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson pulled financial backing in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 525-day occupation at Shelly Bay came to an end in May 2022. It had started as a one-man sentry the day after the Wellington City Council agreed to sell and lease its land there to developers.

But that was just one twist in a long saga at the bay, which was once an Air Force base.

Taranaki Whānui bought most of the land at Shelly Bay using its cash payment from its Treaty of Waitangi settlement money but, after a deal with filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson to build a film museum fell flat, its future was uncertain.

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Firefighters battle Shelly Bay blaze in Wellington.

Then developer Ian Cassels came on the scene with a plan for a $500 million development there.

But the sale to Cassels was voted down by members but then sold to him in smaller parcels, avoiding the need for it to go to a members’ vote.

Meanwhile, a separate stoush was brewing with the Wellington City Council granting the development -of 350 homes, a retirement village, and more via a non-notified resource consent, cutting out the chance for public submissions.

Local outrage led to that decision being chucked out and the resource consent going to a panel of independent commissioners looking into it and eventually granting consent.

While the occupation ended in May 2022, opposition to the earlier sale of iwi land did not die with a number of smaller protests there.

This included a rival group, which largely started out of the 23-day occupation of Parliament, then moved to a bay near Shelly Bay when that ended in early 2022.

Adding to the recent unrest was the controversial demolition of buildings there that were meant to be retained in the development but then found to be structurally unsound and needed to be demolished.