REUSING DEFENCE SITES
Possible uses for surplus property.

        Defence sites - what uses can they be turned to when surplus to Defence Department requirements?. They usually sit around for years after the military have moved out before being "disposed of". In this day and age we are constantly being told to Recycle and Re-use and yet structures originally built for military use are still being demolished when they can be reused for civilian purposes. This article sets out to suggest possible uses for surplus military sites. These are not the only possibilities as there are probably others that have not occurred to me.

Air Force bases (ie. Ohakea)
If it was closed down would be suitable as film studios much like George Lucas did with an ex-Rolls Royce factory in England for some of the Star Wars sets. The hangers would provide a high-roofed space suitable for building sets within and base accommodation could be used for film crews etc. An Air force base usually has workshops, which could be converted for use in set construction, equipment maintenance and anamatronics construction. Such a use would be valuable as it has a runway and is no more than an hours flight from Wellington (the home of the Weta and Camperdown Studios owned by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame.) and Auckland.

Another use would be for an aviation business "cluster" ". A cluster is where a group of businesses operating in the same industry, but offering complimentary services group together to promote themselves. Such a cluster could provide maintenance and repair services for airplanes (like a auto-mechanics workshop does for cars), plane storage, pilot training, be a base for flying companies who do top-dressing, aerial surveys etc.

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Naval Bases
One of the more obvious uses would be for use as a base of operations for fishing fleets. However with this use there are environmental issues. Alternatively the base could be used to accommodate a maritime business "cluster". For example there could be a ship/boat provisioning company, another one dealing with maritime electronics, maritime mechanics, sailors hostel etc. Also if the base has a slip way then repair facilities can be provided for vessels.

Drill halls
They could be adapted to community halls or sports club halls. However questions would arise as to who would pay the purchase price and any renovations/upgrades if used as a community hall. Another factor affecting the viability of this use of drill halls is the value of the underlying land in areas when the real estate values are on the rise.

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Military camps
There are a number of possible uses for military camps however the value of the underlying land is a major consideration. Fort Dorset was subdivided into two up-market subdivisions and a new larger Seatoun School. The subdivisions are prime real estate in a suburb with little room for new housing.
Possible uses could be any of the following:
U.S. style summer camp for kids, Adapted for use as a school or tertiary training establishment. Children's Health camp (although for this the Health Camp Board would need additional funding), Minimum security prison (although a military camp would need new fencing and security) or even a Conference center with accomodation.

Magazines
These could be used as storage facilities. Many larger towns and cities now have places where anybody can hire sheds or "lock ups" to store almost anything. Such a company could use them without much alteration. A chemical or pyrotechnics company could (if they are at an isolated location) use them as hazardous goods/explosives storage.

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Coastal Batteries/ Gun Emplacements
The nature of the site would determine what uses gun emplacements could have. If the site has several (or more) emplacements connected to underground tunnels, magazines etc. then this could be restored by a preservation society and periodically opened to the public as a tourist attraction and/or museum. The admission fees would then contribute towards maintenance and restoration (although grants board /local authority funding may also be needed). However care would be needed so as to not price such admission out of the "local" (residents of the local town) visitor market.
The Wrights Hill Fortress above Karori in Wellington, New Zealand has been cared for in such a manner. There has been TV filming on a few occasions and even a wedding held within it.

The Halswell battery in Wellington was roofed over and converted into the Massey Memorial (with the Massey's interred within. However this sort of use could be destructive to some aspects of the site.
The Gardens Battery, in Wellington's Botanical Gardens had seismological instruments for detecting and measuring earthquakes emplaced within it's magazines for years Unfortunately an internal wall was demolished during this use..

Missile silos
We don't have any of these in New Zealand.
Could they be converted into storage tanks for irrigation water? Use as a Grain Silo?? Of course any chemicals/chemical residue would have to be cleaned up first.

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To Conclude
If a military site has significant historical value be it social, technological or architectural then the Government or Local body heritage authority should at least ensure that it could not be demolished.

The reason why this article has been written is to suggest possible uses for various types of defence sites once they have been deemed surplus to requirement. This is to get people thinking about utilising the buildings on the sites rather than simply demolishing them or letting them run down to a point where they can no longer be used and must be demolished. The purposes suggested here are only a few possibilities. There are other possible uses for these sites.

Our built military heritage needs to be preserved and what remains retained. If we can put these military structures to other viable uses then we decrease the likely hood of them being demolished and forever lost. If we can extend this re-use concept to "precincts" (areas that have a number of close military sites such as Wellington's Miramar Headland or Auckland's North Head),
We can preserve not only the sites themselves but also their inter-relationship with each other.

So to summarise even with military sites that are deemed surplus to requirement we should try to Recycle and Re-use existing buildings and structures. Not only will this help to preserve the military structures but would also reduce the environmental impact often associated with construction work on new developments.

Darcy Waters
June 2003

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© Darcy Waters 2003
E-mail me on capdef@orcon.net.nz