The son of New Zealand’s first Maori architect says the planned destruction of one of his father John Scott’s most significant buildings is an attempt to deny Ngati Ruapani a place at Lake Waikaremoana.
Hawke’s Bay designer Jacob Scott says he was asked by the Department of Conservation earlier this year to help it salvage material from the visitor’s centre at Aniwaniwa to be used in a new centre it is building with Ngai Tuhoe.
DOC says Aniwaniwa is unsafe, but inspections by architects and engineers during a recent occupation by Ngati Ruapani found it was still sound despite being closed since 2008.
He says from a meeting with Tuhoe’s Tamati Kruger and Kirsti Luke it became clear the larger iwi had no interest in the category one heritage listed building being reinstated.
"It’s about much more than just a building. As I see it and have pieced together it's also about denying Ruapani a place around the lake (Waikaremoana)," says Jacob Scott.
