The fire-damaged former Briscoes building at the Dee and Spey streets corner can be demolished, after an independent hearing commissioner granted resource consent on Friday.

Commissioner Paula Costello heard the application on 15 October and released her decision on 30 October, the Otago Daily Times reported. The 1882 building is listed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga as a Category 2 historic place, and the Invercargill City District Plan gives it protection, which is why demolition required a consent and a hearing.

The Troopers' Memorial at the Dee and Tay streets intersection, one of the heritage landmarks on the same stretch of Dee Street as the fire-damaged Briscoes building. Photo: Mr Bungle / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5
The Troopers' Memorial at the Dee and Tay streets intersection, one of the heritage landmarks on the same stretch of Dee Street as the fire-damaged Briscoes building. Photo: Mr Bungle / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5

The building was gutted in September 2023 when, according to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, an electric blanket caught fire. Six people were evacuated, and a boy aged 10 was hospitalised with severe burns. Two months later the council declared the building dangerous and insanitary.

Since then shipping containers have sat on the footpath beneath the unsupported upper walls to protect pedestrians, and weeds have taken root in the shell. Neighbouring business owners have called it an eyesore.

The owner, 104 Dee Street Partnership, applied in October 2025 to demolish the building and clear the site for a new commercial development. In its application, reported by The Southland Tribune in September, the partnership said repair costs were beyond it and were not covered by insurance.

Engineering estimates put before the hearing ranged from about $2.2 million to keep only the Dee Street facade, to more than $10 million to retain both street facades and rebuild behind them. A separate engineering report described the building as a significant hazard, with both facades' eastern ends lacking support all the way from first-floor level up to the parapet top, and a roof collapse highly possible.

Heritage New Zealand initially opposed the application but later said the owners had addressed some of its concerns and had genuinely explored alternatives to demolition.

Looking south along Dee Street past the war memorial in March 1969, when the street's Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings were still largely intact. Photo: Archives New Zealand / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Looking south along Dee Street past the war memorial in March 1969, when the street's Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings were still largely intact. Photo: Archives New Zealand / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Ms Costello weighed the building's heritage significance, its structural condition, the options and costs of keeping all or part of it, and how the effects of demolition would be managed. Her consent carries conditions on heritage salvage, archaeological monitoring, vibration, protection of neighbouring buildings, traffic and environmental management, and heritage design requirements for whatever replaces it.

Once the building is down, the site must be cleared, made safe and kept tidy until a replacement that fits the Invercargill City Centre Heritage Guidelines 2025 is built. The owners have said their aim is to sell the cleared site to a developer.

Acting mayor Grant Dermody called the building "a blight" on the city centre that had stood for three years, and said the council understood frustration at how long the process had taken, the ODT reported. He described the decision as a positive step that gave a clear path to a resolution.

In September, Invercargill Licensing Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay told The Southland Tribune the trust's neighbouring Waxy's bar and restaurant had suffered a downturn and that something had to happen "sooner rather than later" for the city's benefit. Council chief executive Michael Day said at the time that neither councillors nor management could predetermine the outcome of the statutory process.

No demolition date has been announced. The consent decision can be appealed to the Environment Court within the statutory period, after which the owners can begin the heritage salvage and demolition work set out in the conditions.