66 | Shand Shelton T T Richard Loader St James – a masterpiece restored T T to page 68 ARCHITECTURE 0800 800 656 www.inzide.co.nz The Natural, Carbon Neutral* Flooring Solution Photography, Paul McCredie *Cradle to gate Congratulations Shand Shelton for an outstanding result on the St James Theatre, Wellington. Thank you for choosing Marmoleum by Forbo Following a lengthy project to strengthen and restore Wellington’s iconic St James Theatre, Shand Shelton Ltd has been aptly rewarded with success in the Heritage section of NZIA’s 2023 Wellington Architectural Awards, but to truly understand the significance of this we must travel back in time. In a past life, Roger Shand was the Wellington City Architect and was responsible for the Wellington’s Civic Centre back in the heady days when the Festival of the Arts was at its peak. Following a restructuring of the Wellington City Council in the mid ‘90s, public space projects took a back seat and Roger was left bereft of what he loves doing most. At that point he was approached by Martin Shelton who suggested they could undertake many of the public projects by creating their own architectural firm, specialising in those type of projects – and Shand Shelton was born. Roger was offered the opportunity to undertake a make-over and seismic strengthening of St James Theatre, and that was the foundation of Shand Shelton. “The theatre had been purchased by the Chase Corporation, who were going to pull it down and build a multi-storey building in its place. The theatrical community got behind it and saved it. “Wellington City Council bought it, creating a Trust to upgrade it. In 1996, we ended up being responsible for its first restoration and seismic strengthening, which was completed in 1998. So, it’s very much a personal journey for us.” At the time of Shand Shelton’s genesis, the company had an employee, Phil Conroy, an expert in theatre with multi-generational ties to the stage. When Martin left four years after Shand Shelton started, Phil took his place as a director, and he and Roger have been a professional and complementary item ever since, delivering the ‘Sets’ for theatrical magic in an architectural and technical sense. “Phil’s love of theatre complemented with my background restoring heritage buildings for Wellington City meant we had a very good fit. Over the years we’ve had a huge amount of enjoyment working with people who perform in the theatre, extracting an architectural brief, conserving and developing heritage buildings.”
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