1. Donaghy’s Rope Walk. 2. The former Otago Education Board Offices on the corner of Jetty and Crawford Sts. 3. 148 King Edward St. 4. 118-122 Princes St. 5. 126 Princes St. 6. 378 Princes St. 7. 380 Princes St. 8. 386 Princes St. 9. 232 Rattray St. 10. Taiaroa Head Fog Station. Photos: Gerard O'Brien

The owners of Dunedin's most neglected heritage buildings have been outed by the city council.

In its new heritage monitoring programme the Dunedin City Council has identified the buildings most at risk of being lost because of poor condition or lack of use.

There were 774 heritage buildings listed in the council's second generation plan assessed by staff and 24 were found to be at risk.

Of those, 11 appeared to have no restoration work under way or planned, so have been given a negative designation.

In its new heritage monitoring programme the Dunedin City Council has identified the city's heritage buildings most at risk of being lost due to poor condition, including one of the historic terraced houses in the Manor Terrace complex in Manor Pl.

The list included buildings such as the Taiaroa Head Fog House, the Donaghy's Rope Walk building in South Dunedin and the former Otago Education Board Offices on the corner of Jetty and Crawford Sts.

Council heritage planner Dan Windwood said the assessment was not a judgement but rather a way for the council to prioritise buildings and owners which might need more assistance.

Some buildings listed at risk, such as Cargill's Castle, were physically in a bad state but had a plan to revitalise them which put them at less of a risk than some others, he said.

Simple interventions such as repainting peeling timber work and render would help protect the buildings and improve their appearance. Assistance could be granted through the Dunedin Heritage Fund.

Mr Windwood hoped the first list would be used as a base on which to judge any progress owners had made in improving their buildings.

Improvements made during the upgrade of the central city in and around George St and Princes St included in the 10-year plan could act as a trigger to support improvements and take advantage of the increased attractiveness of the area, he said.

Dunedin Heritage Fund chairman Cr David Benson Pope said as well as incentives for property owners there was a need for penalties for those who continued to neglect their buildings.

Cr Benson-Pope said there would be work through the rates advisory working group to investigate ways the council could charge more to owners who continued to neglect their buildings.

''I'm keen to come up with some sort of tool in the rating mechanism that will encourage these people who are letting us down to perform a bit better.''

But two heritage property owners who spoke to the Otago Daily Times yesterday said any penalty would do the opposite of what Cr Benson-Pope intended.

Developer Roger Bray, who owns the former Otago Education Board Offices, said any penalty would mean more properties being demolished or left to deteriorate.

''It's a commercial proposition and there needs to be a commercial incentive for developers to take on properties like ours and if they think they might get hit with a larger rates bill they aren't going to do it.''

Mr Bray said work continued on his building and he was still actively looking for buyers.

''One or two sales and away we'll go and are making good progress on the earthquake-strengthening too.''

Another at-risk property owner, Christchurch developer Christian Jordan, said his property in Manor Pl needed earthquake-strengthening. A higher rates bill would mean developing the property would be less viable.

He bought the property after a fire in 2001 and said since then he had almost no contact from the council.

Developers did not buy properties to lose money and when market conditions were favourable they would start to upgrade them, Mr Jordan said.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz