A Changing role for Peter Reed

Posted Friday, August 27 2010.

Peter Reed, who joined the practice in 1993 and was a founding Director of Salmond Reed Architects Limited has recently retired from his role as a director. However, this doesn’t mean we will be seeing less of him in the practice or that his influence, especially in his specialist areas of conservation, building pathology and the diagnosis and repair of construction defects will be any the less.

Peter says he has no intention of retiring from Salmond Reed in the medium term and that he will continue to work in the practice and provide practical and mentoring assistance as usual, albeit with a little more flexibility in his working hours.

“This decision was driven by my desire for freedom to pursue special personal projects which you can’t always accommodate into the directorship role. . .and of course my stepping back a bit allows our younger directors to come forward and play a greater role in the future development of the practice”

In the past Peter has worked on a diverse range of projects, from West Coast gold mining remnants to cathedrals in each of the four main centres, and from the reconstruction of a coral building in Rarotonga to light houses. He has a passionate interest in a diverse range of conservation and building techniques. Very recently he has been involved in a special project in the Chatham Islands where he has been “hands-on” with the installation of metal ties to enhance the seismic resistance of an 1866 masonry building constructed by a German missionary group.

Work on this building - the only early masonry building on the island - has involved Peter in two trips to the Chathams where, in his usual style, he has got to know the locals and assisted them with some smaller restoration projects along the way.

One of these smaller projects involved saving an original ponga whare which had become completely engulfed by vegetation the vigorous growth of which was forcing the structure apart. In a “hands-on” operation this all had to be painstakingly pruned and lifted off the structure by crane to reveal the original building.

Other historic features of the Chathams also captured Peter’s interest – particularly the remnants of early inhabitation such as the unique stone carvings pictured.

“My involvement in the Chathams is somewhat open-ended and planning and undertaking projects such as these, which can take me away from the office for a prolonged period, would be much more difficult if I was still a director – I feel I can now contemplate special projects such as assisting with disaster relief overseas, for example, when and if I feel like making that input”

Of course this decision will also leave Peter with a little more freedom to indulge himself in one of his other passions – motorbikes, new and old.