The Reserve Bank has confirmed its central Wellington building has been closed since last Friday, and might not reopen for nearly a fortnight, due to asbestos.

The building, at 2 The Terrace, is known to urgently need refurbishing due to “encapsulated asbestos”.

However, a routine building-wide survey done last Thursday found “isolated disturbance of asbestos”.

The Reserve Bank said the area was contained. But coincidentally, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake closed the building that evening, as air quality monitoring had to be done.

“Assurance testing has since been completed, however, the building needs to remain closed while the asbestos disturbance is remediated, as fire sprinkler systems on a key emergency exit floor need to be deactivated,” the Reserve Bank said.

“The health and safety of our staff and tenants is a priority. Therefore, the building has been closed while remediation works take place, which could take until November 24.”

While Wellington staff are now working from home, the central bank didn’t expect the disruption to impact its services.

Planning has been under way to refurbish the building, which is in the vicinity of underground maximum-security cash vaults that also need refurbishing.

The Reserve Bank has been warning ministers of the need to upgrade the vaults and cash processing system – deemed to be infrastructure of “national significance” - for more than a decade. The asbestos is an added complication to the project.

This isn’t the first time asbestos has caused a temporary closure of the building.

Construction to refurbish the vaults is expected to begin next year, while construction to fix the building is due to start in 2028.

The cost associated with the work hasn’t been disclosed.

It isn’t included in the five-yearly funding agreement the Reserve Bank has with the Government which says the costs will be covered separately.

The Reserve Bank made headlines this week, when the Herald revealed the astronomic cost of its new office in Britomart, Auckland.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis gave it a hurry-up to sublet space in the building, made vacant due to the bank cutting staff as its 2025-30 funding agreement was smaller than it hoped.

Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington Business Editor, based in the Parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.