Demolition set to commence on quake-hit building

The whole building could be down in about 10 days. Wellington City Council spokesman Richard Maclean

Moves to demolish 61 Molesworth St in central Wellington are set to begin on Monday, a week after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

If everything went absolutely according to plan, the whole building could be down in about 10 days, Wellington City Council emergency operations centre spokesman Richard Maclean said on Sunday.

The process would start with the first storey of the building, and an 85-tonne crane would be brought in to ‘‘basically chew the building to bits’’ over the following days.

The cordon around Molesworth St would remain in place.

Meanwhile, stabilisation work is expected to begin on Reading cinema car park in the coming weeks, before its potential demolition.

And delays were expected on The Terrace from Sunday afternoon after a crane was brought in at 1pm to remove parts of the exterior of Intergen House, at 45-51 The Terrace.

The damaged building in Molesworth St was ‘‘quite a complicated site’’ to demolish, Maclean said.

The total demolition was likely to take about 10 days and would be weather-dependent.

The demolition would take place from the Molesworth St side: ‘‘The entire intention of this thing is it is a low impact and doesn’t create dust.’’

Nearby businesses would be kept informed about progress.

The Molesworth St building is the only Wellington one to be demolished at this stage.

One lane directly outside Intergen House in The Terrace was closed on Sunday, and may remain closed on Monday as work on the facade continued.

Although Intergen House was found to be structurally sound, there was the possibility of some parts of the front of the building coming loose in another earthquake and these were being removed, Maclean said.

The Terrace remained open to two-way traffic, but motorists and pedestrians were encouraged to use other routes.

The Reading car park may be demolished, but first stabilisation work would be carried out over a period of three to four weeks.

‘‘We will be working with business owner to look at simplest and quickest way to stabilise the building,’’ Maclean said.

By reinforcing the building before demolishing it, the process of bringing it down would be safer and easier.

The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, at 45 Molesworth St, has been closed and services relocated until at least Sunday next week.

The Molesworth St cordon runs ‘‘nearly down the middle’’ of the church, the dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev Digby Wilkinson, said.

Sunday services were being held at St Mark’s Church and a large ordination service planned for Saturday will be held at the Hope Centre in Lower Hutt.

The church has been declared structurally sound while the church organ suffered significant damage tin the quake with pipes falling out.

Wilkinson said he was in regular contact with parishioners who lived alone, couples who were frail and younger people who were feeling anxious after the earthquake.

- Fairfax NZ