Art and history from the rubble
The foundations of Invercargill’s first brick building have been exposed.
Developers Invercargill Central Ltd is clearing an almost entire inner city block to make way for a new multimillion dollar development.
Yesterday, during demolition, Heritage Properties New Zealand exposed the foundations of the first brick building in Invercargill.
It was constructed in 1863 under the former ASB building on Esk St.
Archaeologists have collected a sample of the bricks and some will be on display in the city block information hub on the corner of Tay and Dee Sts.
The foundations were cleared away by yesterday afternoon.
August has been circled as the demolition competition date for the block.
Demolition started on January 23 with a four to six-month time frame initially pencilled in for contractors Ceres NZ to complete.
The lockdown period during Covid-19 stalled demolition and the time frame was now expected to be around seven months. Invercargill Central Ltd expects the work would now be completed in August.
The old Government Life building, on the corner of Esk and Dee Sts, was set to come down in mid-July.
Archaeologists have collected a sample of the bricks and some will be on display in the city block information hub on the corner of Tay and Dee Sts.
Stage 1, 2, and 3 of the inner city block hinges on whether the council will invest a further $16 million to take the overall council investment to $46m.
Councillors will officially vote on it on Monday, although at a meeting last Monday councillors revealed their preference to stump up with the extra $16m.
Invercargill Central Ltd spokesperson Amy Hibbs the contractor to construct stages one and three will be awarded in the next fortnight.
When the council consulted the public on if it should invest a further $16m into the project, some submitters raised questions around if the complex would be able to attract enough tenants to make it viable.
To date, only Farmers and Starbucks have publicly been confirmed but Hibbs said there had been lots of discussions taking place and negotiations were progressing well.
There was little more they could say because of the commercial nature of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, Invercargill artist and community groups have played a role in brightening up the surrounds on the inner city block site.
In March Invercargill Central Ltd put the call out to anyone who wished to design and paint a panel to be put up around the block.
Hibbs was surprised by the response, both in terms of numbers and the quality of the work.
She said they had called it an art trail with more panels set to go up over time.
The hope is it will help attract people to the Invercargill city centre, Hibbs added.
Invercargill artist Kelly Oudt said it provided a good opportunity for artists to showcase the work.
The panels that have been put up to date are outside the facade of the old Southland Times building in Esk St.