Wellington City Council says the team at LT McGuiness have been hard at work demolishing the Civic Administration Building (CAB), which was irreparably damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.
The demolition and future redevelopment of the CAB site is a key part of restoring Te Ngākau Civic Square.
Preparation for the works involved two months of the team stripping CAB of its furnishing, says site manager, Robert Janes.
“It’s all about planning ahead—we can’t just rock up and smash things down,” he said.
Most of the furniture was donated to charities, schools, and other council locations, to reduce site waste and give back to the community.
To ensure the safety of the 30-member team working in the earthquake-damaged building, more than 100 metal support frames have been evenly placed on each floor, as temporary protection from the deep cracks and bent metal resulting from earthquakes.
“There are some fairly scary cracks in these buildings,” says Mr Janes.
“I’ve been in construction for a long time, and I’m very glad this building is coming down.”
As CAB is connected to the Municipal Office Building (MOB), the team has installed temporary shrink-wrap on the side of the building to prevent Wellington’s infamous winds from blowing out the windows of MOB as the demolition progresses.
Preparations also involved organising the transportation of three small diggers, to the roof of the building, with the help of a large crane. The crane has been carefully positioned outside Civic Square as to not overwhelm the infrastructure underneath the ground.
The crane – weighing 140 tonnes – moved three small diggers, each weighing between 3.5 – 17 tonnes, to the roof of CAB to help with the demolition. They will be re-lifted onto the floor below at the end of each demolishment stage.
“We’re stoked that the diggers were lifted on a still Wellington Day,” laughs Mr Janes.
The demolition is progressing from the top floor down, with an average of 60 tonnes of materials removed each day.
“We aim to demolish one floor every two weeks, but we think we’ll be faster as the work progresses.”
The team cuts down large sections of the building, supported by equipment, and pushes the materials down to the bottom of the building through a large hole spanning all five floors of CAB.
Once at the bottom of the building, the materials are meticulously sorted to manage waste.
“All of the metal is recyclable. The glass and concrete will be recycled into aggregate to make backfill for new developments, where it will be placed underneath buildings to stabilise the ground.”
“We’re seeing workout classes in the early morning, people enjoying their lunches in the sun, and kids playing football throughout the day.”
The completed demolition of CAB and MOB will make room for a new five-star green building that will help restore Te Ngākau to its rightful place as the heart of the city, the Council said in a statement.
“The new building will provide the front-of-house functions for the Town Hall and any national music centre requirements, while adding to the green space of Civic Square,” it said.
Demolition works for CAB will be finished by February 2025, followed by demolition works for MOB completed by the end of 2025.
