Demolition of the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant’s fire-damaged trickling filters is about to begin, the city’s Council has announced.
Christchurch City Council has appointed Southern Demolition to carry out the work, which will start on 21 November and is expected to take four to five months to complete.
The demolition is the first stage of physical work to replace the filters with an activated sludge reactor, which will fix long-standing odour issues.
Christchurch City Council Head of Three Waters, Gavin Hutchison says the move marks the start of an exciting new phase for the project.
“Since settling with our insurers we’ve been focused on getting demolition started. We know how important a permanent fix is to the local community, and we’ve been working hard to get boots on the ground as soon as possible,” he said.
“Residents will be able to see changes at the site happening very quickly. We’re aiming to have the walls of the trickling filters down by Christmas and in the new year we’ll shift our focus to removing the foundations.”
“The next stage of work will be construction of the activated sludge reactor. Design work is currently underway, and it’s expected to take up to three years to get the new solution up and running.”