Demolition starts on St Martins Voluntary Library

Demolition of the remaining section of St Martins Voluntary Library starts today.

The library, located on the corner of Wilson’s Road and Wades Avenue, was badly damaged in the earthquakes with the majority of it demolished under a Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) Section 38 notice.

Christchurch City Council approved demolition of the remaining third of the facility last year due to damage and differential settlement.

Last week the Council approved funding for a replacement community centre on the site of the former library as part of its $40 million facilities repair and rebuild programme.

Community Facilities Rebuild Unit Manager Darren Moses says the new community centre will incorporate the voluntary library.

“The voluntary library was highly valued by the St Martins and Opawa communities, so being able to integrate this service into the new centre is fantastic.

“The demolition has been authorised to proceed and this is scheduled to take three weeks. We will be recycling material from the demolition wherever possible.”

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