NEWS RELEASE

19 July 2001

Giant jaws will crush carpark

An old Auckland City icon is about to bite the dust.

The outdated Britomart carpark and bus station building will be demolished next week to make way for the Queen Street station project.

The underground rail station will be built on a site bounded by Galway and Tyler streets, Britomart Place and the rear of the former Chief Post Office. Before work can begin on the station, the site must be cleared of existing structures such as the carpark, which the council says is structurally unsafe and has reached the end of its useful life.

The demolition contract, worth $404,000, has been won by Ward Demolition who will use two excavators (one of 65 tonnes and one weighing 40 tonnes) with “pulverising-jaw” attachments. The contractors are currently securing the site so the work can be carried out safely.

Peter Ward of Ward Demolition says all the concrete and steel from the site will be recycled. The concrete will be broken down and reused for driveways, footpaths, carparks and under-floor slabs. He estimates that 15,500 tonnes - about 8000 cubic metres - of material will be carted away.

The demolition work is scheduled to start at the beginning of next week

(Monday, July 23) and should take about two months to complete. It will be the second demolition job of the new Britomart project which began when the old Chief Post Office annex was demolished earlier this year.

Buses that previously stopped at the Britomart bus station in Commerce Street have been relocated to other temporary bus stops in the central business district.

Auckland City mayor Chris Fletcher says she welcomes a further sign of tangible progress on the Britomart block.

“We are clearing an ugly and inadequate structure to make way for something better,” she said. “This will please many people - they can see we aren’t just talking about a new public transport interchange, we are getting on with it.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

- Grant Kirby, Group Director, Waitemata Waterfront Development, tel 021 938 076.

Ref: BW

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