Final Stairs Lifted From Forsyth Barr Building

News Release 11 June 2012

Final Stairs Lifted From Forsyth Barr Building

The last flight of collapsed stairs has been safely removed from the 17-storey Forsyth Barr Christchurch building in a complex four-months operation, says the building project manager, Pace Project Management.

Pace director Andy Christian said all but the upper two floors of stairs collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake, leaving seven flights of reinforced concrete perched precariously above the empty stairwell.

"Engineers rated this a serious drop hazard, preventing further investigative work on the building from taking place near the stairwell," he said. "So getting these flights out was a top priority.

"We had to adopt a complicated method to remove them by propping each flight with a temporary steel frame, then cutting them in half and lifting sections out through the roof using a large crane."

The task was one of the most difficult and time-consuming of numerous commercial building projects undertaken by Pace in the city’s badly damaged central business district.

Andy said rapid progress could now be made on a full engineering inspection of one of the few remaining high-rise buildings in the CBD.

“It needs to be determined what repairs will be necessary to reinstate it to the required building code.

"When completed a repair schedule will be drawn up for costing and if it proves to be economic, the building could be available for re-occupation in about 18 months."

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