Demolition starts on Southland Building Society (SBS) building

Demolition will start today (Friday 9th September 2001) to bring down the nine storey Southland Building Society (SBS) building located on the corner of Manchester and Worcester Streets Christchurch. The building was deemed unable to be saved following the February 20011 earthquake.

The SBC building, formerly known as the Manchester Unity Building, was designed by prominent architect Peter Beaven and built in 1967.

United States contracting firm Ceres Environmental Services (CES) , which specialises in disaster recovery, demolition and debris operations after major catastrophes such as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, will be undertaking the SBS demolition project.

CES established a New Zealand operation following the February earthquake and is wholly owned by David McIntyre, the same principal of United States private equity firm Vesta Equity that has been in Christchurch investigating investment opportunities in the earthquake rebuilding.

The SBS demolition is expected to take about 40 days and will involve the use of a CAT 385 Ultra Reach Demolition Excavator with a boom that when fully extended, has a reach of 15 stories. CES understands that their machine is the only one currently operating in New Zealand that is capable of reaching this high.

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