Demolition of the Reading carpark will start tomorrow Wednesday 4 January.

The carpark was significantly damaged in the 14 November earthquake to the point that it’s not safe for anyone to enter and therefore has to be demolished.

Moana Mackey, from Wellington City Council’s earthquake recovery team, says there’s been a lot of preparation to get the site ready for the high-reach crane. “Now the crane is up, the focus is to get the carpark down safely and quickly.

“Displaced business owners and residents were given an opportunity in December to briefly re-enter their properties facilitated by urban search and rescue staff in order to retrieve essential items.”

Reading International, the building owner, says the demolition is due to take through to the end of March to complete to ground level.

“There will be noise during the demolition and some days will be noisier than others depending on the work.” Mackey says.

Because the building has to come down quickly, the City Council has given permission for the work to take place during the following days and hours:

Weekdays: 6:30am setup then 7:30am – 7:30pm demolition work
Saturdays: 7:30am setup then 8:30am – 7pm demolition work
Sundays: 8am setup then 9am - 7pm demolition work.

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