Thursday, October 3, 2013

Copthorne On The Fast-Track

It collapsed last Saturday afternoon with a resounding crash. Seven floors pancaked on top of each other, leaving two outside walls standing.
Now what remains of the EQ-damaged Copthorne Hotel in Christchurch has been issued with an 'urgent demolition' notice.
Yesterday, CERA (the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority) issued the owners with a 'Section 38' notice, in order to speed up the removal of the site's remaining structure.
MBIE (the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) has halted work on the Colombo St site while it investigates Saturday's unexpected collapse.The owners have up to 10 days to submit a plan to remove the hazard and make the site safe.
MBIE and CERA will work with the site owners and their contractors to review the demolition. If approved by CERA engineers, MBIE will in turn lift its prohibition notice, allowing the demolition work to begin as soon as the owner's contractor is able to do so.
In the meantime, the Copthorne's remaining walls poke up into the air like two defiant fingers, adding more interest to "Demolition Alley"...which already hosts the flooded basement remains of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers tower, the Forsyth Barr Tower (the future of which is still undecided) and the Victoria Apartments (to be torn down before Christmas).
"Demolition Alley" from across the Avon

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