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Auckland, Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Auckland Council has issued a warrant to undertake emergency partial demolition of the Probett Building at 3107 Great North Road, New Lynn.
The building was damaged during the recent flooding events and needs to be partially demolished. A dangerous building notice was issued last week, and the owner has worked closely with the council to allow the demolition to proceed.
Initially the owner was planning to undertake the work, but the Council wants to proceed quickly to allow for work on the culvert to also progress safely.
Related works
Works on site and the partial demolition will begin today, starting with the disconnection of utility services to the building, and protection of these services adjacent to the area. Infrastructure and Environmental Services Director Barry Potter said that the partial demolition will be undertaken by Ward Demolition with engineering advice provided by Tonkin + Taylor, which will also provide engineering advice on the repair of the culvert.
“By having Auckland Council lead the partial demolition of the building, which is unstable, we can ensure the culvert is protected. The two projects will run in tandem so remediation and public safety is ensured. The building also contains asbestos and Ward Demolition is licensed to undertake asbestos removal, and will take all of the necessary steps to remove it safely and minimise any risk,” Mr Potter said.
As well as the demolition, a track near the building is required to be cut through to allow machinery to access the culvert site, and several trees have been removed to allow this.
“We may also need to move some utility network infrastructure, and this may cause some minor disruptions,” Mr Potter said.
He said that the upstream end of the culvert will start to be cleared on Thursday (March 24) and that the Council is keen to clear the culvert as soon as possible, before the arrival of the rain forecast for the weekend.
Traffic management
It is possible that traffic management will be needed on Great North Road with the progress of demolition and work on the culvert.
As a part of the work to repair the culvert, water pumps may be used on site to pump out excess water, and manage the water levels if there is rain. A decision about using the pump will be made at the time.
If pumps are used, they will cross Great North Road and be covered by plates for vehicles to drive across.
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Probett Building
Picture by Morphum Environmental for Auckland Council
