Two Christchurch apartment buildings will be urgently demolished after engineering checks today found they have suffered critical structural damage.
The demolition process of two of the six buildings in the Terrace on the Park apartment complex in central Christchurch would begin tomorrow when the job was put out for tender, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority operations general manager Warwick Isaacs said.
The two six-level buildings on either side of higher apartment blocks would be demolished urgently but all buildings in the complex would eventually be demolished, he said.
Parts of Park Terrace and Salisbury Street would be cordoned off for several weeks as the work was completed.
The complex had been unoccupied for some time, Mr Isaacs said.
The critical damage was discovered as part of routine checks the owners had commissioned following the December 23 earthquakes.
"I just want to reiterate to other building owners in the city that the process of checking buildings after sizeable aftershocks is essential. Even if a building has not shown indications of any serious structural damage previously, the effects of aftershocks can not be known until the buildings are checked," Mr Isaacs said.
-APNZ