Drone flies high above Thain's taking hundreds of pictures to form 3D model of building as demolition looms

Caleb Baildon flew a drone over the Thain's building on Monday, taking hundreds of pictures to form a 3D model that will preserve the details of its design. Photo / Bevan Conley

Two men stand on the footpath of Victoria Ave close to the city bridge with their heads held skyward.

One of them is holding a remote control transmitter as all sorts of vehicles pass by orange warning cones placed around Taupo Quay.

Opposite them, blue sky can be seen through windows that are missing glass and empty spaces that were previously occupied by parts of the Thain's building roof.

Higher again, a drone can be heard buzzing from afar as it takes pictures of what remains of the building from all sorts of heights and angles.

It is being controlled by surveyor Caleb Baildon after WSP Opus Whanganui offered to do the drone scanning as a community project for Heritage Month.

One of the building's owners Bryce Smith said it was a fantastic offer from WSP Opus.

"It is important to preserve as much information about the building as possible because it's going to be demolished and there will be nothing left," Smith said.

"This will give council and whoever does do the building some information which they may be able to incorporate into the replacement building."

The three-storey building was commissioned by James Thain in 1908 and built by Nicholas Meuli on a design by architect T H James.

Mapping would have been a very costly exercise without WSP Optus, with Smith being quoted anywhere between $7000 and $20,000 to have it done.

The drone took approximately 800 overlapping photographs of the 1 Victoria Ave building to produce a photogammetry 3D model.

It was able to identify details on the historic features of the facade as well as others that are now impossible to view with the building's impending demolition.

The sight of the street on Monday was a long way from the chaos of Saturday, July 20 when 65 firefighters fought to extinguish the fire for more than four hours.

On that night, Smith was informed about the blaze by a tenant of his and his partner Sue Cooke.

"We bought the building to preserve it, but clearly, all our plans went up in smoke," Smith said.

"On Saturday when I was here watching it burn down, it never occurred to me that this was it. After having a look at the building, I knew demolition was a possibility."

Last week Whanganui District Council chief executive Kym Fell announced the building would be demolished after an assessment by an independent engineer.

The building was extensively damaged with a collapsed roof, collapsed interior floors and supporting structures left beyond repair.

It also left almost 10 tenants, none of whom had insurance, out of pocket, prompting Smith and Cooke to start a Give a Little page to raise funds for them.

The page has raised $1827 in five days from 27 donors and that funding will be distributed evenly between the tenants.

Smith said that the tenants, many of them artists who lost work, were devastated and that it would be a step-by-step process for himself and Cooke moving forward.

"The first step is to deal with the demolition and the second step is to plant the grass seed so that it's a green space," he said.

"The third step is to think about what all of this means and what the options are. Whatever happens, there's going to be a gap.

"If today I said 'let's design a building and build it up,' it's going to be a couple of years before it's complete."

Council are currently issuing paperwork before demolition of Thain's building can commence and it must take place within 30 days of Wednesday, July 24.