Old Tauranga City Council building demolished as focus shifts to new civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa

The demolition of Tauranga City Council's old administration and library building has finished ahead of schedule and on budget, the council says.

The demolition of the Willow St building started in June to make way for the new civic precinct, Te Manawataki o Te Papa.

City commissioners this year approved plans for the $303.4 million precinct, which will include a library and community hub, civic whare, museum, with additional private sector investment expected for a hotel and convention/performing arts centre.

A post-demolition report said 3240 tonnes of concrete and 396 tonnes of steel removed from the council building site was recycled - a 100 per cent recovery rate for those materials.

The report also showed 89 per cent of all material removed from the site would be either recovered, recycled or reused, meeting waste processing obligations under the New Zealand Green Building Council Green Star reporting criteria, the council said.

This result was above the initial target of a 75 per cent recovery rate.

Commissioner Shad Rolleston said everyone involved should be extremely proud of the results.

"From the outset, our goal for the demolition was to divert as much waste from landfill as possible and it's great to see that ambition has been achieved.

"Before the demolition commenced, our sustainability and waste team rehomed thousands of unwanted items from the building to charities across the city, which are now putting them to good use," Rolleston said.

"It's great to see that approach has been followed right through to the end of the process by the project team and our construction partners, LT McGuinness."

Last load of demolition equipment leaving the Willow St site. Photo / Supplied

Rolleston said the demolition was completed six weeks ahead of schedule.

"We can now look forward to the future development of Te Manawataki o Te Papa, which will play an integral role in unlocking our city centre's potential and revitalising its heart."

Geotech work was now under way to inform planning for the design and construction of the civic precinct.

Senior programme manager Beau Fraser said a section of the old library's first floor and the floor plates remained at Willow St to keep the ground solid and reduce dust. Some utilities and buildings would be removed at a later date.

The pedestrian access along Willow and Wharf Sts has been restored and people could now move through the area without disruption, Fraser said.

Background to demolition

Constructed in 1989, the building at 95 Willow St originally housed the council's mayoral and executive offices, chambers, customer service centre, library, and other council services over the years.

Mould was discovered in parts of the building in 2014, as well as in the adjoining administration block, which was demolished in 2017.

Further investigations revealed significant weather-tightness problems and moderate earthquake risks.

The need to address these issues prompted the council of that time to explore what the future civic spaces could look like, and the role the area could play in reinvigorating the city's heart.

No action was taken, however, and the partly occupied building remained in place.

After the appointment of the commission in 2021, initial redevelopment plans for the civic precinct site were included in the 2021-31 Long-term Plan.

In December last year, the commission approved the refreshed master plan for the civic precinct site - Te Manawataki o Te Papa.

Plans to demolish the remaining building moved ahead and in June this year, following community consultation as part of the 2021-31 Long-term Plan Amendment, the commission approved the implementation of the refreshed master plan as part of a single-phase, staged development.

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