Demolition begins in Hastings for wobbly warehouse

Demolition of the building on Caroline Rd has begun and is expected to take at least three weeks. Photo / Warren Buckland

Demolition of a wobbly warehouse in Hastings has begun with contractors carefully dismantling the buckled building on Caroline Rd.

A Hastings District Council spokesperson said demolition started at midday on Monday with the work continuing over the next days and weeks.

The building was orginially used as a cool store by Polarcold Stores Limited and no staff were injured when the roof collapsed last Monday just before midday.

A staff member at GroCom Landscape Supplies, which borders the doomed building, said she heard the roof give way, but thought it was some sort of demolition exercise.

"It took a few minutes. We heard a sort of pinging noise before the roof fell in. It's just lucky no one was inside, people had been in there an hour earlier."

The demolition will be a relief to the businesses based on Caroline Rd with some saying business was "slower than usual" since the cordon had been put in place.

Last week, Fire and Emergency area commander Ken Cooper said a stakeholder meeting on Tuesday involved affected businesses based around the premises, along with the owner, insurers and the Hastings District Council.

"We asked them for two things. One was to ensure public safety, so we wanted a plan around the cordons, and the second was we wanted to get across the demolition plans."

Cooper said the dismantling would take at least three weeks.

According to a report from Land Information New Zealand the building is owned by ST Industrial Investments Limited. Attempts were made to contact the owner, who has not yet commented on the building's collapse.

A council spokesperson said the safety cordon was lifted on Monday night by the demolition company and no businesses would be affected during the dismantling of the warehouse.