Construction on hold after stair collapse

Mid City Arcade between Queen St and Elliot St. Photo / Supplied

Construction has been stopped at a Central Auckland work site after three men were injured in a stairwell collapse.

The workers were in a concrete stairwell that was to be demolished in the Mid City Arcade between Queen St and Elliott St when it collapsed about 10.40am yesterday.

The men were not seriously injured, but the Department of Labour has issued a prohibition notice to construction company Watts & Hughes, who are renovating the old movie complex into dozens of new shops.

The company did not return calls yesterday.

The three men, aged 41, 45 and 47, were treated at Auckland Hospital's accident and emergency department, and were discharged at 1pm.

St John Ambulance northern operations manager Greg Scott said they had minor injuries.

"There were scrapes and bruises and bumps and minor abrasions. We took them [to hospital] for an assessment."

Details were sketchy but it looked as though the floor and stairwell gave way. He thought the workers fell a couple of metres.

"By the sounds of it they were lucky to walk away from it."

He said the area resembled "a bit of a war zone".

The site where the staircase collapsed was not accessible to the public.

Inspector Matt Sillars said the accident happened when the workers were demolishing the staircase and "something has given way. What caused this is up to the Department of Labour".