The kauri and rimu from the grandstand will be recycled into furniture and floorboards. Photo / Greg Bowker
The kauri and rimu from the grandstand will be recycled into furniture and floorboards. Photo / Greg Bowker
KEY POINTS:
The timber stands at Carlaw Park could one day be transformed into chairs or tables.
While a demolition team performs the last rites at the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby league, recycler Peter Ward has plans for the huge piles of wood, rubble and twisted metal fromthe 85-year-old grandstand.
"I think I should be able to recycle about 70 per cent of the grandstand," said Mr Ward.
He would take the native timbers, which he said could be used again as furniture, flooring or for home renovations, back to his yard in Onehunga.
Much of the grandstand's corrugated iron, steel pipes, stairwells and even concrete could also be re-used.
"Recycling has become an in-vogue thing but I am going to make sure that people know the history of what they are buying. This is a piece of Carlaw Park and you can't buy wood like kauri and rimu anywhere - this stuff really is authentic."
The grandstand, which became a target for vandals and opportunist wood thieves, should be dismantled by the end of today.
Property investment company Willis Bond and Co said the grandstand area would be flattened and cleaned up over the next month. Director Greg Reidy said a retirement village was planned for where the grandstand stood. It would have about 200 apartments by 2012, 50 of which should be ready by 2009.
A hotel, carpark and two commercial buildings planned for the Stanley St end of the ground should be finished at the same time.
Demolition of the concrete grandstand on the opposite side of Carlaw Park was likely to start in October.
What's planned
* The main playing field - once a Chinese market garden, now a packed carpark - and grandstand will be replaced by a 200-unit retirement village to be completed by 2012.
* Plans for the Stanley St end of the park, where the No 2 ground once was, include a hotel, two commercial buildings and another carpark.
* Demolition of the concrete grandstand will begin in October.
