Quake-risk building down

HAZARD AVERTED: Demolition work on the building in Chapel St, Masterton. The building was used as a tool shed.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

A Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) building in Chapel St met only nine per cent of earthquake building standards and has been demolished.

General manager for the catchment management group Wayne O'Donnell said GWRC had its buildings evaluated for earthquake risk more than a year ago.

And despite other buildings being deemed quake-prone GWRC did not intend to demolish any others at this stage.

The building in Chapel St was being used as a tool shed and was the second building GWRC had demolished in the past 12 months.

"A number of our sheds came in very, very low in terms of their [earthquake] safety under the building code.

"It [Chapel St building] was around eight or nine per cent and we deemed that to be quite a significant harm [risk], both to our staff and nearby public so we made the decision to demolish it," Mr O'Donnell said.

Work began on Monday and Mr O'Donnell expected it to be completed by the end of yesterday or sometime today .

The first GWRC building to be demolished was in Victoria St and was due to a "risky" brick wall.

"That was on the pedestrian side so we were quite concerned about how that would fare in a reasonable earthquake."

Mr O'Donnell was unsure of the demolition cost but said an effort to minimise it had been made by recycling shed material.