Demolition of our building on Willow Street
Our old administration and library building at 95 Willow Street has been demolished to make way for a new civic precinct in the city centre, called Te Manawataki O Te Papa – translated literally, this means ‘the heartbeat of Te Papa’.
The demolition of our building was a long time coming, with toxic black mould first discovered in parts of it in 2014. After the discovery of black mould, further investigations revealed significant weather-tightness problems and moderate earthquake risks. The time has finally come to say farewell to the old and make way for a new and exciting chapter for our civic precinct.
Following extensive community engagement earlier this year, the Commission approved plans to bring the full vision for Te Manawataki O Te Papa to life in a single-stage, phased development. The programme of work will see $303.4 million invested over the next eight years and will include facilities such as a civic whare (public meeting house), museum, library, an exhibition and events centre, as well as associated landscaping. It will be subject to achieving 50% of the required funding from non-ratepayer sources.
Demolition now complete
The demolition of our old building finished ahead of schedule and has exceeded sustainability targets.
A post-demolition report* confirmed that a total of 3,240 tonnes of concrete and 396 tonnes of steel removed from the site was successfully recycled, achieving an impressive 100 percent recovery rate for those materials.
The report also shows 89 percent of all the material removed from the site during the demolition was either recovered, recycled or reused, meeting waste processing obligations under the New Zealand Green Building Council Green Star reporting criteria. This result is well above the initial target of a 75 percent recovery rate.
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. Read more about the story - Rehomed office furniture gets new lease of life in community
The sustainability philosophy that applied to the demolition will be carried forward into the design and build phase of Te Manawataki o Te Papa and reflected in the final Green Star accreditation for those buildings, once developed.
What happens next?
Geotech work is now underway to inform planning for the design and construction of Te Manawataki o Te Papa. A section of the old library’s first floor and the floor plates remain on site at Willow Street to keep the ground solid and reduce dust.
Some utilities and buildings will stay on site and be removed at a later date. The LT McGuinness site office and compound will also remain, ready for the next phase of the project.
Pedestrian access along Willow and Wharf Streets has been restored and people can now move through the area without disruption.
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.
*Read the post-demolition report compiled by LT McGuinness’ waste removal sub-contractors Ward Demolition below.
Ward Group - Recovery Report (571kb pdf)