Estuary block on lean to north

Ferrymead apartments empty since Feb 22

GILES BROWN

Last updated 05:00 22/06/2011

 

The developer of a $38 million Christchurch apartment block is demanding to know whether it needs to be demolished because of earthquake damage.

No-one has been able to use the 34 units at the Ferrymead apartment block overlooking the Avon-Heathcote Estuary since the February 22 quake.

Some people had labelled the seven-storey building an eyesore when it was built in 2007.

Wayne Wright, director of developer Parklane Properties, said inspections showed the building was now about 112 millimetres lower at the front than the back.

"The engineers are not able to say whether this is because the front has sunk or the other end came up," Wright said. He believed the building was leaning "a fraction more" after the June 13 earthquakes. A shear wall and floors were damaged in the February quake and the basement car park flooded.

Tauranga-based Wright was in Christchurch yesterday to meet Earthquake Commission representatives, insurance assessors and engineers.

"I told them I wanted an indication by the end of the week about whether it was restoration or demolition," he said. "There are 34 units that could be a home for 68 people in Christchurch and we need to know what direction we are heading in."

It was a "beautiful building", he said. "It would be a real heartache if it was anything other than a fix-up job."

Linda Rutland, acting chairwoman of the Mount Pleasant Residents' Association, was one of those who opposed the building at the resource consent stage. Opponents had raised the issue of the building subsiding in an earthquake at the time, she said.