A Wellington street is expected to reopen today after it closed last night because of fears concrete panelling could fall off a building.
The evacuated ANZ building, with its flat vertical concrete panelling. Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
The evacuated ANZ building, with the flat vertical concrete panelling that is causing concern. Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
The ANZ bank building, a nearby bar and two apartments on Forresters Lane, just off Courtenay Place, were evacuated yesterday afternoon at short notice.
Checks by engineers found bolts holding the panels on the ANZ building were broken.
City council building control manager Mike Scott told Morning Report the panels were at risk of falling off in an aftershock, but the building itself was structurally sound.
"They have actually already undertaken quite a bit of the work," he said.
"These guys are very professional, they engaged the right contractor straight away and were straight into it.
"So really it should be a very good outcome."
"A little over 24 hours the whole issue will be resolved and it will be back to business as usual."
Meanwhile, the earthquakes last month had sent many shoppers away from Wellington CBD to centres elsewhere in the region.
Retail New Zealand public affairs manager Greg Harford said Paymark figures showed overall spending rose 14 percent in the greater Wellington region in the first 10 days of December, but rose only 11 percent in the central city.
"We're certainly hearing from, in the Wellington and Lower Hutt CBDs, there's a number of businesses who are reporting underperformance as a result of carpark closures and foot traffic being down," he said.
"But overall, retail performance across December has been very strong so far with 14 percent increases in spending across the region, although that's lower in the CBD."
Greg Harford stressed Wellington was still open for business and said public transport was an excellent way of coming in to do some shopping.
Retail New Zealand said that although some shops had suffered from the earthquakes, the increases suggested others had benefited - with those outside the city centre gaining the most.
