Serious concerns for building in central Wellington with beam 'like a broken bone'
Isaac Davison
@isaac_davison this is the building being inspected. Might be on a slight lean #eqnz
15
November, 2016
A
large office block in Wellington is at significant risk of collapse
with a major supporting beam "like a broken bone".
A
section of Molesworth St that includes Wellington Cathedral of St
Paul, the National Library and NZ Rugby headquarters and the Thai
embassy has been cordoned off, with people cleared from the area.
The
office block at 61 Molesworth St has been vacant because of
renovation work. An engineer involved approached the fire service
today, concerned about a structural beam.
Police and fire blocking off Molesworth St. Concern about one of the buildings behind the church #eqnz
Fire
Region Manager Brendan Nally said it was unlikely office workers and
residents in buildings within the cordoned-off areas would be let in
tomorrow.
"We
have a clear structural failure. What's caused that will be
determined later.
"The
clear structural failure is a major beam - a vertical beam in the
building - has been shorn.
"It
looks somewhat like a broken bone in the leg. It is fractured
through. It is a major supporting beam. It is up above the fifth
floor, so it is the top four floors."
That
assessment was being done using cellphone photos, the fire service
said. The cordon was big enough so that if the building did collapse
it would be contained within it.
The
building looks to be about 10 stories tall.
Members
of the Diplomatic Protection Squad (DPS) - normally accompanying the
Prime Minister at neighbouring Parliament - were on the scene
helping direct traffic at the Hill St intersection.
Corinne
Ambler works in the New Zealand Red Cross situated next-door to the
Molesworth Tower and said staff were told to evacuate immediately.
"It's
a bit more drama just to add to the earthquake, the flooding and the
wind," she said.
"The
receptionist came running through every floor of the building saying
'I've just been told that we have to evacuate, there's a very tall
build next door to ue... and that it could be in danger of
collapsing on top of the NZ Red Cross building'.
"So
we all as as fast as we could grabbed our stuff and we were out of
the building in a couple of minutes, and we're all standing out on
the street here."
Ambler
said the building had "definitely slumped".
"It's
a big building with two parts to it, there's a concrete column... in
between the concrete column and the rest of the building is like a
glass conservatory and that you can definitely see has sunk, there
are bits of glass and panes of glass missing.
"It's
lumped in the middle, if that concerete slab breaks away... then
that could fall on top of our building."
She
said the building looked as though it was unoccupied, but food
outlets and cafes at the bottom floor were rapidly moving their
stock.
"There
are a whole lot of small businesses, and cafes underneath it and
just after we evacuated all the small business owners were parking
their cars up out front and running their supplies into the boots of
their cars, sacks of rice, food everything."
The
building is listed as an eight-story office tower with five small
retail units and a reception at ground level, with space for parking
on a first-floor podium.
According
to the website of Archaus Architects, who were engaged to redevelop
the commercial property, the renovation work would increase the
rentable office area to about 1340m2 per typical office level, and
increase the building height to 43.8m, providing an additional 2
levels.
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