Demolition work at 821 Fergusson Drive has been completed and the area will now be made into a temporary greenspace with walkways.

In addition to this work, carparks at the back of the new greenspace on Criterion Lane are being repaired and remarked to temporarily increase the number of spaces.

The greenspace and carparks are likely to be in place for around three years, by which time traffic growth will require upgrades to the intersections. We expect this to occur around 2027-28.

The building and land, which was previously occupied by Ammu South Indian Restaurant, Make$ Cents and Longhorn Steak and Alehouse, was bought by Council for the purpose of road realignment.

The decision to demolish it was made after a seismic assessment, sought by council, showed it had a 15% New Building Standard (NBS) rating.

The NBS is the rating given to buildings to indicate its seismic standard, or the ability to withstand an earthquake.

Earthquake-prone buildings are given an earthquake rating, commonly referred to as a percentage of the NBS.

Buildings that achieve less than a third of the new building standard (below 34% NBS) are considered earthquake prone.

This article has been reproduced from upperhuttcity.com

21/06/24