Specialist contractors will remove asbestos from the old polytech building on Cameron St before it is demolished.
Contractors will fence off the twostorey building and car park on Saturday, ahead of specialist asbestos removal and demolition crews moving in next week.
The building will be demolished, the whole area will then be levelled and reinstated as a car park by late December.
District council group manager of business support Helen Barnes said in a statement that asbestos removal was the first phase.
“We expect that part of the operation to take about 12 weeks and it is being done by a specialist contractor.
“There’s asbestos throughout the old classroom block, but that is typical of buildings of that era. The whole area will be fenced off while this work happens to keep people safely away from the site.”
Local contractor Greg Donaldson Contracting will take over after the asbestos has been removed, and complete the demolition.
“The use of this land was one of the issues we consulted the community about in the Long Term Plan 2024-34 and funding is included in the budget for this work.
“The end result will be an off-street parking area that can be used 24-7 by people working in or using the CBD.”
The district council was alerting regular parkers on Cameron St that the area would be off limits for about five months.
Alternative free parking was available at other public carparks on Burnett St either side of the fire station, and the West St car park.
The district council has already salvaged items from the building, including four freestanding ovens which may be repurposed into district council rentals. Crockery and cutlery has been relocated to the Walnut Ave pavilion.
Three pre-fab classrooms were also relocated from the site earlier this year, while railway sleepers from the gardens and a decorative wrought-iron fence are being re-used in the Ashburton Domain.
