30 May 2015

Bids to press button for demolition

1:06 pm on 30 May 2015

The privilege of pressing the button on the demolition by explosives of the old Christchurch police station will not be auctioned off or be done by a celebrity.

The former Christchurch police station.

The old earthquake-damaged police station is due for demolition on Sunday. Photo: Wikicommons

The implosion of the 13-storey building is due to happen at 5pm on Sunday.

A wide cordon will be set up around the office block and the public are being asked to stay away.

Demolition company spokesperson Bernie de Vere said they have had all sorts of interesting requests come in from the public including offers of cash for the right to ignite the explosives on the day.

Another person wanted to tie a banner to the building with a marriage proposal scrawled across it.

Mr de Vere said the button would be pressed by the person in charge of explosives for the site.

He admitted it had been a challenging job.

The implosion was due to happen on Saturday morning but had to be delayed after an excavator broke down.

Mr de Vere said a replacement excavator was brought in and crews worked through the night to get the project back on track.

He said the old police station would take eight seconds to tumble to the ground and he was confident the debris would not spread beyond the site.

The explosives being used to bring down the building have now been delivered to the site and extra security is in place.

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