May 26, 2011
So it’s now confirmed that the Hotel Grand Chancellor is to be demolished. Details have been released by EQC that suggest the stage-by-stage demolition could take up to 10 months and will cost a shed load of money.
The problem is the potential damage to surrounding buildings that aren’t damaged enough to be demolished. The hotel’s proximity to the CBD means that there are a lot of commercial buildings around the hotel and their respective landlords would be rather upset if the council just dropped the hotel on top of them, so huge explosions and wrecking balls are, unfortunately, out of the picture.
A few days ago, on a sunny morning, I managed to get some reasonable photos of the damage to the Hotel Grand Chancellor, plus a few photos of some totally crushed cars.
View the photos below (you can click on each image for a larger size).
Deserted streets. You can see the cordon fence further along this road.
It’s amazing how one side of the building has just slipped down vertically.
I believe those diggers in the foreground are working on the site of the demolished CTV building.
A couple of destroyed cars – a Ford and something unrecognisable – sit in a car park with the Hotel Grand Chancellor in the background.
Another view of the crushed cars. This is in a car park I used to park in for work – between Tuam Street and Lichfield. It now looks like it’s a bit of a meeting point for the clean up crew.
A truck driver waits to enter Christchurch CBD while a member of the army checks out his credentials.
You can see these photos and more in this Christchurch Earthquake Flickr set.
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