Karangahape Rd demolition update

Demolition work to clear the way for construction of the City Rail Link’s deepest underground station is about a month in.

The empty buildings, near the intended Karangahape Station include the Mercury Plaza food hall and Asian supermarket, are located in Mercury Lane and Canada and East Streets.

Once cleared, the land will be used as a staging area for a shaft that will be sunk below ground for station construction.

The Link Alliance, which is delivering the main section of stations and tunnels of the City Rail Link, is managing the demolition.

Deputy Alliance Project Director, Dale Burtenshaw, says measures are in place to reduce any impacts from demolition.

“We will try to minimise the impacts on people as much as practicable, and demolition will not affect access to properties,” Mr Burtenshaw says.

To keep people safe, the demolition area will be isolated by hoardings or fencing (footpath widths may be reduced, and some parking removed temporarily in some areas around the demolition site).

Access for traffic and people around the site will be maintained.

There will be some noise and vibration.  Most of the buildings, however, are low-rise with concrete block walls and either timber or steel framing and extensive vibration will be avoided.  No explosives will be used to demolish buildings.  

Independent specialists will monitor noise, dust and vibration limits to make sure they remain inside approved limits.

A specialist company will remove asbestos found in some of the buildings. 

Working hours will be between 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, and between 7am and 2pm on Saturdays.

The Link Alliance is salvaging re-useable material from the buildings to avoid dumping it as landfill and plans to have all buildings demolished by April 2020.

The Karangahape Station is one of two underground stations being built as part of the City Rail Link project. Twin tunnels 3.45-kilometre-long excavated under central Auckland will connect the existing dead-end Britomart Station in lower Queen Street with the Mt Eden station on the city’s Western Line. The $4.45 billion CRL, New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project, will be completed in 2024.

For more information people can call the Link Alliance on 0800 CRL TALK (option 4 for Karangahape Station works) or email karangahape@linkalliance.co.nz and also get more information at the Beresford Square Info Hub, which is open weekly on Thursdays between 5-6pm.