Demolition begins next week on burned Wellington heritage building

Contractors will begin demolishing a heritage-listed building in central Wellington that was gutted by fire next week.

Police are still investigating the cause of the blaze at Toomath's Building in Ghuznee St on 15 October.

Wellington City Council said the building's owners had hired a contractor to start work early next week, so the road would soon be able to re-open.

The owners were issued with a dangerous building notice on Wednesday, because the need to protect public safety trumped the building's heritage status.

The two-storey building, which was more than 100 years old, was designated as a quake-prone building about 20 years ago and had stood empty since 2019.

Council chief planning officer Liam Hodgetts said they were working closely with the building's owners, engineers and contractors and were pleased with the rapid response.

"We know this situation has been frustrating and inconvenient for many Wellingtonians, but we have stressed the absolute urgency in getting this work done to the building owners, while also protecting our community and minimising disruption to the area.

"Council will continue to monitor the works, but the proposed demolition plan addresses our concerns," Hodgetts said.

Once scaffolding was in place to stop the building from collapsing further, it would be safe to reopen the road, he said.

Demolition would then be able to start , with as little disruption to the road as possible, Hodgetts said.

The Toomath's Building was designed by William Crichton in 1900 and had architectural value for its Edwardian façade and elaborate parapet..

Historically, it was associated with Edward Toomath, an early Wellington settler respected for his contribution to education.

After the fire, Ghuznee St remains cordoned off between Marion St and Cuba St, with no access for south-bound traffic down Ghuznee Street.

Metlink has closed three bus stops on the bus routes along Ghuznee St until the cordon is removed.