Sayonara, Shadbolt House

Goodbye to Lyttelton's old Port Company building.
Shadbolt House is to be demolished this month after engineers found it too damaged to be repaired.
The high rise on Norwich Quay, owned by Independent Fisheries since the 1990s, has been vacant since being badly damaged in the Feb.22nd.2011 EQ. The company had considered repairing it, but found the strengthening needed to bring it up to the building code uneconomic, because of its age: the landmark building was built in the early 1960s. It survived the Sept.2010 EQ and was home to the company's fleet operation, a NZ Customs office, radio station Volcano Radio and two serviced apartments, until the Feb.2011 quake proved the final straw.
Demolition will take about a month. The company plans to rebuild on the site, possibly a commercial or retail development, but nothing's been decided at this stage.
Shadbolt House is the latest of several
buildings in Lyttelton to be demolished, post-EQ. The company also owned the Royal Hotel and the Lyttelton Hotel buildings (both on Norwich Quay), which had to be demolished. The fate of the Port Company building beside the Lyttelton Tunnel has yet to be determined, but it still sits unoccupied by the tunnel entrance...