Fifty seven new car parks will be created once the Rangiora Police Station car park site is completed by mid-July.
Council purchased the site in July 2024 which sits adjacent to the Town Hall.
The building was closed in 2019 to undergo seismic strengthening. Investigations showed the building was irreparable and in 2021 Police deemed it surplus to need.
The Council purchased the site at the time calling it a ‘strategic, long-term purchase’.
Mayor Dan Gordon says the car park will be a great asset for the community and would double for day parking as well as providing good parking for future Town Hall events as well as movie goers.
Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon, EDR Contracting Director Phil Knight, and Council Project Engineer Dominic Mansbridge visit the site to check progress.
“Properties like this seldomly come up and the Council decided to act to protect the space around the town hall and put in place a plan that will make best use of this great space and increase our in-demand parking supply.
“When we put together the Rangiora Town Centre Strategy, locals and business owners told us they wanted to see Rangiora remain inviting, attractive, have good parking, and be a pleasant and vibrant place for people to shop.”
The construction of the carpark is being undertaken by EDR Contracting who along with site prep and the installation of the ashphalt itself will also install 240m of new drainage, 450m of new kerbing, along with new street lighting, and bike parking.
“This purchase will allow for both growth in population and demand for commercial and community spaces in the township as the community nears 100,000 residents by 2050, as well as provide for more parking spaces in the short term for the Town Hall Cinema and nearby Town Centre.”
During demolition, contractors Scope managed to take over 94.77% of the material from the building and recycle it.
The most impressive feat was removing structural components from the building including the brick and concrete, processing them through crushing and sorting and reusing them as a suitable material for the base layers for the car park, while achieving comparable testing results to standard quarry materials.
“We managed to undertake all this work without impacting Rangiora Borough School, or the Town Hall and other nearby businesses which we’re very proud of.
“Now we’re looking forward to finishing the final step and providing more parking for the Rangiora Town Centre.”