Christchurch's earthquake-damaged Radio Network House was demolished in spectacular style this morning.
At 8am, young cancer fighter Jayden Halliwell pushed the button which set off a series of explosions and turned the 14-storey building to dust and rubble.
He was gifted the opportunity by a consortium of construction companies which won a charity Trade Me auction with a $26,000 bid.
"It was almost like it was in slow motion; you could see the explosions go off and it slowly started to come down," Jayden's mother Justine Swain told APNZ.
"There was a lot of smoke and dust when it came down, it was pretty amazing to watch."
Jayden, 6, has kidney cancer and is in Christchurch undergoing his first round of chemotherapy with surgery to follow.
"It was a real honour that they picked Jayden to do it. I think he really enjoyed it," Ms Swain said.
One of the building's owners, Greg Hedges, had mixed emotions about seeing a building which had been an important feature in his life turned to dust.
"It was an interesting spectacle, not one that we as owners wanted to see, really. It's a sad occasion to see something you've built up being destroyed, but now we can all look forward to something better going in its place, so we've just got to move on."
Thousands of people had gathered around Latimer Square to watch the collapse.
"As it came down a massive plume of dust came up and covered surrounding buildings and all the people who had assembled to watch, but it quickly dissipated in the wind," Mr Hedges said.
"At the moment its just a mess of concrete, steel and gib boards - just a huge mass of rubble and twisted steel."
Mr Hedges said the demolition could be seen as symbolic of a new dawn for Christchurch.
The money raised by the charity auction will go to the Isaac Theatre Royal and the Government will match the bid amount.
Trade Me said the auction was the third most viewed auction of all time with 459,420 views, 113 bids and 243 questions asked in the question and answers.
