A badly quake-damaged building on Molesworth St, in Wellington, is likely to be ''deconstructed'', Wellington Mayor Justin Lester told a press conference this afternoon.
A growing number of buildings in central Wellington are deserted as the full extent of quake damage in the capital begins to emerge.
An apartment block, a large office tower, the Defence Force headquarters, and the home of New Zealand's spy agencies are the latest buildings to be evacuated.
Simpl House on Mercer St, a mixed-use office tower, was evacuated about 10.30am on Wednesday.
The building, which is opposite the council headquarters and central library, houses offices, retails outlets, Plunket and the Government drug buying agency Pharmac.
The Tennyson Apartments building on Tennyson St, Te Aro, was also evacuated this morning.
Wellington Regional Emergency Management spokeswoman Janet Purdey said the main concern remained the office tower at 61 Molesworth St, which had suffered structural damage.
The cordon in place around the building was extended this morning to include Pipitea House, on Pipitea St.
The building, which houses the Government Communications Security Bureau and the Security Intelligence Service, was opened in 2011.
Ms Purdey said there were concerns with its facade, especially with high winds expected later today.
The spy agencies have been approached for comment.
Other buildings within the Molesworth St exclusion zone, which are off-limits to occupants and the public, include:
- Royal Thai Embassy
- New Zealand Rugby Union headquarters building and the tenancies within, including NZ Post and Audit New Zealand
- Red Cross offices
- Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
- Some private houses accessed off Collina Tce.
Alternative arrangements are being made for worshippers at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, which is now formally closed.
The Defence Force today also confirmed its building - Freyberg House on Aitken St - had been closed due to damage.
``The full extent of the damage will not be known for several days, and until that assessment is complete we cannot determine what work will have to be done or when it will be possible to reoccupy the building,'' a spokesman said.
``Consequently we are considering a range of options for interim solutions, including remote working and relocation of staff to other NZDF facilities.
``The safety of our staff and those who work with us in other capacities is of paramount importance and this will remain our primary concern in the coming weeks.''
Not all of the evacuations have been ordered by authorities.
Purdey said the evacuations on Tennyson and Mercer streets had been ordered by the building managers.
Earlier today, one lane of Featherston St reopened to traffic after being closed due to falling debris.
Concerns about another building in Wellington early this morning turned out to be a false alarm.
The building at 40 Taranaki St was cordoned off just after 2am before being given the all-clear.
Other buildings closed by the quakes include Statistics House, which suffered structural damage including a pancaked floor.
The building was purpose built for Statistics New Zealand in 2005 and the agency recently signed a 16 year lease on the building, which is owned by CentrePort - a company owned by the Wellington and Manawatu-Wanganui regional councils.
Engineers have cleared Westpac Stadium of major structural damage, but the concourse and seating bowl will stay closed for around two weeks so damage, including liquefaction on the stadium's ring road and burst water pipes, can be repaired.
The 7.5 magnitude earthquake also cracked concrete and broke windows at the stadium.
Meanwhile, a block of apartments at a Wellington retirement village has been evacuated due to fears of suspected structural damage.
Ryman Healthcare said the Figaro building at the Malvina Major Retirement Village in Khandallah had been evacuated as precaution.
A preliminary engineering inspection after Monday's magnitude 7.5 quake had uncovered areas of suspected structural damage, a Ryman spokesman said.
All 40 apartments in the building had been evacuated. Other buildings at the village were cleared in the inspection.
Most residents had been moved to Ryman's Bob Scott village in Petone, which was new and had space for them. Others were being looked after in alternative accommodation or with family.
