A demolition company began lowering the Burns Building on April 8 after the linings and fixings, including windows, were removed several months before.
A university spokeswoman said the hard demolition phase was about 90% completed.
"The contractors have started crushing the demolished material into usable AP65 [crushed aggregate]."
Built mainly of reinforced concrete with internal concrete block-filled walls, this is being crushed to be recycled as building material.
Other material such as reinforcing, cables, pipes, heating units and other metals has gone to scrap metal with glass crushed and hardwood timber rails, doors and trim recycled.
Gib board without an asbestos coating is going to landscaping yards for the gypsum and, overall, the university hopes to recycle 85% to 90% of materials.
Opened in 1976, the Burns Building was named in honour of Sir Malcolm Burns, principal of Canterbury Agricultural College from 1952 to 1974.
There are no plans to put another building on the site. It has been replaced by the university’s new science facility, Waimarie.
Meanwhile, the university has unveiled plans to build an energy farm of 2800 solar panels on 4ha of land next to the campus.
The project, under review for resource consent, is expected to demonstrate growing high-value horticulture crops while generating commercial-scale solar energy.
When completed the 1.5 megawatt peak solar installation mounted on a tracking system will generate about 2.3 gigawatt hours of renewable energy per year.
Different heights for the panel rows will allow commercial crops to be grown alongside and underneath the structures.
Crops could include blueberries, ranui berries or snowberries.
When completed in mid-2025, the energy farm will increase the university’s total generating capacity to cover 18% of its electricity needs.
Excess energy may go to the community during low-demand periods such as the end-of-year break and summer weekends.
Vice-chancellor Prof Grant Edwards said the energy farm would showcase multi-options for productive land and a platform for ongoing innovation and research.
