Work has started on 57 new car parks where the Rangiora police station once stood.
The Waimakariri District Council expects work to be completed by mid-July.
Mayor Dan Gordon says he knows a lot of locals are looking forward to the new parking spot opening.
He says it will be a great asset for the community, providing day parking, as well as good parking for future town hall events and movie-goers.
‘‘The new parks will be free and for three hours, so there’s plenty of time for movie-goers and visitors to the town centre.’’
The district council purchased the site in July 2024, which sits next to the town hall.
The former police headquarters building was closed in 2019 to undergo seismic strengthening.
Investigations showed the building was irreparable and in 2021 police deemed it surplus to needs.
The council called the purchase a ‘strategic, long-term purchase’.
Gordon says 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 the 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 car park is being done by EDR Contracting, which will also install 240m of new drainage and 450m of new kerbing, along with new street lighting and bike parking.
Gordon says the car park will allow for both growth in population and demand for commercial and community spaces in the township as the Waimakariri district nears 100,000 residents by 2050.
During demolition, contractors Scope managed to take over 94.77% of the material removed 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.
Gordon says he is exceptionally proud of the contractors.
‘‘The amount they’ve been able to reuse is quite frankly astounding. It goes to show how much material can be reused and recycled.’’
The contractors also managed to undertake all the work without impacting Rangiora Borough School, or the town hall and other nearby businesses.
