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Bit by bit Lancaster Park Stadium is coming down.

A crane hoists a section of the roof off the Paul Kelly stand at Lancaster Park Stadium.

The Tui stand has been demolished and now contractors are ready to tackle the next big project; removing the roofs from the Paul Kelly and Deans stands.

“It’s a big job,’’ says Lee Butcher, who is project managing the stadium’s deconstruction for Christchurch City Council.

“Clearwater Construction, who are carrying out the work, have brought in a 400-tonne crane to do the job. At 100 metre tall, it is twice the height of the stadium. They have had to transport the crane onto the site in parts over the past few weeks and just setting it up has taken several days.

“A lot of planning and engineering checks have been done to ensure the roofs can be removed safely. The plan is to lift the roofing off in sections and then remove the steel rafters separately,’’ Mr Butcher says.

The contractors will start on the roof of the Paul Kelly stand first as it is the smaller of the two roofs.

As each section of roof is lifted off, it will be craned into the centre of the stadium where it will be dismantled. Both the roofing metal and steel rafters will be sold as scrap.

“We expect to have both roofs off in October,’’ Mr Butcher says.

Demolition of the Paul Kelly and Deans stand will then begin. The tender for that work is expected to go out next month.

“Throughout the deconstruction process we have tried to recycle as much material from the stadium as possible. We have found new homes for all the reusable seats removed from the stadium and we’re using gravel taken from beneath the now demolished Tui stand to help build new sporting facilities at the Nga Puna Wai Sports Hub.

“At the end of this project, which we expect to take 12 to 14 months to complete, we anticipate just two per cent of the material from the stadium will have gone to the landfill,’’ Mr Butcher says.

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