Copthorne Hotel demolition under way

Iain McGregor

CLEARANCE: Demolition of the Copthorne Hotel includes throwing television sets from an eighth-floor room.

Iain McGregor

AND THERE'S MORE: Even the toilet roll has to go.

Demolition of the Copthorne Hotel in Victoria Square has begun, but the owners still do not know whether they can rebuild on the site.

NZX-listed Millennium & Copthorne Hotels NZ wants to rebuild on the same site, but the space has been earmarked as a potential site for a performing arts precinct.

Demolition workers were today clearing the upper levels of the 10-storey, 142-room hotel, including throwing television sets out of the open space that was once the wall of one of the rooms within the building.

Managing director BK Chiu said there would probably be another six or eight weeks of demolition, but whether a rebuild would take place was still out of the company's control.

Rebuild authorities have proposed that a performing arts precinct be built on and around the area now occupied by the hotel and other buildings.

Whether the Christchurch City Council places financial rebuild funds into the Town Hall is one factor that will influence what shape the precinct takes.

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Copthorne Hotel demolition under way