| CTV Building | |
|---|---|
| Canterbury Television building, 2004 crop.jpg CTV Building in 2004 |
|
| General information | |
| Type | Office building |
| Location | Christchurch Central City |
| Address | 243–245 Madras Street |
| Town or city | Christchurch |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Coordinates | |
| Completed | About 1986[1] |
| Destroyed | 22 February 2011 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | Six |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | Madras Equities |
| Structural engineer | Alan Reay Consultants |
The CTV Building was the headquarters of Canterbury Television (locally known as CTV) and other companies. Located in the Christchurch Central City on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets, it became one of the symbols of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. More than 100 people lost their lives in the building; more than half of the earthquake's fatalities occurred when this one building collapsed.
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The CTV Building was designed and constructed in about 1986.[1][2] Christchurch City Council gave building consent in September 1986.[3] Building codes for earthquake design changed frequently in New Zealand following the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake (in 1935, 1965, 1976, 1984 and 1992).[4] A significant change in design philosophy was the change from non-ductile design of a reinforced concrete structure to a ductile approach, where it is expected that building joints yield in design earthquake events, which might make a structure uninhabitable but without it collapsing. A new reinforced concrete standard emphasising ductility came into effect in New Zealand in 1982.[2] Stefano Pampanin, an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury who teaches in structural and seismic design,[5] described the non-ductile philosophy as "an obsolete design based on the levels of knowledge and code provisions that existed before the mid-1980s".[6] The structural design engineer was Alan Reay Consultants, a firm based in Christchurch.[7]
The CTV Building was inspected by engineers after the 4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake and after the 26 December 2010[8] 4.9 magnitude aftershock. On both occasions, the building was declared safe, having suffered only superficial damage.[9][10] The building collapsed in the 22 February 2011 earthquake and due to its high death toll of over 100 people has become one of the symbols of the earthquake.[6]
The building was owned since 1991[6] by Madras Equities, a company owned by shareholders Russell Warren Ibbotson and Lionel Walter Hunter.[11] Hunter lost a friend in the building and told a reporter if he had known that there was anything wrong with the building, "I would have pushed it over myself."[6]
The building's main tenant was Canterbury Television and the company held the naming rights. CTV occupied the first and second floor. A language school, King's Education, had the third floor. A medical clinic, The Clinic, was on the fourth floor and a company called Relationship Services was on the fifth floor.[6] A nursing school was also located in the building.[9]
The building collapsed in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. One survivor was quoted as running out of the ground floor during the shaking. When she had reached the other side of the 14 meter wide road, she looked back and "the building was down."[6] Within minutes, a fire broke out. Most of the deaths were caused by the collapse, but it is assumed that some of the victims burned to death, and some may have even drowned during the efforts of putting the fire out.[6]
As of 14 April 2011, New Zealand Police have released the names of 172 earthquake victims.[12] A total death toll of 181 is expected.[13] The as yet unnamed victims are expected to all have perished in the CTV Building.[6] The chief coroner, judge Neil MacLean, has suggested a mass grave for the remaining victims, as they may never be identified.[14]
King's Education is an ESL school which was located on the 3rd floor of the CTV building. There were an estimated 87 regular students and 27 visiting students in the building at the time of the earthquake, as well as 17 staff members. Lunch at King's started at 12:30 pm, so many King's personnel were not in the building when the earthquake struck.[15] The loss of hard copy and server records in the earthquake complicated the school's attempts to contact students and next-of-kin, so as a last resort, the school decided to post best-known student and staff status and location on the Internet in spite of privacy issues, in an effort to update friends and relatives and to find students who are not accounted for but who were not in the building at the time of its collapse. As of 13 April 2011, King's Education lists 68 students and 9 teachers on their website as "missing in the earthquake", including the principal and head teacher.[16]
Fifteen CTV staff are believed to have died, including presenter Jo Giles.[17][18]
On 12 May 2011 the last remnants of the building, the lift shaft, were being demolished.[19]