A piece of Marlborough's boatbuilding history came to an end yesterday morning when Carey's old boatshed was demolished. Two diggers pawed at the big corrugated iron shed, first ripping the centre out before wire ropes were attached to timber poles holding the structure.
Overseer of the project, Crafar Crouch director John Crouch, said the poles were then cut through at the bottom and the diggers pulled away. "The building collapsed inwards and there were not two sticks in the water. It was a very tidy operation," he said.
At the height of the action, people in an adjacent operators' building were moved out.
It took two days to take the shed down, but much of that was preparation.
Mr Crouch said the building was levelled just before noon, but there was still cleaning up to do.
The iron will go to a scrap-metal merchant for recycling and the timber will be burned, Mr Crouch said.
He said it took two weeks to demolish Nelson Ranger Fisheries, the other building on the site that has been a familiar feature in Picton for many years.
Both businesses moved to new premises on the commercial side of Picton at Westshore in 2005.
Carey's shed dated back to the 1960s, and the family boat building business employed many Picton families over the years. Wooden boats designed and built by Roger Carey are still sought after today.
The London Quay site is being cleared for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the Picton waterfront that will include an extensive promenade and green space and three commercial buildings for commercial operators.
The development was to have been a grander $23 million affair, but the Marlborough District Council shelved these plans in February, with the cost now estimated between $8m and $9m.
I have rather mixed emotions about that....