Demolition will begin next week on the badly damaged Christchurch Convention Centre, forcing street closures in the city's central business district.
The convention centre, which opened in 1997, suffered major damage in last February's earthquake, and in August engineers recommended its demolition.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority operations general manager Warwick Isaacs announced the demolition work on Friday.
The Kilmore Street building had been damaged to the point where it was unsafe to enter, he said.
Its demolition was scheduled to take 15 weeks.
The project will require the closure of Kilmore Street between Colombo Street and Durham Street North, and a lane of Peterborough Street.
Mr Isaacs says the cordons will be adjusted as work progresses, and access to other buildings will not be significantly affected.
NZN