Downtown

Known now as the Westpac Building which is being demolished.

This picture from archives is circa 1968-72 shows what was then the Bay of Plenty Savings Bank.

Later the building was fully upgraded to become the Trustbank building and later again the Westpac building (below)

The demolition is taking months. I can't see why they never thought to blow the thing down with explosives.

I have seen buildings 5 times bigger than this taken down in seconds in the USA right in the middle of a busy city. It's not like there are many people downtown anymore. I vote for the big bang every time.😀