Engineers to the rescue in NZ.

Engineers to the rescue! Art deco survives. Brittens sell quakedamaged Christchurch heritage building.

By Lisa McDonald

The building at 116 Worcester St in central Christchurch has been sold after protracted insurance negotiations.

A heritage art deco building featured on a list of Christchurch's worst post-quake eyesores is set to be restored. The Worcester St office building, built in the 1935 for State Insurance, was bought by celebrated motorbike designer and property developer John Britten and his wife, Kirsteen Britten, a former international model, under the name Windlass Holdings in 1994. John Britten died in 1995, aged 45.

The Worcester St building has been on the city council's "Dirty 30" list but is now facing a new future.

Until recently the company had been in insurance negotiations over the property. The buyers, who have not yet been identified, are reportedly engineers with plans to strengthen and restore the building. The building was designed by Cecil Wood and has a heritage listing with Heritage New Zealand.

Printed in New Zealand Herald