Demolition of the Ferrymead Heritage Park’s brick bread oven has been postponed following questions from stakeholders and the public.

As first reported by this newsroom last week, demolition was due to take place today.

The issue was made public by the current president of Friends of Ferrymead, Martin James in a Facebook post to Remembering Christchurch: “Very sad news. The new management at Ferrymead Heritage Park are removing the heritage brick bread oven from the bakery. My heart is broken and I’m gutted. Ferrymead is meant to preserve history not destroy it.”

James’s post received many comments from disappointed fellow residents.

However, a senior manger at the park has told chrislynchmedia.com today, “We have postponed work specific to this until we can communicate further with stakeholders.”

“There are a lot of emotions at the moment and the 15 member societies are the heart of the park. They are the guardians of our own heritage in many ways,” the senior manager said.

The manager previously told this newsroom that the oven was “damaged beyond repair, according to engineers who reviewed the building’s status … The oven, which was constructed in the late 1970s, is a replica and served the park well for many years. I understand it has laid unused since the earthquake of 2011.”

They said that King’s Bakery is one of four buildings in the park that have been designated as “earthquake prone” by Christchurch City Council.

“We must remediate that classification within a fixed timeframe, or the building becomes unusable,” the manager said.

“…the oven would need to be pulled down and rebuilt at a significant cost … The oven is contaminated with ‘highly friable Class A white powder asbestos’. Literally one of the most dangerous types of asbestos. It is going to cost upward of $20,000 just to remove that, let alone any other costs.”

The senior manager said today, “The issue, I think, is that all the facts are not in play. The trustees are going to clarify some things (around the recommendations for earthquake safety and asbestos).”

James said that the oven was built by the late Len King who was a master bricklayer and James said King gave his time and labour at no cost to the heritage park. Ferrymead named the building ‘King’s Bakery’ after him.

Christchurch resident Linda Anderson said that her father Bill Teague, a master baker, assisted King to build the oven.

“It originally came from Doyleston Bakery. My dad worked there 1954-55 as a baker and pastry cook. The two of them dismantled the oven in the late 1960s, brick-by-brick, numbered them and rebuilt it at Ferrymead,” Anderson said.

“My dad then taught the team how to operate the oven, my brother-in-law did the signage for the bakery at that time and my dad’s friend, Doug Ridder from the Lions Club helped him organise the project,” she said.