Slow motion pub crawl successfully completed

Auckland’s 124-year-old Rob Roy Hotel – also known as the Birdcage – completed its 40 metre move away from the Victoria Park Tunnel construction site late this afternoon.

Moving the heritage-listed brick building took two days and was described by some of the hundreds of people who stopped to watch as “the slowest pub crawl” they had ever attended.

The NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland, Tommy Parker, says the successful move was a significant engineering and logistical achievement. “The Victoria Park Tunnel team which took up the challenge has done a great job. In fact, it has made engineering history.”

The Rob Roy will remain on temporary foundations for the next six months, while the tunnel is built. It will then be moved back to its original location, which will be on the roof of the new tunnel next to the southern portal.