On Monday, repairs had begun on part of the car park at Lower Hutt's Queensgate Mall.

The cinema complex and part of Lower Hutt's Queensgate Shopping Centre may be demolished after this month's 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Lower Hutt New World, and part of the Angus Inn Hotel, were evacuated on Thursday over fears the northeastern corner of the mall could be damaged further in another earthquake.

Harvey Norman's Lower Hutt store was closed for a time on Thursday "due to earthquake damage" to the ceiling. The store reopened on Friday morning for retailers' big 'Black Friday' sale.

SUPPLIED This map shows the affected north-eastern building. It includes a section of the complex's car park and Event Cinemas Queensgate.

All other stores in the Harvey Norman building, on Rutherford St, were open, too.

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In a statement on Thursday night, Hutt City Council said engineers carried out a full inspection of the mall on Thursday, and found that a section of the mall, which includes part of the car park, and Event Cinemas, was a safety risk, and the advice given to council was it would need to come down.

MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ The New World supermarket across the road from the mall is also closed.

The council said their engineers had inspected the complex and confirmed due to the safety risk, action needed to be taken to "remove the danger posed by the building".

"Public safety is paramount. Our current advice is that the best way to minimise risk to the public is to demolish the building which is part of the Queensgate Shopping Centre," Hutt City Council's chief executive Tony Stallinger said.

With regards to the northeastern corner of the mall, a council spokeswoman said there was a "significant risk" of collapse in the event of another decent earthquake.

MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ Lower Hutt's Queensgate Mall is made up of 13 separate buildings, including Event Cinemas.

She did not confirm there was an "imminent risk" of collapse, saying that would depend on the severity of the aftershock.



However, Peter Alexander, chief executive of Queensgate manager Stride Property, said it was too early to say what steps would be taken in relation to the carpark and cinema building.

The owner of the building, Diversified NZ Property Trust had been told by Hutt City council damage to the carpark and cinema had made it dangerous, and that steps had to be made to remove that danger.

Earlier in the week, Alexander said the damage to the cinema-side of the building was not in danger of collapsing, but another significant aftershock could cause further damage.

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Engineers have recommended the Event Cinema-end of Queensgate Mall be pulled down.

The company's engineers - Beca - recommended structural strengthening be undertaken to a section of the carpark.

"This work has already been ordered with urgency. [But] until this work is completed, a portion of Queensgate Shopping Centre will continue to be off-limits as a precaution."

Alexander said at the time it was likely the carpark, cinema, and a handful of other tenants would open within about four weeks.

Simon Edwards Peter Norrie, operator and co-owner of The Angus Inn in Lower Hutt, part of which has been closed due to the risk posed by part of the Queensgate Mall.

Due to the height of the building, there are fears that New World and the restaurant, bar and conference area of the Angus Inn could be at risk if it were to topple in another quake, the Hutt City council said.

New World owners Steve and Sarah Williams were "absolutely gutted" the store had to be closed, after receiving word just before 8pm on Thursday.

Steve Williams said after the clean up following last Monday's quake, they had managed to keep the shop open through aftershocks and floods.

"To get through all of that unscathed and have the store closed due to risk from a neighbouring building is really tough to deal with – I've personally been at this store for over 25 years and I can guarantee you we're not going anywhere.

"Our top priority is working with council to get the store open and serving the community again as soon as we can.

"On behalf of the Williams family I would like to apologise to all of our loyal customers for the inconvenience, please bear with us, we are doing everything we can to work this through and get back to business as usual."

National list MP Chris Bishop's office was right on the edge of the cordon, just across the road from New World.

People had been popping into his office to express concern over the state of the mall since the quake, and the possibility of job losses.

The fact the council had deemed part of the complex needed to be taken down was "pretty worrying," and would be concerning for those who worked in that part of the mall.

Fewer than half of the retailers in Queensgate mall are expected to reopen on Friday, despite earlier reassurances that 75 per cent of the mall would be operating before the end of the week.

The mall, which has been closed since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on November 14, was due to partially reopen on Thursday, but this was pushed back to Friday.

Earlier in the week, Alexander said 75 per cent of the 180 stores would be trading by the end of the week.

However, in a statement on Thursday night it said more than 80 would reopen, including Farmers.

Queensgate Shopping Centre comprises 13 separate buildings, including one building with the cinema and about 300 carparks.