Overview

Hanson Concrete commissioned Liberty Industrial to remove the Harbourside Batching Plant to make way for the Sydney Fish Market redevelopment. The project involved the demolition of all above ground structures, a concrete batch plant situated on the wharf, as well as the removal of the interconnecting conveyor systems and administration buildings.

Challenges

Movements onsite were limited to a specific footprint as guided by the structural engineering assessment. This also dictated strict weight and impact load limits on the wharf.
Directly adjacent to the site boundary was a bicycle and pedestrian footpath, an overhead electrical service at a distance of 2.5m from the structure and a high volume 4 lane public road that had to remain in service and uninterrupted at all times. Public safety remained the biggest concern.

Robust Solutions/Exceptional Outcomes

Robust solution

A structural assessment of the wharf was undertaken as well as a thorough geotechnical assessment of the surrounding areas of the site in order to segment the site into various zones with machine weight and impact load limits.
Constant environmental monitoring was required to ensure noise, dust, vibration and water discharge were maintained to strict environmental guidelines.
Liberty Industrial’s 200t custom built Kocurek modified Hitachi Ex1200 High Reach Demolition Excavator fitted with concrete cracking attachment’s was deployed to carry out the demolition of the iconic 32m high, 4800m3 capacity reinforced concrete aggregate storage bin structure situated on the site’s perimeter.
The feed conveyor to the batch plant had to be demolished by controlled induced collapse as it was 2m from and parallel to the wharf edge, which did not permit the high reach excavator.
B-Class Hoarding (10kpa rated) was erected along the footpath with a heavy demolition Scaffolding reaching to full height to prevent debris from falling into the public domain.
To enable safe demolition of the eastern and western walls up to the scaffold elevation a 6m wide by 24m high demolition screen suspended from a mobile crane utilising conveyor belt was designed and constructed. This was the first time a demolition screen of this type has ever been used in Australia.

Exceptional outcomes

Liberty Industrial was awarded the ‘Contract of the Year Under US$1 Million’ at the 2020 World Demolition Awards

Value Add

Closure Consulting

Long-term closure planning, budgets and redevelopment strategies for redundant sites, including Early Contractor Involvement and detailed estimates.

Demolition Simulation and Modelling

With exclusive license to demonstrate using Extreme Loading® for Structures (ELS) software developed by Applied Sciences International (ASI).

Deconstruction

Use of best approach demolition and dismantling such as explosive using world class fleet, safety and engineering methodologies in explosives and rigging.