Liberty Industrial’s Blackwattle Bay Batching Plant Demolition wins World Demolition Award

Liberty Industrial’s Blackwattle Bay Batching Plant Demolition project has been awarded Contract of the Year Under US$1 Million at the 2020 World Demolition Awards.

The project involved the demolition and removal of the harbourside Hanson Blackwattle Bay Concrete Batching Plant on Bridge Road in Glebe. The works are a precursor to the $750 million state significant Sydney Fish Market redevelopment of the site.

Works include the removal of a harbourside concrete plant including the demolition of a large aggregate storage bin, concrete batch plant, and interconnecting conveyor systems.
Loading restrictions associated with the operation of heavy-duty high reach demolition excavators on and adjacent to the wharf meant that the works had to be executed in a highly choreographed sequence.

Liberty Industrial’s 200 tonne Kocurek modified Ex1200 Hitachi high reach demolition excavator, configured with a reach of 36 metres, was utilised to carry out the demolition of the iconic aggregate storage bins situated on the site’s perimeter.

With a considerable portion of the works located on the site boundary, adjacent to a busy pedestrian footpath and four-lane road, an innovative solution was adopted to protect pedestrians and vehicles from falling debris and projectiles. A large demolition screen constructed utilising conveyor belts suspended from a mobile crane. This is the first time a screen of this type has ever been used in Australia.

Liberty Industrial has since been awarded the following stage of works, involving the demolition of the existing Hanson Wharf, Finger Wharf, and Precast Wharf structures, with the removal of the existing concrete wharf deck and the extraction of around 600 timber, steel and concrete piles, as well as the demolition of a number of aboveground structures.

The World Demolition Awards are the major international awards event celebrating excellence and innovation within the demolition industry. This year’s awards were held online via webinar this year due to Covid-19 social distancing restrictions.

Liberty Industrial has been recognised at the World Demolition Awards on many occasions, winning six World Demolition Awards over the last seven years.

Liberty Industrial Director, Clinton Dick thanked the international demolition community for their continued support. “We are honoured to receive the recognition of the international demolition community once again. Their recognition is testament to the high standard of projects that Liberty Industrial is consistently delivering.”

Liberty Industrial Director, Simon Gill, said that while Liberty Industrial is best known for large industrial deconstructions projects, their ongoing success in the Contract of the Year Under US$1 Million award category reveals that they have also established a reputation for smaller-scale projects with complex engineering challenges.