Site ready for fresh start

EXCAVATION has begun at 10 Murray St in Hobart to begin transforming the cleared space into Hobart’s newest public plaza.

As the demolition of the former government office block draws to a close, crews are now working on the lowerground section of the site before building it back up to street level.

“It’s now an excavation project,” said project manager Shaun Wilson, from Citta Property Group.

“The demolition is complete … now the bulk of the work is in building.”

Mr Wilson said the Salamanca site would be transformed within the next 12-15 months.

The site will become a scaled-down version of Melbourne’s Federation Square, with the creation of a 2000 square metre public plaza.

The public open space will be surrounded by commercial and retail spaces, including restaurants, cafes and office space.

It will neighbour a new luxury hotel which will be built behind the heritage facade of 12 Murray St, which has been painstakingly saved during the demolition of 10 Murray St.

The $10 million demolition, the biggest in the state’s history, began in October last year.

Concrete cutters chomped away internally at the 14-storey building to bring down 20,000 tonnes of concrete from the 47m-high structure.

Hazell Bros managing director Geoffrey Hazell, whose company carried out the demolition, said 90 per cent of the material taken from the site would be re-used.

He said the building had contained asbestos but it had been removed effectively.

“The asbestos in this build- ing has been managed very well,” he said. “It was a sound concrete structure so that made removal easier.”

Mr Hazell said the giant crane in Murray St would remain in place in readiness for the next stage of building works, including the plaza and new hotel.

The heritage facade of 12 Murray St will become the entrance to the new Marriott Luxury Collection Hotel.