Demolishing
With six storeys, state highways either side, and bird poo that flows over your boots, taking down New Plymouth’s Education House is no easy feat.
For years the building has sat on the corner of Eliot and Courtenay streets like a pimple on the face of the city, and many welcomed local iwi Te tiawa’s announcement that they were demolishing the earthquake-prone eyesore.
Deconstruction started from the top down – first was the removal of a large white box from the top, which was nicknamed ‘‘the birds’ nest’’ by the team from Nikau Contractors, owing to the near-knee-deep puddle of bird poo on the floor.
About four tonnes of guano was removed, bagged and taken to Hampton Downs where it was given similar treatment to asbestos.
From there the ‘‘soft demolition’’ began – a crew of about 12 used tools such as speciality crowbars and chainsaws to remove wood, carpet, stairs, plumbing and fittings.
Anything that was still valuable, from coat hooks to toilets, has been sent to building recyclers where it is sold on to the second-hand market.
The soft demolition phase also cleared the concrete sections, which, after being removed, are split into concrete and steel. The steel is recycled, while the concrete is ground up and used as hardfill or roading, Nikau Group Taranaki regional manager Duncan English said.
‘‘It’s the best because it’s got concrete dust in it so when water passes through it firms up.’’
English said they are super-focused on keeping things out of the landfill.
Once the ‘‘birds’ nest’’, stairs and roof have been removed, the crew will attach the large crane to sections of concrete, holding them in place while they are cut into pieces then lowered to the ground.
All kinds of James Bond-sounding gadgets are used, including a wire saw with diamond rope and a remote control digger.
Once the site has been cut down to three storeys a digger will be used to break down the remaining levels, working in tandem with a large wire and plastic cage suspended from the crane to keep debris from falling away from the site.
Given the right weather, the hard demolition will only take a week and require about four staff, rather than the 12 on site at the moment.
Nikau Contractors operations manager Wi Harrison said that in many ways a building such as this is just as hard to take apart as it was to build – if not harder.
But his team relishes the challenge. ‘‘The unique thing about it is you’re not doing the same thing every day, and it