Belchers demolition to work from the inside out

ABOUT 800 tonnes of rubble will be removed from Belchers Corner during a complex $700,000 demolition expected to take three months.

Commercial scale demolition machinery will not be used during the process, which is expected to require about 30 workers.

Instead, handheld jackhammers and demolition saws will be used to hollow out the building before its exterior walls are demolished.

The demolition, to be overseen by an independent civil engineer, is required due to problems with the structure including rusting of steel reinforcements within concrete beams and pillars.

Buildings on either side of Belchers Corner — Hopetoun Chambers at 139 Ryrie St and the Belchers building facing

Moorabool St — will not be demolished, council said.

Geelong council’s municipal building surveyor Michael Nigido said Belchers Corner was found to have compressed about 6cm due to structure problems.

“The structure was compressing and blowing out the concrete,” Mr Nigido said.

He said green traffic signals at Kilgour St, Ryrie St and McKillop St would be extended to negate any impacts on traffic flow caused by the closure of a single lane of Ryrie St near the demolition site.

A new wall will be built inside Hopetoun Chambers that currently shares a wall with Belchers Corner. The wall that the buildings share will then be demolished.

Council planning laws allow a building of up to 32m to be built on the Belchers Corner site.