Shortlist reached for naming of hospital hammer
THE judges have hammered out a shortlist, and the public are now being asked to vote on what the name of the giant hammer being used to build the new Dunedin Hospital should be.
More than 100 individual nominations were received from Otago Daily readers, who responded in the thousands to the challenge of naming the bespoke 14tonne hammer commissioned to drive piles for both hospital buildings.
After weeding out the more Xrated suggestions a fiveperson judging panel which included acting programme director Bridget Dickson, demolition firm Ceres NZ operations manager Swaroop Gowda and piling firm March Construction operations manager Andrew March came up with a final four.
The four finalists are: MD Hammer.
Lipstick.
Big Red.
Hammeroid.
Votes can be registered via telephone or on the Otago Daily Times website, www.odt. co.nz, until 6pm on Monday.
The hammer, built by Auckland firm Hornell Industries, is a red steel tube filled with lead, which will be hoisted into position using a Liebherr heavy duty crawler crane.
Mr March said the hammer, which was specifically commissioned for the difficult terrain the hospital is being built on, was believed to be the biggest hammer of its kind in New Zealand.
The independent panel which granted resource consent for the hospital’s foundations and earthworks imposed several conditions regarding the piling work, which included mitigation for noise and vibration.