Location

Sydney CBD

Client

Leighton Contractors

The demolition of the Hilton Hotel is just another of the high profile projects managed by Bret Baker of Beasy Pty Ltd . The team demolished over 30,000sqm of building including structural demolition, stripout and façade removal from between Pitt & George St, Sydney.

The project presented a number of challenges. These included managing the vibrations from the demolition activities to avoid damage to the heritage listed Marble Bar and the fully operational railway tunnel running through the hotel complex. This was achieved by installing vibration monitors to register the impact and effect of movement whilst using specialised techniques to minimise the transfer of vibration. Noise and dust were also closely monitored in this highly sensitive CBD environment.

In addition, to managing this, the team propped, demolished and removed a post tensioned beam 66 metres long and 10 metres deep weighing 1000 tonne. The removal of this beam was one of the most challenging of the demolition as it supported three levels above, two taxi ramps below and was only meters from the operational Mono Rail. Throughout the demolition, Beasy Pty Ltd engineers used innovation to ensure that the busy CBD roads bordering (George & Pitt Streets) remained completely uninterrupted. This was achieved by techniques such as the installation of a structural steel ramp from Pitt St level to the George St allowing 50tonne semi trailers to be loaded within the confines of the building.

One of the challenges of the project was the removal of the two 35,000ltr fuel tanks located alongside the operating Sydney Railway Tunnel. This project was conducted incident free over a 12month period with a demolition labour force of up to 80 personnel.