When city of Mount Gambier council purchased the partially derelict former city hospital in 2011, the community favoured transforming the site into civic parklands. So the council teamed up with McMahon Services to bring the project to fruition.
Nestled on the edge of the city’s heritage listed Crater Lakes, the old Mount Gambier hospital had become a blot on the skyline. The site was a locus for anti-social activities, with the dilapidated hospital buildings and network of service tunnels easily accessed through damaged fencing.
The McMahon Services team set to work demolishing the six-storey main building – a total of 12,000 square metres of floor space. A further 3,000 square metres was cleared by knocking down several amenity buildings, including a boiler house and the former school of nursing. Mobilising the PC 1250 Ultra High Reach Demolition Excavator and the PC450 excavator, the crew completed the demolition from ground-level – avoiding the risks from working at heights.
Community engagement and stringent environmental management were crucial on this project, because the hospital buildings contained asbestos and were constructed from the notoriously dusty Mount Gambier limestone. Stopping waste fuel leaching from underground storage tanks and contaminating soil was also paramount.
McMahon Services had weekly, multidisciplinary meetings with the Council to monitor and manage the project. The project team also took the unusual step of providing daily updates on the works to the community and local residents.
Asbestos found in window frame putty, linoleum and floor tiles was carefully removed and disposed of in line with SafeWork SA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements.
The project team commissioned independent air monitoring to ensure public safety and successfully removed 114 tonnes of asbestos.
The crew suppressed limestone dust by using water jets at the cutting end of the excavators. Ten thousand cubic metres of contaminated materials were disposed of from the underground storage tanks, which were then contained onsite.
Being a “good neighbour” was a key goal for McMahon Services throughout the demolition. Construction vehicles avoided the main access road for a nearby residential apartment block. The team also knew that any incursions of heavy equipment above the hospital’s extensive subterranean tunnel network, risked a tunnel collapse knocking out services for some residents.
McMahon Services recycled up to 98% of the debris, which included 18,000 tonnes of concrete, stone and rubble and 1,200 tonnes of recovered steel.
All the hospital buildings were levelled, with the exception of the old laundry, which is being retained as a covered BBQ and dining pavilion.
The area’s transition from ugly duckling to beautiful swan complete with works on the old Laundry completed in August 2014.
