Project Overview
McMahon Services were contracted by Nyrstar to undertake this demolition and asbestos removal project, following the workshop upgrade project.
Nyrstar is an integrated mining and metals business, with mining, smelting and other operations with market leading positions in zinc and lead and growing positions in other base, precious metals and essential resources.
The remote project situated in Port Pirie, involved the demolition of an existing workshop that was previously used, prior to the new workshop refurbishment and extension completed by McMahon Services, to make way for new lead processing facilities.
The scope was as follows:
- Services audit (power, water, gas and sewer);
- Services isolation;
- Asbestos removal from roof of workshop;
- Manual demolition of workshop, including glass removal, asbestos tile removal and industrial machine removal;
- Mechanical demolition with use of mechanical shear on 20T excavator, grapple attachment on 13T excavator and water cannon for dust suppression;
- Waste segregation and transport;
The existing roof of the workshop was constructed from galbestos material (a layer of asbestos sheeting, covered both sides in sheet metal), covered in a foam insulation product which created manual handling and safe removal challenges.
Each roof sheet was held in place with 16 heavy gauge steel brackets which needed to be oxy cut to be removed. Once the sheet was unbolted, a two person team on the roof would pass each sheet down to a two person team in a scissor lift. Mechanical demolition was not possible due to the fragile asbestos material and EPA requirements. These works were completed without incident.
Waste segregation was important for the client as all waste remained onsite at the site landfill. Materials needed to be sorted into; timber, steel, glass, SMF, asbestos, tiles, concrete and plastics. This level of segregation allows recycling of materials by the client.
Geographically, the workshop construction site was in a high traffic area for heavy machinery and forklift use. As a result, this created a tight footprint for McMahon Services to execute these works, which required pre-planning of demolition works and demolition strategy to ensure safe demolition was achieved.
