Sydney Airport Hangars
Southern Cross Demolition was awarded the Sydney Airport Hangar Demolition project in 2015 by BMD Constructions. These works included the method of Induce Collapse which is a specialised demolition procedure used by our company. It involves the pre-weakening of a structure using specific cutting techniques to ensure its structural integrity is maintained prior to final cuts being undertaken and allowing the structure to be brought down to ground level in a nominated direction of fall by an excavator attached with cables.
It involves the pre-weakening of a structure using specific cutting techniques while also maintaining its structural integrity. Final cuts are then undertaken prior to the inducement to allow the structure to be brought down in a nominated direction of fall to ground level by an excavator/s attached with cables. Various structures, storage sheds and hangars were required to be demolished to make way for the new Seventh Street extension. Staging of the works was vital to allow BMD to commence with their construction of their new road. Southern Cross worked with BMD to remove specific structures first, so that BMD’s programming targets could be met. All asbestos materials were removed first and an independent clearance was provided to allow for the demolition to commence. Once the structures had been cleared and certified the internal strip out of the structures began with 97 percent of the materials being recycled and one of the large sheds being dismantled for re-use.
The largest structure to be removed was Hangar 85. This structure was over four storeys’ in height and had been previously used to service Qantas’s aircraft. It was imperative that the demolition works did not impede on the normal day to day operations of one of Australia’s most busiest airports. Due to this reason Southern Cross recommended that the entire structure be bought down to ground level during the airports less busier times by using the Induce Collapse technique. This meant that the internal components of the building could be stripped out and structural columns pre-weakened during daylight hours in preparation for the programmed inducement of the structure one week later during the early hours of the morning.
