Longburn Freezing Works

Longburn Freezing Works was constructed in 1890 with additions added up until it’s closure in 1987. The 20,000 square metre site suffered serious decay, partial demolition and salvage theft, over its 30 years of abandonment before Ward Demolition was engaged for the clearing of the site for redevelopment. Constructed during the thick of the Asbestos Era the structures were severely contaminated, with over 800 tonnes of friable and non-friable materials present throughout. Another key challenge was the 44-metre-high concrete chimney tower that required demolishing within 5 metres of a live kiwirail train track. Due to the size and complexity of the Job we required a collaborative approach between our Auckland based team and our Wellington division to get the job completed safely. 35,910 hours of labour went into the two yearlong project.

The Long Haul of Longburn

Longburn is a township just out of Palmerston North, an hour and a half drive from Wellington or an hour and fifteen-minute flight from Auckland. Our top team members from our Auckland and Wellington divisions (with low to no family commitments) were relocated to this area to run the project. A further 10 locals were employed. The collaboration between our two divisions was essential to ensure team members were given proper leave to return to their homes to maintain their mental health. It was also important to ensure a safe delivery of the project as the most experienced and skilled team members were pulled in from both divisions. The two teams from each division hadn’t worked together before but quickly adapted to become one collective team.

Constructed amongst the Era of Asbestos friable and non-friable asbestos materials riddled the 20,000 square metres of amassed structures. All of this material was removed following asbestos removal regulations. Once removed this was safely stored double wrapped in hazisafe bags in a isolated area awaiting removal from site. Our team were battling contaminants from every angle with the 30 years of decay creating a toxic sludge of rodent fecal matter including the highly hazardous Pigeon Guano that all had to be removed using the same controls as asbestos removal. The contamination doesn’t stop there. While investigating pipes near the engine room a substantial amount that were confirmed to be decommissioned 20 years prior to our engagement were in fact found to contain residual ammonia gas. This was an unwelcome surprise that our team swiftly delt with. We identified and marked all remaining pipes and engaged a trained professional subcontractor to de gas and flush all remaining ammonia gas pipes to eliminate risk to our team.

The 44-metre chimney tower that sat within 5 metres of live train tracks was an interesting challenge. Multiple methodologies were discussed but ultimately pulling it over was too concerning of an option for the client/kiwirail due to the risk of debris damaging the high traffic, train tracks or cutting off the route, costing millions of dollars in delays. Nibbling down the structure via high reach was deemed the most acceptable method. This was a challenge in on itself as our 700LX High Reach had a max reach of 45 metres but in order to reach over top and be at operational height a 8 metre concrete pad had to be constructed. As a precautionary measure two 50 tonne excavators were attached to the chimney by high tensile wire ropes. If the chimney were to appear unstable at any point the operators were in position to pull it over into the site footprint and away from the tracks. A kiwirail representative was present onsite to instruct us when there were safe intervals between trains to carry out the task. It was delayed the first day due to high winds but the second day went smoothly without incident and the chimney was demolished to ground level.

Ward Demolition prides itself on being industry leaders when it comes to recycling. So, we’re really proud of the 99% recycling rate achieved on this site. With over 91101.9 tonnes of concrete processed onsite to be reused directly into the site’s foundations.