The rubber-tracked Takeuchi excavator machines, supplied by Kennards Hire at South Melbourne, were light enough to meet the roof rating but powerful enough for the demanding work. More than 2000 square metres of gardens on top of the four-storey building had to be removed by the excavators so that new air conditioning units could be installed. The excavators dug out the 40cm deep gardens and stockpiled the material before a Kennards’ 8 series skid steer loader ferried it to the rooftop edge where a 1.5 tonne excavator loaded in into a chute.
“We moved 800 cubic metres of soil, 70 cubic metres of green waste and 50 cubic metres of rubbish in 10 days,” Peter Gleeson from Inside & Out Demolition said. “That was good going given the state of the gardens and the fact that it was slow work loading the chute through the narrow opening.
The 3.5 tonne excavators were perfect. We have our own 4 tonne machine but it was too heavy to put up there. The gardens were planted 12 to 15 years ago and the roots were interlocked and like mesh, but the 3.5 tonne excavators were excellent – they have more than enough power for that size machine.”