Harbour Control Tower overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge soon to be gone
SYDNEY, Australia - Demolition of the Sydney landmark, the Harbour Control Tower, overlooking Sydney Harbour from Barangaroo is about to get underway.
The area surrounding the decades-old tower, also known as the Sydney Port Operations and Communications Centre, has now been cordoned off for 5 months while a major mast-climbing platform has been erected around the tower.
There will be no controlled-demolition by explosives, or wrecking balls, instead the tower will be slowly dismantled by two remote-controlled robots, each weighing about 1.6 tonnes. The robotic excavators will push pulverised material into the shaft of the structure, with one truck a day used to cart the rubble away.
According to a report earlier this year in The Sydney Morning Herald, it will be the first time the method will be used in Australia.
"We chose this option because it is very low impact we are in a urban environment, we are in a park surrounded by park lands. It's very low impact, it is very good with noise, low dust, low vibration, so it is very good for this setting," Clinton Dick, of the contracted deconstruction company Liberty Industrial told the Herald at the time.
The decision to remove the tower has been a controversial one with residents and many in Sydney and New South Wales opposing it. One of the most critical opponents has been the National Trust.
The Trust was highly critical of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority’s handling of the demolition decision-making process which is said emphasised, "the total inadequacy of the Authority’s response and handling of this issue which strikes at the heart of heritage protection in NSW."
Last year the Trust said that if one of the last state significant historic remnants of Sydney’s port operations could not be saved then the Barangaroo Delivery Authority was "highlighting the current failure of the NSW planning system to protect our most important heritage when State Significant Development is allowed to totally override heritage protection for places considered to be of State Heritage Significance."
The Harbour Control Tower was listed on the Register of the National Trust in May, 2010 as an Item of Environmental Heritage on the Heritage Register of Sydney Ports before the ownership was transferred to the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. The authority does not maintain a Heritage Register, a requirement of NSW Heritage legislation and the BDA failed to acknowledge the heritage significance and listing of the tower.
On 2 June, 2014 the National Trust nominated the tower for listing on the State Heritage Register and at its meeting of 2 July, 2014 the Heritage Council of NSW gave notice of its intention to consider listing of the Tower on the State Heritage Register in acknowledgement of its significance to the people of NSW. The Heritage Council then recommended its listing on the State Heritage Register but on 25 July, 2015 the Minister for Heritage Mark Speakman announced that he had decided that the tower should not be listed on the State Heritage Register. “I consider that the (Harbour Control) Tower is not of State heritage significance for importance in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics,” he said.
Although other uses for the tower had been put forward, Mr Speakman said: “I consider that while there are conflicting views as to whether the tower is of State heritage significance for other reasons, in any event a listing would render the tower incapable of reasonable or economic use, and, in particular, there would be no financially sustainable adaptive reuse of the tower.”
On 1 May 2014 the National Trust says it received notice from the Department of Planning & Infrastructure of an application by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority to demolish the Harbour Control Tower. On 19 June, 2014 the National Trust put in a submission on the demolition proposal finding the proposal’s Statement of Heritage Impact to be inadequate and its conclusions unsupportable.
The Barangaroo Delivery Authority notified the National Trust on 29 July, 2014 that it intended to proceed with the demolition despite objections and the Heritage Council’s intention to list the tower on the State Heritage Register.
The Harbour Control Tower was built to oversee shipping movements in and out of Port Jackson. It provided lines of sight to all major wharfage areas in Sydney Harbour. It became operational in 1974, after the conversion of the finger wharves at Darling Harbour into longshore roll-on/roll-off container terminals.
It consists of a reinforced concrete column with an internal lift, topped by stainless steel and glass observation and operations areas.
The reinforced concrete base of the tower is 7.6m in diameter by 2.9m deep with connected plant and pump rooms and emergency equipment storage. Foundations are embedded into rock and rock anchors penetrate 7.9m to provide adequate anchorage. A circular reinforced concrete shaft 4.9m in diameter rises from the base; housing lift, stairs and ducting for services.
The three upper floors are 10m in diameter and cantilever from the shaft, while the roof framework is 15.2m in diameter. Wind loading was a critical factor in designing the tower.
The Harbour Control Tower rises 87m above sea level. Wind loading was a critical factor in designing the tower. Potential problems of structural strength in high winds were overcome by switching from pre-stressed to reinforced concrete and increasing the weight of the building at the top.
The tower has been redundant since 2011, when vessel control services were transferred to Port Botany. As technology advanced and commercial shipping in Sydney Harbour dwindled, it was no longer necessary to have sightlines on the harbour 24 hours a day. The Port Authority of NSW's $10.5 million Vessel Traffic Services system, which includes six radars and nine CCTV cameras, monitors Sydney Harbour and Port Botany.
So why is it being demolished, particularly in light of the significance given it by the National Trust?
The government says it doesn't fit in with its overall vision for Barangaroo Reserve, which was to restore a naturalistic look for the headland for everyone to enjoy. Plus the essential character of Millers Point is of low-rise buildings , it says.
Like the Harbour Control Tower itself, the extensive container wharves it overlooks and monitored were not heritage listed.
Bungee jumping over Barangaroo, a viewing tower offering sweeping panoramas over Sydney Harbour, a “pop-out” platform and café, and a base for abseiling were among the alternative uses that were floated for the Harbour Control Tower. However, for various reasons, the government decided the building was not appropriate for such activities. The Barangaroo Delivery Authority investigated alternative usage but concluded that the significant access, structural and liability issues identified precluded any retention and reuse options. Plus, the authority said, experienced commercial leisure operators approached to gauge interest in a leisure/adventure use of the tower advised that they had no interest in pursuing the opportunity, given the physical limitations of the existing tower and the prohibitive costs of modification.
The Barangaroo Delivery Authority engaged Turner & Townsend Thinc as external project managers and Liberty Industrial, an Australian company providing industrial deconstruction contracting and consulting services with a track record in dismantling, deconstruction and land remediation.
In 2015, Liberty Industrial received a World Deconstruction Award for the controlled explosive deconstruction of the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere, the 432m high Omega Transmission Tower in Darriman, Victoria. In 2014, the company received two awards for the Hismelt Closure project in Western Australia, one being that year’s Industrial Deconstruction Award and the other the overall 2014 World Deconstruction Award, which recognised the best of the best across all 2014 award categories.
The NSW government says Liberty Industrial has wide-ranging experience in complex demolition projects, from gas plant and asbestos removal for clients such as BHP Billiton to the demolition of the Hammerhead Crane at the Garden Island Naval Base, NSW, for the Department of Defence.
While the Harbour Control Tower is being demolished, another Sydney landmark built at the same time, the Sydney Opera House, is to have a $247-million makeover, the NSW State Government announced on Thursday.
RESOURCED: http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/246623625/harbour-control-tower-overlooking-sydney-harbour-bridge-soon-to-be-gone
SYDNEY, Australia - Demolition of the Sydney landmark, the Harbour Control Tower, overlooking Sydney Harbour from Barangaroo is about to get underway.
There will be no controlled-demolition by explosives, or wrecking balls, instead the tower will be slowly dismantled by two remote-controlled robots, each weighing about 1.6 tonnes. The robotic excavators will push pulverised material into the shaft of the structure, with one truck a day used to cart the rubble away.
According to a report earlier this year in The Sydney Morning Herald, it will be the first time the method will be used in Australia.
"We chose this option because it is very low impact we are in a urban environment, we are in a park surrounded by park lands. It's very low impact, it is very good with noise, low dust, low vibration, so it is very good for this setting," Clinton Dick, of the contracted deconstruction company Liberty Industrial told the Herald at the time.
The decision to remove the tower has been a controversial one with residents and many in Sydney and New South Wales opposing it. One of the most critical opponents has been the National Trust.
The Trust was highly critical of the Barangaroo Delivery Authority’s handling of the demolition decision-making process which is said emphasised, "the total inadequacy of the Authority’s response and handling of this issue which strikes at the heart of heritage protection in NSW."
Last year the Trust said that if one of the last state significant historic remnants of Sydney’s port operations could not be saved then the Barangaroo Delivery Authority was "highlighting the current failure of the NSW planning system to protect our most important heritage when State Significant Development is allowed to totally override heritage protection for places considered to be of State Heritage Significance."
The Harbour Control Tower was listed on the Register of the National Trust in May, 2010 as an Item of Environmental Heritage on the Heritage Register of Sydney Ports before the ownership was transferred to the Barangaroo Delivery Authority. The authority does not maintain a Heritage Register, a requirement of NSW Heritage legislation and the BDA failed to acknowledge the heritage significance and listing of the tower.
On 2 June, 2014 the National Trust nominated the tower for listing on the State Heritage Register and at its meeting of 2 July, 2014 the Heritage Council of NSW gave notice of its intention to consider listing of the Tower on the State Heritage Register in acknowledgement of its significance to the people of NSW. The Heritage Council then recommended its listing on the State Heritage Register but on 25 July, 2015 the Minister for Heritage Mark Speakman announced that he had decided that the tower should not be listed on the State Heritage Register. “I consider that the (Harbour Control) Tower is not of State heritage significance for importance in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics,” he said.
Although other uses for the tower had been put forward, Mr Speakman said: “I consider that while there are conflicting views as to whether the tower is of State heritage significance for other reasons, in any event a listing would render the tower incapable of reasonable or economic use, and, in particular, there would be no financially sustainable adaptive reuse of the tower.”
On 1 May 2014 the National Trust says it received notice from the Department of Planning & Infrastructure of an application by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority to demolish the Harbour Control Tower. On 19 June, 2014 the National Trust put in a submission on the demolition proposal finding the proposal’s Statement of Heritage Impact to be inadequate and its conclusions unsupportable.
The Barangaroo Delivery Authority notified the National Trust on 29 July, 2014 that it intended to proceed with the demolition despite objections and the Heritage Council’s intention to list the tower on the State Heritage Register.
The Harbour Control Tower was built to oversee shipping movements in and out of Port Jackson. It provided lines of sight to all major wharfage areas in Sydney Harbour. It became operational in 1974, after the conversion of the finger wharves at Darling Harbour into longshore roll-on/roll-off container terminals.
It consists of a reinforced concrete column with an internal lift, topped by stainless steel and glass observation and operations areas.
The reinforced concrete base of the tower is 7.6m in diameter by 2.9m deep with connected plant and pump rooms and emergency equipment storage. Foundations are embedded into rock and rock anchors penetrate 7.9m to provide adequate anchorage. A circular reinforced concrete shaft 4.9m in diameter rises from the base; housing lift, stairs and ducting for services.
The three upper floors are 10m in diameter and cantilever from the shaft, while the roof framework is 15.2m in diameter. Wind loading was a critical factor in designing the tower.
The Harbour Control Tower rises 87m above sea level. Wind loading was a critical factor in designing the tower. Potential problems of structural strength in high winds were overcome by switching from pre-stressed to reinforced concrete and increasing the weight of the building at the top.
The tower has been redundant since 2011, when vessel control services were transferred to Port Botany. As technology advanced and commercial shipping in Sydney Harbour dwindled, it was no longer necessary to have sightlines on the harbour 24 hours a day. The Port Authority of NSW's $10.5 million Vessel Traffic Services system, which includes six radars and nine CCTV cameras, monitors Sydney Harbour and Port Botany.
So why is it being demolished, particularly in light of the significance given it by the National Trust?
The government says it doesn't fit in with its overall vision for Barangaroo Reserve, which was to restore a naturalistic look for the headland for everyone to enjoy. Plus the essential character of Millers Point is of low-rise buildings , it says.
Like the Harbour Control Tower itself, the extensive container wharves it overlooks and monitored were not heritage listed.
Bungee jumping over Barangaroo, a viewing tower offering sweeping panoramas over Sydney Harbour, a “pop-out” platform and café, and a base for abseiling were among the alternative uses that were floated for the Harbour Control Tower. However, for various reasons, the government decided the building was not appropriate for such activities. The Barangaroo Delivery Authority investigated alternative usage but concluded that the significant access, structural and liability issues identified precluded any retention and reuse options. Plus, the authority said, experienced commercial leisure operators approached to gauge interest in a leisure/adventure use of the tower advised that they had no interest in pursuing the opportunity, given the physical limitations of the existing tower and the prohibitive costs of modification.
The Barangaroo Delivery Authority engaged Turner & Townsend Thinc as external project managers and Liberty Industrial, an Australian company providing industrial deconstruction contracting and consulting services with a track record in dismantling, deconstruction and land remediation.
In 2015, Liberty Industrial received a World Deconstruction Award for the controlled explosive deconstruction of the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere, the 432m high Omega Transmission Tower in Darriman, Victoria. In 2014, the company received two awards for the Hismelt Closure project in Western Australia, one being that year’s Industrial Deconstruction Award and the other the overall 2014 World Deconstruction Award, which recognised the best of the best across all 2014 award categories.
The NSW government says Liberty Industrial has wide-ranging experience in complex demolition projects, from gas plant and asbestos removal for clients such as BHP Billiton to the demolition of the Hammerhead Crane at the Garden Island Naval Base, NSW, for the Department of Defence.
While the Harbour Control Tower is being demolished, another Sydney landmark built at the same time, the Sydney Opera House, is to have a $247-million makeover, the NSW State Government announced on Thursday.
RESOURCED: http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/246623625/harbour-control-tower-overlooking-sydney-harbour-bridge-soon-to-be-gone
