John F Hunt's high reach takes down London high rises
04 January 2010
A Hitachi Zaxis 870LCH carrying a Kocurek 40 m (132 ft) boom mounting a Cat MP30 concrete crusher is providing a high reach solution for UK contractor John F Hunt on the demolition of several multi-storey structures as part of the Canning Town and Custom House Regeneration Programme in London, UK.
Acting as principle contractor on this £1.5 million (US$2.4 million) project for the London Borough of Newham and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, John F Hunt started demolition of low rise buildings on the site in 2009, but is now starting work on Swanscombe Point, the first of three 11-storey blocks of flats.
The 105 tonne Zaxis has been in the John F Hunt fleet for some time (it was acquired to demolish the Wembley Conference Centre) and is working to demolish the buildings from the top down, starting with the concrete roof slab.
It will bring the structures down to a level where two smaller machines, a Komatsu PC210LC and a Komatsu PC450LC, will take over the demolition.
John F Hunt project manager Irfan Quraishi said: "The machine can stand well back from the building and dismantle it floor by floor and piece by piece.
"We expect to take a couple of weeks to demolish Swanscombe Point, before moving on to the remaining two high rise blocks."
The company expects to complete the demolition work by the end of spring, 2010.
An estimated 30,000 tonnes of demolition waste will be generated during the course of the contract. All concrete and other masonry is being crushed on site by one of Hunt's own mobile crushers and then used as foundation backfill as well as being stockpiled.
It will then be used during the construction of 1,100 new homes and 60,000 square metres (646,000 square feet) of retail, leisure and office space on the site.
