No current asbestos register
All asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed before demolition. With no current register, every area had to be identified from scratch.
High Street Plaza demolition
Burke Industries demolished Toowoomba's High Street Plaza ahead of its redevelopment. We identified and removed asbestos without a register, recycled over 85% of all material and returned about 8,000 tonnes of crushed concrete to the site. Our asbestos, demolition and earthmoving teams delivered the job together, on time and on budget.
Project summary
- Client
- Shopping centre redevelopment, for a client of more than 25 years
- Location
- Toowoomba, Queensland
- Scope
- Asbestos identification and removal, demolition, concrete recycling, earthmoving, civil works, stormwater re-direction
- Licences used
- WHSQ asbestos removal licence and WHSQ demolition licence
- Outcome
- Completed on time and on budget
- Material recycled
- 85%+
- Concrete returned to site
- ~8,000 t
An old centre with no asbestos register
High Street Plaza was being redeveloped into a new shopping centre, and the old plaza had to come down first.
Buried asbestos from earlier buildings
Asbestos floor tiles from previous buildings were buried on the site, so they had to be dealt with as demolition uncovered them.
Thousands of tonnes of concrete
Landfilling the centre's concrete would have added transport, gate fees and the Queensland waste levy.
Four Burke teams, one program
The job was a combined effort across Burke Industries' divisions, so the client dealt with one contractor from asbestos identification through to civil works.
Asbestos identification and removal
We worked directly with the client to identify every area of asbestos before demolition, and dealt with the buried floor tiles as demolition progressed.
Demolition and concrete recycling
We demolished the plaza and recycled over 85% of all material off-site. Concrete was crushed at our Toowoomba facility, and about 8,000 tonnes came back to the site for reuse.
Earthmoving and civil works
Our earthmoving division carried out the detailed earthworks and civil works, and supplied machine hire to most other subcontractors on site.
Stormwater and services
We re-directed stormwater and installed services for the new centre, working with the project engineers and hydraulic consultants.
The numbers
- 85%+of all demolition material recycled off-site
- ~8,000 tof crushed concrete returned to the site
- 25+ yrsworking with the same client
- On timeand on budget
Recycled concrete attracts no Queensland waste levy, and crushed concrete returned to site is material the new development did not have to bring in.
Services used on this project
Planning a redevelopment?
Tell us about the site, any asbestos register or survey, and your timeline. We'll plan the asbestos removal, demolition, recycling and civil works as one program.
Sources
- Burke Industries portfolio. All project facts
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld). Asbestos identified and removed before demolition
- Queensland Government: waste levy rates. No levy on recycled material