Two Warehouses, Taken Apart to Be Built Again — Bellambi
| Location | Bellambi, Illawarra |
|---|---|
| Completed | October 2026 |
| Structures | Steel portal frame warehouse (~560 m², ~11 m to ridge, two overhead gantry cranes) and a tilt-up concrete warehouse (43 panels) |
| Method | Crane-assisted deconstruction for re-use — 40 t, 16 t city and 200 t cranes |
| Services | Licensed asbestos removal, technical demolition, structural deconstruction, load-out |
| Safety | Zero incidents |
| Licences | Demolition AD214216 · Class B Asbestos AD214187 |
The brief
The site was being cleared to make way for the Bunnings Bellambi car park expansion — but neither building was being knocked down. Both were being repurposed and rebuilt somewhere else, so every member had to come down whole, undamaged and ready to go back up. The steel portal frame is being sandblasted and repainted before it is re-erected in Unanderra. The tilt-up concrete building is going to a new site in Goulburn.
Asbestos first
Before any structural work started, our own crew removed the asbestos-containing material under our Class B licence. The building was independently inspected and issued a clearance certificate before deconstruction began. Asbestos-containing material locked between the floor slabs was left undisturbed, as the slabs were not part of the scope.
The steel portal frame
With a 40 t mobile crane, the frame was taken down in reverse of how it was built: roof sheeting and safety mesh, then the two overhead gantry cranes and their runway beams, then purlins and girts bay by bay, then each rafter and column set. Every member was rigged to the crane before it was released — nothing was pulled down or dropped.
Next to an occupied building
The southern wall butted directly against an occupied adjoining building. That wall was deconstructed by hand, top down, one piece at a time — cladding removed from the neighbouring roof, linings and framing taken off member by member, and the final frame line lowered in small crane-supported sections. Each layer was checked as it came off to confirm the two buildings weren’t joined. The neighbouring building stayed occupied and undamaged throughout.
The tilt-up concrete building
Before the roof and structural steel could come off, every concrete panel had to be propped so it would stay stable on its own. The roof and steel structure were then removed, with a 16 t city crane handling the steel.
A 200 t crane then lifted out 43 concrete wall panels — the heaviest weighing 12 tonnes — and placed them straight onto trucks for the trip to Goulburn. Lifting with a crane over 100 tonnes is demolition work that can only be done under specific licence conditions. DemoEx’s demolition licence (AD214216) carries those conditions, so the panel lifts were carried out under our own licence.
The hard part: logistics
A deconstruction job lives or dies on timing. Large cranes and heavy-haulage trucks had to be on site together, in the right order, so panels went from the building to the truck in a single lift with nowhere to double-handle them. Getting crane crews, transport and our own crew lined up day after day was the biggest challenge on the job.
The result
Two complete buildings dismantled and on their way to new lives, an occupied neighbour left untouched, and zero incidents. The client complimented the team on a job well done.
Got a structure that needs to come down carefully — or come down to go back up? Call 0457 336 639 for a free quote.
