‘The big muncher’ is making a meal out of the final section of a little-loved Dundee landmark.
The stone-crushing mouth of the high-reach crane started biting off and chewing down the remaining 10 floors of Tayside House on Tuesday morning.
It will spit the morsels out on to an external drop zone where the crushed concrete will be removed for infill projects in the £1 billion waterfront redevelopment.
The former headquarters of Tayside Regional Council presented an unattractive welcome to the city for visitors for more than 35 years.
The highest blot on the riverside landscape, it won a vote for Dundee’s least-loved building and the decision to demolish its 18 storeys was greeted with loud approval.
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Contractors Safedem of Dundee began the complex “deconstruction” last autumn by an ingenious method. The tower was eaten down slice-by-slice by robotic vehicles working inside and lowering the concrete debris down the old lift and ventilation shafts.
Tayside House couldn’t be blown down with explosives because of the close proximity of surrounding buildings and services with the Caird Hall next door, the Dundee-Aberdeen railway tunnel only five metres from the north elevation and South Marketgait only 11 metres from the south side.
The remote-controlled robotic breakers reduced the building to the 10th floor, leaving the remainder to be taken down by the big muncher.
Over the weekend the last sections of scaffolding were removed from the tower’s four sides. First thing on Tuesday morning a carpet of crushed concrete was laid next to the railway tunnel to cushion the ground from the impact of crushed concrete dropped by the high-reach crane.
Barry Ward, Safedem’s technical operations manager, said the high-level vehicle was positioned on top of a pyramid of rubble and tested to ensure it will work as needed and is safe, and it was declared ready for the next and final stage.
He continued: “There will be an operator in the cabin and he will operate the muncher with the help of cameras at the top of the machine that will guide the mouth as it eats its way through the floors.
“We will also have people at each side of the site to ensure no one ventures on to the area so that the task can be done safely.
“This is the final stage and we hope it won’t take long for the rest of the building to come down. Hopefully the task will be completed in about four weeks.”
The removal of Tayside House will be followed by the demolition of the Olympia Centre, the Hilton Hotel and the Gala Casino.