The Tank Street project was one of the many multi-storey residential and commercial buildings that bore the brunt of a massive hailstorm in Brisbane in 2014. Hailstones the size of golf balls and 140 km per hour winds.

The Damage

The building is a busy hotel, and we were engaged to replace the external copper cladding which had been badly damaged during the storm.

Cost of Building and Restoration

The total damage bill was excess of $100 million.

The Challenges

Safely working at dizzying heights

Working at such heights, every aspect of this job was high-risk. Access was difficult and numerous methods were used to reach the repair sites including the use of ropes, a swing stage, a boom lift and a scissor lift. Repairing damaged copper cladding on level 37 required significant safety requirements for our workers and for the building materials.

A busy, downtown location

With high volumes of footpath traffic below, strict safety procedures were in place and every care was taken to ensure nothing dropped from our workspace onto the street or the hotel balconies

As well as our concern for people on the public footpath, we also needed to ensure the safety of hotel guests at the pool area on the 6th level. Spotters (lookouts) were employed on the street and on level 6 to minimise the risk to the public on the footpath and on the entertainment area on level 6.

The lack of work area storage was also a challenge. As there was nowhere to set-up a skip, debris were removed from site daily.

Stringent local government signage and access regulations

Strict council restrictions meant that the placement of protective hoarding at street level and on North Quay was difficult. All material for the hoarding had to be installed straight off the truck and packed up the same way. During the hoarding installation, we had to maintain all access points to the hotel for pedestrians and vehicular traffic.

Road and lane closures were necessary in this busy downtown area (the law courts were across the road). We had to work around the existing trees on the footpath and avoid damage to the paving tiles on the footpath.

The need to minimise business interruption by working out of hours

Access for all materials and labour was restricted to one lift to be used only in the hotel’s off-peak hours. Careful coordination and planning was necessary to gain access to hotel room balconies on all levels while minimising disruption to the hotel’s operations and guests.