Former Hospital Site

Tuesday December 13, 2017.

The demolition of the old Orange Base hospital has moved into its final stages.

The hospital buildings have all been demolished, by contractor Zauner Constructions, and around ten thousand cubic metres of crushed concrete and bricks has been taken away from the site.

The concrete crushing equipment is due to leave the site at the end of the week, after it arrived about a month ago.

Once the last of the piles of rubble disappear, graders will go to work next week to level the site.

By the time the crew takes a break over Christmas, the site will be seeded.

Work starts again in early January to continue to tidy the site and work on features to control potential erosion.

It’s planned that the security fences will stay in place for the time being.

The project is on track to be completed by the end of February.

31 October 2017

STORY UPDATED 3.30 PM

24 October 2017

Today the demolition of the former Orange base Hospital reached another milestone.

Work began on the demolition of the tallest sections of the hospital tower.

The best locations to view the work in the coming days is in Prince Street on the footpath next to the TAFE campus.

It is a top-to-bottom gradual demolition.

The equipment will work on the Prince St side of the tower first, then move to the western Sale St side, then move to the Dalton Street northern side. By the end of this week or early next week, the highest two levels of the tower are expected to be removed.

There are a number of interesting pieces of equipment working today.

The main demolition will be done by a claw-shaped tool, mounted on the end of a 26 metre long arm, attached to a 50-tonne excavator. The arm includes its own dust-suppression water spray and a video camera to give the operator (five floors below) a closer view.

Once debris is on the ground, the work will be done by a second excavator. A larger claw-shaped pulveriser, mounted on an excavator with a shorter arm, has a much larger crushing capacity. It is able to cut through thick concrete slabs.

Throughout the demolition, the system of removing all hazardous materials has been the same.

With each building, a specialist team works its way through removing all hazardous material, (such as asbestos).

Once that is complete an independent hygienist signs inspects the building and 'signs-off' on that work. Then the demolition begins. This has been the process with the hospital tower.

~ With thanks to Eyetrix Productions for the drone vision.

13 October 2017

The wing of the former Orange Base hospital, which housed a number of operating theatres, is the latest building on the Dalton Street site to be demolished.

Zauner Constructions is continuing with the project to level every building on the site, apart from the former Ambulance Station at the corner of Prince & Anson Streets.

In the weeks after the maternity ward and the emergency wards were demolished, crews moved onto the surgery ward which ran from the main tower block towards Dalton Street.

Before demolition begins in each new area, a specialist hazardous materials team removes all potential dangers and an independent hygienist 'signs-off' that the demolitions is right to begin.

A high pressure water spray is used to further suppress dust when the demolition machinery moves in.

Pedestrians passing the project have commented how the large machinery is capable of picking up very small items (such as copper pipe or electrical conduits). Once it's torn from the building, a piece of waste material can be seen to be 'rinsed' under a high pressure water spray.

This clip, compiled from both time-lapse images and real-time video, captured the moments when still-recognisable operating theatres were demolished.

UPDATE- OCTOBER 24, 2017.

The suggestion to let Orange residents take home a brick as a momento of the former maternity ward has proved very successful and has now come to an end.

The project was also a community fund-raiser, and has raised around $1,4000 for the Orange Premi-Babes Association.

During the project, around 900 bricks were brought from the demolition site for collection to the Resource Recovery Centre on Ophir Rd.

The last of these were collected over the weekend.

The maternity ward demolition has now been completed and the maternity ward debris has been combined with other waste from the site. No further bricks can be made available as souvenirs.

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October 13, 2017.

Thousands of Orange region residents were born in the old maternity ward at Orange Base Hospital and thousands of memories were stirred as the building was demolished recently.

Given the significance of the maternity ward, for many people, residents will have the opportunity to keep a brick from the maternity ward, with donations from each brick going to the Premi-Babes Association of Orange.

Orange Mayor Reg Kidd, said the decision was made to set aside some bricks for residents to take home after several people contacted the council.

“We appreciate the building has some significance for a lot of people who had both happy and sad memories of the maternity ward,” Cr Kidd said.

“And we thought a gold-coin donation per brick to the Premi-Babes Association of Orange was a fitting way to honour those memories.

“A few people have asked to keep a piece of the building as a memento, we worked with the contractor Zauner Constructions to organise a safe way for this to happen.

“From Saturday (October 14) to Sunday November 12 we’ll have a site set up at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre where anyone can visit, speak to the staff at the weighbridge, and take up to 5 bricks home, for a donation.

“People can only collect a brick at the Recovery Centre, and not to the construction site in Prince Street.

“Because of the scale and programming of the demolition, we’ll have a limited number of bricks available.

“We’re only able to run this event for about a month so if you want a brick, you’ll need to get in quick.

“Orange City council is grateful to Zauner Constructions, Demex, JR Richards & Sons and Wangarang Industries for making this project come together.”

The Premi-Babes Association of Orange Assistant Treasurer James Madden said the group was thrilled it had been chosen as the recipient of the gold coin donations.

“The Premi-Babes Association worked to help countless babies in the old maternity ward - we appreciate this donation and will be putting the money towards helping many more babies and their families at the new hospital,” Mr Madden said.

The Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre is open 7 days a week, 8am to 5pm.

COMING DOWN: The maternity ward was demolished last week.

4 October 2017

The maternity ward of the former Orange Base Hospital is the latest ward to be demolished.

The ward building, which ran along the Anson Street side of the site, was the place where thousands of Orange families came to have their babies delivered over many years.

The first round of buildings of the site have already been brought down as the demolition continues.

The project is being handled by Albury-based Zauner Constructions.

Before each wing is demolished a specialist team clears each building of any potentially hazardous materials, such as asbestos. Once an independent consultant has 'signed off' on the 'hazardous' part of the process, the heavy-duty machinery can move in.

For the maternity ward, its last days unfolded at the end of September and beginning of October.

This sequence was captured by time-lapse cameras on the site.

21 September 2017

Local Orange residents are telling how they're changing the route they drive to work, just so they can check-out which are the latest buildings to come down.

If you miss some progress, it might be captured by some of the time-lapse cameras which are positioned around the site.

The cameras won't reveal every stage, but book mark this site and check it out to see the latest.

This clip captures some of the changes that undfolded during mid-September.

Update: September 26:

The footpath alongside the former hospital site in Dalton Street will be closed from October 2 and parking at the Dalton Street entrance to the old site will be unavailable.

As council's contractor Zauner Constructions moves along with its demolition of former hospital buildings it will need to be moving heavy vehicles in and out of the gates on both the Prince Street side and Dalton Street side.

Footpaths on both sides will be closed.

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September 12, 2017

Throughout the demolition there will be times when footpaths surrounding the buildings must be closed to the public for safety reasons.

This is due to large machinery coming in and out of the site as well to maintain exclusion zones around hazardous materials.

Currently the footpath running East to West on Prince Street, next to the hospital is closed and will remain closed for the majority of the demolition process.

In the coming weeks. the Dalton Street footpath adjacent to the hospital will be closed until the end of the demolition, which is expected early next year.

Given this closure, the bus stop in Dalton Street, near the entrance to the old hospital will also be removed.

Sign and detours for pedestrians will be displayed.

Footpaths opposite the site will be unaffected.

Please register with this YourSay Orange website to receive regular updates about this project.

August 30, 2018

Demolition of the old Orange Base Hospital has begun and is expected to finish early 2018.

Orange City Council's contractor Zauner Constructions has begun dismantling buildings which have been assessed by an independent asbestos hygienist.

Project manager Michael Tarn said the staged demolition would start with deconstruction of the low-lying buildings before the tower was demolished towards the end of the project.

He said every precaution was being taken to ensure safety to the public, neighbours and workers was paramount.

"The staged-approach will consist of the hazmat team going in and removing all the asbestos and that involves an independent hygienist," he said.

The hygienist goes through every room, on every floor to confirm all hazardous material has been removed.

"After that happens the demolition crew will come in," Mr Tarn said.

"It's a complex demolition process... There are plans and procedures in place to control, particularly the dust aspect.

"There's also air monitoring installed on site to ensure that (asbestos) isn't an issue at all."

Mr Tarn said there were devices around the perimeter of the site, which monitor the air and can detect any hazardous materials.

He said devices were also used while the asbestos removal was occurring and the devices were monitored daily.

All concrete, bricks and rubble would be crushed on site, which would reduce potential dust or debris concerns when the rubble was transported away for disposal.

Like any construction site, there will be some noise and dust however every effort is being made to keep those issues to a minimum.

Some footpaths may be obstructed during the demolition as heavy machinery moves in and out of the site.

A 47 tonne excavator with a 30 metre-long high-reach arm and sheer attachment (an arm that munches away at the building) will be used to demolish the tower.

All homes and businesses within a one city block radius of the hospital site received a letter detailing the plans.

Anyone with concerns about the safety of the site should call the site manager Jason Callow on 0419 012 085.

24 August 2017

A proposal to amend Orange's Local Environmental Plan by a re-zoning of the former base hospital site, is now up for community comment.

The proposed re-zoning (LEP Amendment 22) is about land at 84 Dalton Street, known as the former base hospital site and bounded by Prince Street, Anson Street, Dalton Street and Sale Street.

The site is proposed to be rezoned from R3 Medium Density Residential to a combination of B4 Mixed Use for the eastern Anson Street end of the site.

At the western Sale Street end of the site R3 Medium Density Residential is to be retained for both Prince Street and Dalton Street frontages separated by a corridor of RE1 Public Recreation land.

In addition to the above rezoning the Height of Buildings map is also proposed to be amended in relation to the eastern Anson Street end of the site.

Some minor increase in height is proposed to facilitate redevelopment of this area for a potential Public Administration Building or similar.

The height limitation mapping is to be removed from the heritage listed former ambulance station on the corner of Anson Street and Prince Street (Lot 1 Section 4 DP 758817).

The amendment comprises the following documents and is on Public Exhibition at Council’s offices at the corner of Lords Place and Byng Street until Friday, 22 September 2017.

DEADLINE : Submissions must be received by 5pm on Friday, 22 September 2017.

Planning Proposal (636 KB)

Determination (2.4 MB)

Technical Clarification Notice (125 KB)

Report to Planning & Development Committee (2 MB)

Section 117 Ministerial Directions (299 KB)

State Environmental Planning Policies (208 KB)

Council Resolution (183 KB)

Height of Building map (735 KB)

Land Zoning map (760 KB)