Liberty Industrial in control at Munmorah

Australian demolition contractor Liberty Industrial has completed the demolition of the iconic chimney stacks at Munmorah Power Station in New South Wales.

The 155 m (508 ft) high stacks were taken down in just a few seconds during a controlled explosion at 9.30am local time on Sunday March 26.

Liberty is demolishing the entire power station in a contract with Generator Property Management, scheduled for completion in September 2018, but the toppling of the chimneys is viewed as a significant milestone for the works.

It was the result of months of planning and consultation between Liberty’s project team, government health and safety agency Safework New South Wales, and a number of regulatory authorities.

The final outcome was achieved by selectively removing a section at the base of each stack and placing explosives to remove the adjacent panels so the stacks fell in the right place.

“Our key priority is always safety. The execution was carefully planned to control the direction of felling, and potential impacts such as noise and dust were managed in the most proactive way possible,” said Liberty director Simon Gill.

Stephen Saladine, managing director of Generator Property Management, added: “It is very pleasing to see that the detailed engineering and planning undertaken to ensure the safe removal of the chimney stacks has been vindicated.”  

Two further explosive demolition events are planned at the site for later in the year.