Iconic TV tower dismantled by Marr

Australian crane company, Marr Contracting (The Men From Marr’s) has been commissioned by Australian property group Mirvac to dismantle a 233-metre-high former television transmission tower in Sydney, Australia.

Built in 1965, the lattice tower was Sydney’s first television tower; the site is now being redeveloped for residential use.

As the decommissioned tower was not structurally sound enough to attach lateral supports to, the challenge for Marr was to find a way to get the hook height of one of its tower cranes above 233 metres without building expensive structures to support the crane.

Marr’s solution is a bespoke M310D crane supported by over 200 meters of tower sections and guy cables attached to four independent foundations anchored into the bedrock to laterally support the tower crane.

The M310D has already successfully removed the tower’s highest section using this technique.

After dismantling the tower’s top sections the crane will climb down to a freestanding height of approximately 90 metres. Marr’s team will then replace the M310D with an M1280D heavy lift luffer (HLL) which will remove the heavier modules of the tower, which weigh up to 60 tonnes. 

The work is scheduled to be completed over the next nine months.

“We helped build the TCN tower back in the 1960s so we were determined to find the best way to bring it down,” said Simon Marr, Marr’s managing director.

“From a design perspective, this has been one of the most complex and unique projects that I have ever been involved with,” added Marr’s design manager, James Hiley. “A key ingredient of the success achieved to-date has been the harmonious engagement of multiple stakeholders to produce the best outcome for the client.”

Marr’s involvement in the project also includes providing Mirvac with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to assist in the dismantling of the tower.

Stakeholders in the project include engineering consultant Robert Bird Group and critical infrastructure expert Kordia.