Working in the Red Zone,
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| Clarendon Towers Christchurch |
Well I Am finally here and settled in Christchurch New
Zealand. To many this has been a city that has been stuck by terror and
disbelief seeing this beautiful City fall. But not all is lost as Christchurch
will rise again from the rubble that some areas have been reduced to,
transforming into a new look city that will once again attract visitors from
across the globe.
For me and my good mate Dane Scott we have come to this even
now slice of paradise in southern New Zealand to work on a much compromised building
that needs to be taken down. The Clarendon Towers as pictured here was an icon in Christchurch. Sadly this building has to be
stripped apart by hand to avoid damage to surrounding buildings. Working on any
of these big sites in Christchurch’s Red Zone has its risks but with the
company we are working for that contract to Smiths Cranes has a very
professional approach ensuring all daily operations are carried out safely.
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| Paul in Man Cage at 9th floor |
Driving through the army checkpoint in the dark as we
proceed through the wind swept streets can be a bit eerie at times, making you
think that you are in the middle of a war zone rather than a City that was once
bustling with business and tourists alike. But as we gaze into the dark sky we
all see the light of hope that shines over the city, giving all that work here
encouragement to do all we can to transform this now wasteland back to a new
exciting and vibrant place to be.
Our day starts at 6am on site where we ready the site for
the day’s operation using the best led lights being the Head Mounted Pelican Torch.
At 7am we have a tool box talk where supervisors and general staff talk about
the tasks to be achieved. Here we all point out things that may cause issues as
we strive to make the work site safe for every job every day.
Team Members in the Red Zone
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| Our Mancage Clarendon Towers RED ZONE |
Here at the Clarendon Towers Project within the Red Zone we
have some real great guys that have an awesome sense of humour; I guess you
need to be this way when you are taking apart a building that has been
shattered to her core? One such fellow is Davey, an Irishman that has one of
the most important jobs as he is our Dogman connecting all of our harnesses to
the safety lines in the man cage. Davey also unclips us as we enter each floor
ensuring our safety during our ascents and descents.
Then you have characters like Jamie that is a? “Well kind of
out there sort of a fellow with a bizarre humour that can be funny but somewhat
over the top at times. Hearing about his after hour encounters make us all
wonder if he is playing with the full deck? coming out with stories about how
he found a lady of the night really cheap; then later learned she was more he!
than he initially planned on. Then to carry on saying how it was the best
$40.00 he had ever spent? Hmmm I will leave the rest up to your own imagination
of how his night ended….
The image here is of our Man-cage up
around the 9th storey.
Top guys on our job site include Rusty, Rob and Robyn, Johnny,
Nick, Wayne, Barry that I will talk about more in future blogs, but for now I
would like to introduce you all to the Clarendon Tower Project. Just look at some
of these images below of the cracks in this building that we are strengthening
to ensure our safety for the task ahead of taking her down in sections safely.
