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Misericordia demolition resumes after wrecking ball reattached

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 01/11/2012 7:05 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 01/11/2012 1:23 PM | Updates

A 75-tonne crane will start swinging a 5,000-pound wrecking ball at 8:30 this morning. (KEN GIGLIOTTI/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Demolition of a portion of the Misericordia Health Complex has resumed after a wrecking ball was reattached.

The demolition of the 106-year-old Maryland South building came to an unexpected stop this morning when the 5,000-pound wrecking ball became wedged in the upper floors of the structure and came loose.

The demolition was taking much longer than hospital officials had expected – demolition started late, at about 8:45 a.m., and the building’s roof was to have come down in 20 minutes but the old building was proving resilient.

Crews were still working on punching holes through the roof an hour after they started when the wrecking ball came loose and work stopped.

The demolition work is part of a $43-million redevelopment of the Misericordia complex.

The Maryland South building is being demolished as part of Phase 1 of the redevelopment plans: to create a two-storey complex, which will accommodate the Buhler Eye Centre -- the largest facility of its kind in Western Canada – and the new University of Manitoba Ophthalmology Residency program.

The facility’s ambulatory diagnostic centre will relocate from the fourth floor to be closer to Urgent Care and Ambulatory Care.

The new complex will also house PRIME, a new day health centre for the elderly.

Work in Phase 1 is expected to complete by 2013.

Phase 2 of the redevelopment work will include demolition of the Sherbrook building and replacing it with a new chapel for Misericordia and a spacious front entrance and two-storey glass-walled atrium.

"The ball is somewhere in the building and we’re going to retrieve it and keep going today," George Vincent, project superintendent, told the Free Press’s Tania Kohut.

Vincent said losing the 5,000-pound wrecking ball happens sometimes.

"Well, from dropping and pulling it out, dropping and pulling it out … Eventually, it’s going to fray and this is not an uncommon thing."

Vincent said safety is paramount when reattaching the wrecking ball.

"Well, they’ll go and they’ll poke around from the top down (to) make sure that anything that’s going to fall does fall, before they go into the building and hook the ball back up. It’ll be done safely."

Vincent said it will take about seven weeks to demolish the entire building and clean up the site.

History

Updated on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 10:34 AM CST: Demolition stopped.

12:26 PM: Adds quotes from George Vincent

1:15 PM: Correction to time it will take for building to be demolished

1:23 PM: Updated and new headline

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