Demolition works are continuing on the future site of the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease (AIID) facility. The former building at 780 Elizabeth Street is almost completely demolished. Scaffolding on the two remaining buildings (766 Elizabeth Street and 223 Berkeley Street) is complete and a crane has been erected for main demolition work.
The removal of the 780 Elizabeth Street building has granted access to the northern side of 766 Elizabeth Street, allowing materials from the internal strip out to be removed via a chute to ground level (see image at left). The roof of 766 has also been removed and structural demolition will commence soon.
The AIID early works is a five-star Green Star project which requires all water used for demolition (primarily dust suppression – see image below) to be sourced from 100% reclaimed or recycled water. The AIID site requires approximately 19,000L a day which has proved challenging to source given Melbourne’s recent rainfall shortages. A creative solution was in order.
The University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus is constructed on the site of the former Bouverie Creek which still flows underground through the campus and is collected at several points. This water is already used to water the South Lawn landscape and to flush toilets in the John Medley building. The AIID project has installed a new water connection point from which water tankers can be filled and transported to the construction site, ensuring no drinkable water is wasted in the enabling works.
