Daily News demolition nearing end of challenging section

Sep 13, 2017 | 9:28 AM

KAMLOOPS — Demolition of the former Kamloops Daily News building downtown is 60 per cent complete and nearing the end of its most challenging portion. 

The contractor Dakota Reclamators has been taking the building apart piece by piece since last week, but the city says the first phase of the demolition has been made more difficult by power lines that are mere metres from the top of the structure. 

“If you go look down the lane in between Seymour and St. Paul, it has the main power lines that serve the area. There’s also sanitary sewer and fibre down that alley way. But the power lines are only about 1.5 to two metres from the edge of the building,” said capital projects manager with the city Darren Crundwell. 

“It probably wouldn’t meet any current codes, but having to work with heavy equipment and excavators and booms in the air on that power line is very challenging. It’s slowed them down. They have to be really careful.”

Crundwell says the building is still on schedule to be completely demolished and backfilled by the beginning of October,  making way for the surface parking lot. The next phase following demolition is grinding down the brick and concrete. 

“The processor is on site, but once they have the main structure down and they’ve separated all the rebar and metal and doors, then they’ll actually process the brick and the concrete,” said Crundwell. “It is in piles, selective piles. They’ll process that together, then put it back in the hole with other fill material.”