By Chad Klassen

Demolition beginning, Daily News knockdown to start by end of week

Aug 30, 2017 | 2:44 PM

KAMLOOPS — The demolition has started downtown, but taking the former Kamloops Daily News building down brick by brick won’t begin until the end of the week. 

Since Monday, an excavator has been working to remove the former H&R block building right beside the Daily News structure, clearing the path for it to be demolished for good. 

“The contractor has been working on the interior, hazmat, demolition of the inside. That’s pretty much almost done,” said capital project manager Darren Crundwell. “They’re starting to take down the outside of the building. They started with the addition that was put onto the building in the 90s. Hopefully they will be starting on the main structure by the end of the week or early next week.”

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Crundwell says Dakota Reclamators, the contractor in charge of demolition, is two days away from completely gutting the inside for the big demolition. The city say it will take about a month to complete before paving the surface level parking lot can begin. 

“The contractor is on schedule, but a big part of the demolition will be the backfilling of the basement as well. There’s about 5,000 cubic metres of material to be put in the basement, in addition to the brick and the concrete that we’re going to crush on site and backfill as well,” said Crundwell.

“The public will see a lot of trucks come through here in the coming weeks, hauling material so we can backfill. We’re hoping to be done everything by the end of September, hopefully, the demolition that is. If weather cooperates and everything goes well, hopefully we can get the parking lot finished before the snow flies.”