Hospital demolition delayed as contractor loses wrecking ball.
Thanks to the use of video streaming technology, the world was watching when a crew started the demolition of Winnipeg’s Misericordia Hospital. But halfway through what was anticipated to be a straightforward crane and ball job, the ball went missing.
“I heard one of the workers on site yell, ‘Where did it go?” an eye witness said. “Definitely not what you want to hear at a demolition site.”
But it was Mother Nature that provided the initial problems. The freezing weather caused the crane hydraulics to act up, seizing the equipment. Workers had to use a torch to heat it up to get it moving again.
Then the wrecking ball fell off inside the building. No one was hurt and it was finally reattached but the work was significantly delayed through the morning.
The century-old Maryland South building is being demolished as part of the $43-million redevelopment project.
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