texas mover - wordpress.com · alpha’s house moving team jacked up the building with 40 kiwi toe...
TRANSCRIPT
TEXASASSOCIATION
OFSTRUCTURAL
MOVERS
www.texashousemovers.com
Alpha Specialised Movers, LTDLower Hutt, New Zealand
TThhiiss IIssssuuee FFeeaattuurreess::
MMoovviinngg 88,,000000 ssqquuaarree ffoooott bbuuiillddiinnggTThhee NNeeww RRoouunndd TTooppMMoovviinngg tthhee MMaapplleennooll BBaarrnn
TEXAS MOVERV O L U M E 2 5 , I S S U E 3 • F A L L / W I N T E R 2 0 1 1
Fall/Winter 2011 9
Far-off New Zealand doesn’t make theheadlines too often in these parts -although it has been in the news occasion-ally due to a series of massive earthquakesthat devastated one of its major cities ear-lier in the year.
Located on the other side of thePacific Ocean, near Australia - the countryhas strong ties with America - and in a lit-tle known fact the country has foughtalongside America through more warsover the last 100 years than any othercountry in the world.
In fact there is a whole generation ofex-marines that used New Zealand as astaging and training point before enteringthe Pacific war arena - and many survivorstook home New Zealand girls as warbrides - resulting in exceptionally strongties between the two countries.
More recently - its been NewZealanders assisting with expertise andhouse moving machinery for Americanswith Alpha Specialised Movers Ltdachieving a high profile in Louisiana andother southern states with the lifting or re-locating of many well known buildings inthe aftermath of Katrina.
Headed by Murray Russell and ChrisEllis, Alpha’s expertise was put to workand they undertook a number of shiftswith hydraulic lifting trailers and
Moving four
buildings at one time
Alpha Specialised Movers, Ltd.
10 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
hydraulic lifting house toe jacks they brought overfrom New Zealand with them - that astonished thelocal industry with the speed and professionalismof the shifts.
While a first-world country - New Zealand isas isolated as any country can be - being closer toAntarctica than America. Infact - America servicesits Antarctica base out of the South Island of NewZealand.
For much of New Zealand industry - the cost ofshipping specialist equipment from the NorthernHemisphere - that often had to be modified to suitthe local operating conditions - meant that NewZealanders often just developed their own tech-nologies and techniques - particularly for houseshifting where the capabilities of their home-grownhydraulic lifting trailers are world-leading for theirengineering and capabilities.
New Zealand’s narrow - usually tree linedstreets - and concentrated built up areas are in starkcontrast to the open spaces and relative easy coun-try of much of the United States when it comes toshifting buildings - and they had to develop tech-nologies to suit the environment.
Some of this technology can be traced back to NewZealand servicemen working and fighting alongsideU.S. marines in the Pacific during WW II where theysaw bigger trucks and semis at work than what wasavailable back home. Subsequently New Zealand’shouse shifting industry owes much to America as itwas the ex-WW II GMC 6x6 trucks and Mack trans-porters rounded up from the Pacifica Island battle-fields, shipped back to New Zealand and refurbishedand put on the road - many still with bullet holes - thatwere used in the late forties, the fifties and even intothe early seventies for the job. To this day the majori-ty of the heavy shifting undertaken in New Zealand ison the back of American trucking iron.
They run unusual configurations in New Zealandsuch as 8x4 prime movers pulling quad semis or five orsix-axle B-trains - however when it comes to movingbuildings - the traditional 6x4 prime mover is still King- but the trailer technology sitting behind the truck is cut-ting edge. The best shifters - such as Alpha - have trail-ers that can lift, tilt, walk over obstacles and crab.
Alpha is based in Lower Hutt which is just northof New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, and hasachieved considerable distinction within the industry -
having won many awards over the 17 years they hasbeen in business from the associations and othergroups it works with or are part of.
The company was approached early in 2011 toundertake a particularly difficult shift - the BoucottFarm Heritage Golf Club needed to move their 6458-sq foot building across site as the Regional Councilwas moving river levees necessitating the move.
However - as these things often do - this job didn’tpan out as that club amalgamated with another club -leaving the massive building vacant.
Built in traditional New Zealand style of timbercladding with a galvanised iron roof, the 60-year oldbuilding was both substantial and robust.
Eventually, the Laura Fergusson Trust in Naenaewere gifted the building - if they could get it two anda half -miles across suburbia to their site.
Chris Ellis said that, “while it may not have beenthe biggest building we’ve ever shifted - or the longesthaul we’ve ever undertaken - it required a level ofplanning and execution that took months to resolve,”and he described it as “the biggest shift in the HuttValley in over a decade.”
Once agreement had been reached with the local
Fall/Winter 2011 11
12 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
council, the electricity authorities, traffic, police andthe myriad other groups with vested interests - it wastime to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
Alpha’s house moving team jacked up the buildingwith 40 Kiwi Toe Jacks and three American Crib Jacks- in one lift - ready for placement on their specialisedhydraulic house moving semi-trailers. The buildingwas cut into three pieces for the shift.
While this was going on, another team drilled 245x 15.74-inch wide holes, 63-inches deep that werefilled with concrete as - well as creating six-concretepillar boxes ready for the building to be dropped on to.When all this was ready - on time and within budget -it was time for the moving crew to crank up the trucksand execute the shift.
The shift was planned for early Sunday morning tocreate the least amount of disruption but even so - thesight of the prime movers, their trailers and the buildingson board created an almost festival atmosphere, as hun-dreds of local people lined the streets to watch the shift.Four heavy-duty prime movers and their specialisedhydraulic trailers took a route that meandered to thedrop site with the biggest obstacle - a deep stream -providing a final hurdle.
Unique specialised transporter semis were utilisedby Alpha Specialised Movers Ltd - to move the three
Fall/Winter 2011 13
pieces of the building, with a fourth building,of 1432 -square foot, joining the convoy afterhaving been shifted down from the Manawatuthe previous morning, and was sitting ready tojoin the main convoy.
The loads consisted of one of 29.5-footwide by 60.69 long and 17-feet high, two-loads of 35-foot wide, 69-foot long by 23-foothigh and a single load of 37.4 foot wide, 72-foot long by 23-foot high. Chris said “the lasttime anything this big was moved in the HuttValley was in 2002.”
Alpha moved those buildings as well -which consisted of three buildings of about6028-square foot each that were moved fromthe Woburn railway workshops site. One ofwhich became the White Swan Hotel inGreytown, another became the MaungarakiBaptist Church and the third become a privateresidence in Upper Hutt.
Once on site, the old clubhouse is to berefurbished and will house accommodation, aclinical room, offices and act as a training andsocial activities hub for people with disabili-ties in the region.
14 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
The local populous were obviously excit-ed about this new community asset and bythe time the rigs were pulling into the finaldestination locals had the BBQ’s fired up onthe banks of the Waiwhetu Stream and peoplewere lined up with deck chairs to watch theevent - many still in dressing gowns andpajamas curious about the commotion crawl-ing down their normally quiet streets.
Murray Russell, co-owner of Alpha, saidthe shift was an “immense and unusualundertaking.” It involved many companiesincluding Saturn, Telecom, WellingtonElectricity and Downer amongst others, aswell as “having to get permission from allsorts of authorities.”
Due the number of overhead wires andthe large number of trees lining the route,Alpha undertook the shift early Sundaymorning to minimise any disruption to theresidents and local community. Normallybuildings of this size are shifted during thedead of night when few people are around,but the large amount of tree trimming, dis-connecting and lifting of utility cables andlines would have been quite disruptive, andAlpha wanted to minimise any inconven-ience he said.
As well as the four-prime movers andsemis, 25-personnel were involved on the
Fall/Winter 2011 15
shift that started at daybreak at the golf-course, and finished only four hours later atthe biggest obstacle to the shift - theWaiwhetu Stream - which Alpha bridgedwith their temporary jumper bridge.
The 30-foot span involved the placementof 25-tonne of steel plating and beams inorder to allow the combinations to cross thestream.
This proved a focal point for the majori-ty of the crowds that congregated - and thesight of these huge loads being walkedacross the steel planking was a spectacularsight for those assembled. The jumper bridgewas the final hurdle before the convoyarrived the final destination where the build-ings are to be reunited into the new complex.The four prime movers working on this proj-ect included Alpha’s 550-horse Cat poweredWestern Star and their 470-horse RB Mack,and a pair of 550-horse Sterlings working forsub-contractors Central House Movers ofBulls, who are often seen working alongsideAlpha - and the two companies have under-taken an extensive list of large shifts togeth-er over the years Chris Ellis pointed out.Gene McBride, Aaron Booker, Matt Nairn
16 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
and Roy Read were the drivers on the day and MurrayRussell and Mike O’Byrne ran the operation.
Alpha had three-axle and four-axle Tidd steeringtrailers on the Western Star and RB Mack respective-ly, and Central House Movers had three and four-axleMTE command steer trailers behind their Sterlings.These trailers are able to lift from a deck height of33.5-inches to 118-inches and their capabilities werewell and truly tested on this route.
Trees were trimmed on-route as needed and wherepracticable, but there were a few places where thetrailers had to perform gymnastics in order to wigglepast obstacles - manoeuvres that kept the crowdthrilled and universally impressed with both the capa-bilities of the crews and the trailers. Murray andMike’s abilities to snake these loads through seeming-ly impossible gaps were very much on show and com-ments heard coming from the crowd were universal-ly of the “I can’t believe they could do that,” variety.It was an impressive display of experience and expert-ise and both men well-deserved the praise thatstemmed from a tricky-job well-executed.
This shift will kick-start a multimillion dollar,three-year expansion of the Laura Fergusson Trust inNaenae and going by the good-will and the turn out ofthe locals - this project is being warmly received bythe community.
Chris Ellis paid tribute to the professionalism ofthe drivers, crew and the linesmen, tree-trimmers andthe others that all contributed to what was a very slickoperation. He noted that it is seldom that even onebuilding of this size is moved in the Hutt Valley in thisday-and-age - due to the proliferation of large trees,traffic signs, round-abouts and other obstacles and thepaperwork war that goes hand in hand with negotiat-ing these impediments to the job.
Chris pointed out that 25-30 years ago that largeloads could be transported relatively easily - but withall these added ‘modern’ complications to the haul,“as an industry we are being increasingly restricted asto what we can do. Load sizes have come down andthe complexity levels have shot through the roof.Much of what we do these days would be impossiblewithout the capabilities of these hydraulic trailers. Theability to raise them to clear bridge sides, and havethem tilt sideways through gaps as well as being ableto drop them to clear overhead wires is the differencebetween us being able to do the job and it beingimpossible to achieve. Otherwise the bulldozers justget cut loose at the end of the day - and it is just crim-inal to see these magnificent old buildings ending upon the ground and then in the dump.”
To be able to move four buildings of this size inone hit, “is quite a special occasion these days,” and
Fall/Winter 2011 17
“I doubt that the general public is aware of justhow good this technology is - until they see it inaction. It was priceless to see the amazement onmany of the faces as the shift progressed and peo-ple realised what the combination of hydraulictrailers and a highly trained and very professionalteam of house movers could achieve. To move anasset of this size, as professionally as we did - isimmensely satisfying and our house moving teamsdeserved every bit of credit for a job well done,”Murray added.
A video clip can be accessed at http://vimeo-pro.com/trucks/alpha-specialised-movers-ltd toshow this move, and it shows the type of gear thatAlpha brought over to Louisiana to help with therebuild after Katrina.
New Zealand might be a little country sittingon the edge of nowhere - but it sure hits above itsweight in the house-shifting industry….
Alpha Specialised Movers, LTDLower Hutt, New Zealand