Inside & Out Demolition contractors recently hired two 3.5 tonne excavators for a sizeable landscaping project on the roof of Crown Casino in Melbourne.

The rubber-tracked Takeuchi excavator machines were supplied by Kennards Hire and were light enough to meet the roof rating but powerful enough for the demanding work, said Peter Gleeson, of Inside & Out Demolition.

Over 2000 square metres of gardens on top of the four-storey building had to be removed so that new air conditioning units could be installed.

The 40cm deep gardens were dug out by the excavators and the material stockpiled before it was transferred to the roof top edge by a Kennards 8 series skid steer loader. A 1.5 tonne excavator then loaded the material into a chute.

“We moved 800 cubic metres of soil, 70 cubic metres of green waste and 50 cubic metres of rubbish in 10 days,” Peter said.

“The 3.5 tonne excavators were perfect. We have our own 4 tonne machine but it was too heavy to put up there.

“While our 1.5 tonne excavator was good for loading the chute, it wasn’t strong enough to break up the root systems.

“The gardens were planted 12 to 15 years ago and the roots were interlocked and like mesh, but the 3.5 tonne excavators were excellent – they have more than enough power for that size machine.”

The casino’s 10-tonne goods lift was used to move the excavators to the rooftop.

With more than 100 hire centres, Kennards can easily provide multiple numbers of earthmovers.