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Construction on the new Sydney Fish Market site has restarted three weeks after a crane collapse left a man in hospital and work on the $750 million government project in limbo.
A reduced number of Multiplex builders returned to work at Pyrmont early on Wednesday, but their access was limited to certain areas of the site with the fallen crane still in position.
Residents described a crash “louder than a bomb” when the crane jib plunged onto scaffolding shortly after midday on September 28. A man in his 30s was treated for back injuries.
Access to the site was granted after SafeWork NSW, the government body responsible for ensuring safe conditions on worksites across the state, removed a ban on entry.
It had earlier slapped three non-disturbance orders on most of the site. Late on Tuesday it reduced the ban to areas in the immediate vicinity of the collapsed crane, including scaffolding and formwork decks, which are the panels that create moulds into which concrete is poured.
The crane collapse forced the closure of the Sydney Fish Market construction site.Credit: Nine News
The day it fell, construction union the CFMEU said its early investigations revealed “a connection pin at the luff rope termination point dislodged, causing the boom to fall”.
SafeWork says the matter is still under “full investigation”.
Only once the main investigation is completed can the crane be removed. Neither SafeWork nor Multiplex revealed plans for how it would be taken out of the site. Multiplex insisted it was “a complicated process involving several parties and we cannot rush it”.
Multiplex is a multinational construction company that is responsible for various projects across the country, including the new Western Sydney Airport and the Ribbon building, housing the IMAX, at Darling Harbour.
Work had been forging ahead on the government’s plan to shift the fish market from its deteriorating building at Pyrmont to the adjacent site at the head of Blackwattle Bay.
The new building takes up a two hectare section of Blackwattle Bay in Sydney’s inner west.Credit: Brook Mitchell
The new complex, designed by Danish architects 3XN, will include restaurants, bars, an expanded seafood cooking school, outdoor public spaces, wharves and a 15-metre wide foreshore promenade.
Earlier this year, 100 million litres of water was drained from the bay to create a temporary water-tight structure – known as a cofferdam – to allow for safe construction of the new complex.
The project is due for completion in 2024.
The government is using funds from developing the existing fish market site to offset the cost of the new building.
Infrastructure NSW last year released a revised proposal to build 1200 units in towers up to 35 storeys, in response to fierce backlash from locals against plans for more intensive development.
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