Mt Eden Shot Tower

2023 | Emergency Works | Cut and Crane | Scrap recycle

The 107 year old Mt Eden Shot Tower was deemed to be dangerously unstable during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. Resulting in the evacuation of 50 nearby families from their homes and Ward Demolition was mobilised under emergency works. Our team had limited space and time to cut and crane sections of the tower down to the ground for dismantling and load out. We worked long hours through the weekend to get families home as quickly as we could without adding risk to the project.

Historic Significance

Their was a lot of controversy around the Demolition of the Mt Eden Shot tower, as it was the last remaining 20th century tower of it’s kind in Australasia. As you can see in our pictures the steel ibeams were extremely corroded and the weight of the top piece before it was stripped out was roughly 20 tonnes. In our opinion demolition was the right call, as the structured had the potential of toppling in high winds causing damage to the close by buildings or even potentially death. We do sympathise with those devastated with the loss of such an iconic landmark, many passing by locals stopped to tell us stories about the structure. It is always sad when a structure with such history meets its end.

The tower was built in 1916 as a result of fears of invasion from Russia, the government pushed for increased ammunition production. By 1906 the structure was capable of creating all three types of .303 ammunition used by the New Zealand Armed forces. It was New Zealands largest supplier of small-arms ammunition through both world wars. The ammunition was made by melting lead and dropping it from the height of the tower into water below. When we stripped weight from the top shed we found many bricks of lead contributing to the weight in excess of our cranes lifting capacity.

Once stripped out, the top piece weighed about 12 tonnes and had to be lifted over the neighbouring appartments before we could lower it into a space for dismantling. We gently removed the weathervane which was given to Auckland Museum. The only surviving piece of the category 1 heritage structure.