Every now and then a job comes along that doesn’t quite fit into a category or is so iconic it deserves to be in a category of it’s own. These are some of those jobs.

Boats and Super yachts

We have demolished an assortment of boats to super yachts in our over 38 years in operation. But it’s when we decided not to demolish a 49 metre super yacht that the wonderful began.

When given the task of clearing liquidated Sensation Yachts we could not have foreseen the journey we were embarking on. Three Partially built Super yachts had sat on the grounds abandoned for 8 years prior, one was simply too far the building process we couldn’t bring ourselves to destroy it. So we Salvaged it. Taking a huge expensive risk in relocating and storing it in a neighbouring shed with the hopes of finding a buyer. Luckily after 6 stressful months, we found someone willing to take the gamble and complete the build.

Watch the video below or read more HERE.

Planes

Demolishing a machine with another machine is always weird. But what’s weird about planes is they’re made out of aircraft grade aluminium, interesting to work with as its light weight but very strong, it doesn’t peel like normal aluminium, it shatters. This makes it tricky to seperate out the insulation, as typically we would peel it back to get to the insulation sandwiched between, but instead it shatters. The shattering nature of the alloy means for slow messy work as you chomp the aircraft into pieces. Ground crew must stay back in order to avoid being hit by shrapnel and we tidy as we go in order to contain all the small sharp pieces.

Ward Demolition have demolished multiple planes in its time. The pictured aircraft is ZK-FXJ Aircraft Boeing 737-36E was manufactured in 1991 in Seattle, commissioned by Viva Air, Spain. Starting out as a passenger plane it was then converted to freighter configuration in 2004. It was involved in an inflight emergency involving a fire in the cargo hold forcing an emergency landing in 2019. After many flights and owners, it’s final flight was in July 2024, ending its life in Hamilton airport where the team scrapped it for parts, leaving its bare hull for Ward Demolition. Our team chopped it up, recycling the scrap and leaving the cockpit intact to transport to a local’s playground.

Bridges

We’ve demolished some bridges in our time, ranging big to small. Typically we cut and crane them or even crumble them onto crash mats below. Te Reinga bridge in Gisborne was a weird one. Cyclone Gabrielle damaged the bridge when slash took out its central columns, leaving the bridge in an unstable state. Ward analysed the situation and devised a methodology that would remove the bridge safely and timely, as more bad weather was on its way. Drop it and drag it. Inspired by the Egyptians, Ward created a bailey bridge of logs so when we dropped the bridge into the river it would reduce the suction or resistance and it would roll across them as we winched it out. This was as impressive feat as the bridge weighed an estimated 350 tonnes. Watch the whole thing unfold in the video below:

Eden Park

Now Eden Park does belong in the Commercial category as it’s a stadium and have demolished many stadiums. But none as Wonderfully iconic as Eden Park. Ward Demolition is a family business, and that family is Kiwi through and through. Like many kiwi’s we grew up watching the All Blacks play at Eden Park. So in 1998 when we demolished the North Stand you bet it was a big deal. Again in 2008 when we demolished the South and East stands it was still a big deal. Now in 2024/2025 when we completed partial demolition of the West stand, we are still blown away to be such a big part of the History of Eden Park. Read more on our project page HERE. Or watch the video below: