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The historic Warkworth Hotel has successfully been raised 1.8 metres into the air so that geotechnical work can be completed on its foundations over the next six weeks.
It took 26 hydraulic jacks and 13 steel cross beams to lift what is estimated to be a 50-tonne building.
Project director Dave Stott says the first 100cm of ay raise are the most critical, because the engineers have to check that the structure is pulling cleanly away from its severed foundations and that there are no pipes or wires still connected to the ground.
A small motor on the back of a truck pumped hydraulic fluid into jacks via a single plastic tube, slowly but surely raising the whole hotel.
The jacks are attached to the building via a wooden band that spans all the way around the exterior and is also braced by steel beams cutting through the building.
Heritage architect Dave Pearson said it was the tallest structure he had seen raised in his career.
Although this method of lifting is well proven, there was some trepidation about raising the hotel because it was built in three stages, with the original structure being over 150 years old.
“Sometime after the central structure was built, additions were built on either side, before the second storey was then added,” Dave says.
For Dave, it is satisfying to finally see the necessary work being done to restore the old hotel after having been involved in the project for 10 years.
“There have been various restoration projects and false starts, but the Oaks project has been the catalyst for this finally being done, which is
quite fortunate.”
He has collected samples of the original wallpaper from walls that were removed from the building to make it lighter for the raise.
“The original wallpaper was still behind the drywall, along with newspapers reporting on things like Edward VIII, King of England.”
Before the contractors got to work on the new foundations, there was time for an archaeologist to peruse the earth while the huge hotel hung above his head. However ,he didn’t find anything of substance, Dave says.
Project director Dave Stott (left) and heritage architect Dave Pearson closely monitored the raising to ensure there were no complications.
