Remote-operated digger working inside Cathedral finishes month early

The remote-operated digger working inside the Cathedral has finished its clean up a month ahead of schedule.   

The digger has been working inside the Cathedral nave for the past 41 days and has successfully removed 247.92 tonnes of material, including debris, masonry and guano, a significant biohazard, and heritage fabric.  

Project Director, Keith Paterson says, “this innovative digital solution has allowed the project’s critical work plan to gain about three months. It has marked the start of the major interior clean up and is another milestone in the Cathedral’s reinstatement journey.”  

“The safe retrieval of heritage fabric has been a top priority for the Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project. Our heritage professional has carefully sorted through the material and found various artefacts, including mosaic tiles from the intricate and ornate tessellated panels once found on the internal west wall, coins lost over time from peoples’ pockets and broken fragments of the stained-glass windows,” says Keith Paterson. 

Personnel from project partners Protranz Earthmoving Ltd and Aurecon, who first suggested the use of the remote-operated digger, have been operating it from an operations centre outside the Cathedral using specially fitted cameras with live stream capability.  

The remote-operated digger is a safety-first approach that solves health and safety issues by keeping personnel out of the building while still getting the work done.