Toowoomba's old GrainCorp silos demolished

Workers dismantled 10 of the 11 steel structures over the holiday period, starting on Christmas Day and finishing on Monday.

The remaining silo will be covered in a mural.

The 7000sq m site on which the silos stood was bought by Keneco Property in 2018 and leased by Kennards Hire.

The cleared space will likely be used as an additional equipment storage and display area.

Keneco general manager Shane Bisset said the silos posed a potential safety risk.

"The silos have been dormant for a number of years and posed a potential risk to the safety of our community," Mr Bisset said.

Mr Bisset said in consultation with the council, they had found a way to secure the site while preserving a piece of local history.

"The remaining silo will be refurbished with a view to having a beautiful mural artwork painted on it by a local artist," he said.

"The intention is for the mural to capture Toowoomba's community's sprit and resilience while seeking to attract visitors to the region by registering the painted silo with the Australian Silo Artwork trail."

To celebrate the history of the site, multimedia items including photography, video and pieces of the silos will be offered as donations to various local groups if they wish to receive them.

For decades, grain from across the region had been stored and loaded at the complex.

Grainco sold the site to GrainCorp in 2003.

Once situated in a semi-rural setting, it became apparent that Toowoomba's urban growth had encroached on the site to the point where GrainCorp needed to find other areas for the storing and loading of grain.

With GrainCorp investing in two nearby sites of Brookstead and Malu, it was decided to cease operations at Harristown in 2015.

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Darling Downs Metals director Paul Frasle said safety and efficiency were the top priorities during the demolition stage.

"The sensitive part of the operation is done and now we move onto site cleanup," Mr Frasle said.

"With the road and the rail close by, there was a bit of pressure, but it went very well."

The workers used a 120 tonne Sennebogen 870E R-HDD high reach demolition machine - one of only two in the world.

"The demolition area we work in is very specialised and the machine is very unique," he said.

"It's specialised for high reach - up to 34 metres - taking the operator out of the risk zone."

Working from top to bottom, workers used the machine's shear attachment to peel strips off the silos and dump them in bins below.

The scrap was then trucked to the company's headquarters nearby.

Mr Frasle said more than 550 tonnes of steel from the demolition would be recycled and repurposed.

"The project is 99 per cent recyclable because it's mostly steel and a bit of copper. The only things we can't recycle are the nylon buckets."

The works are due to be completed by January 14.

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