First homes demolished in Torrens to Darlington project

The first South Rd homes have fallen to the bulldozers as neighbours say they now feel like they are living on a construction site.

Neighbours of the first properties to be razed for the Torrens to Darlington project say they’re “living on a construction site” as homes around them are progressively demolished.

The first round of demolitions – at Clovelly Park – has ploughed ahead despite questions over the final design of the project, which is the subject of a Transport Department (DIT) review due to be released by the end of this year.

Upwards of 10 homes and businesses have already been knocked down, with several more fenced off in preparation. A crane and bulldozer, trucks, demolition workers and traffic controllers were on-site on Wednesday.

While residents said the work brought noise and traffic disruption, they said it was preferable to the looting, squatting and stealing that had occurred when the homes were sitting vacant.

Andy Lambert has lived in a housing trust home on York Ave for eight years but will move out at the end of next month, when the unit is acquired by the state government. He said the owners of the property next door had moved out two months ago, and the home had since then been targeted several times.

Andy Lambert with his dog, Jacko, outside his house that will soon be demolished to make room for construction along South Rd at Clovelly Park. Picture: Matt Loxton

“It got so bad they had to bring in a portable security camera,” he said.

“It’s better that they’re demolished, you just feel bad for the squatters who had nowhere else go.”

A few doors down, Sarah Bates said items including pot plants had been stolen from out the front of her home.

“It was copper pipes that people seemed to be after,” she said. “There’s no way you could have rented (the vacated) places out, they were trashed.”

Of a total 64 properties to be acquired for the project at Clovelly Park – which will become a launch site for the assembly of two tunnel-boring machines – about 20 were earmarked for early demolition under the first round of works.

Demolition sites to make room along South Rd at Clovelly Park. Picture: Matt Loxton

A map provided to state parliament by DIT shows the properties are dotted, some in small clusters, between Selgar Ave and Princes Pde.

It shows some homes not marked for demolition in the first round are surrounded by neighbouring properties that have been razed.

In a statement, a DIT spokesman said demolition of the properties on the map began in August and was scheduled to finish by the end of this year.

He said the department was taking a “flexible approach to property acquisition”, and the time of demolition depended on when homes were vacated.

“The project generally will undertake demolition works on relevant properties as soon as practicable once the acquisitions process is complete so that enabling works to prepare the Torrens to Darlington project site and relocate utility services can be undertaken as early as possible,” he said.

The spokesman said properties near those earmarked for early demolition could continue to live in their properties while the process is worked through, and measures such as fencing and security patrols have been put in place.

The Torrens to Darlington project review was commissioned by Labor shortly after the March state election.