The UK’s largest demolition excavator, the 120 tonne Hitachi EX1200, has been teamed up with Europe’s largest breaker, the 11 tonne Atlas Copco HB 1000, for the first time at Woolwich Central.

The machines have been brought in to clear the demolition material from a 1970s local government building.

They will help recycle approximately 10,000m3 of reinforced concrete from the 9,220 m3 site – enough to fill 3.7 Olympic swimming pools.

Work is being led by contractor Willmott Dixon on behalf of developer Spenhill, which is owned by Tesco.

Sustainable construction techniques are being enlisted wherever possible and 80% of the concrete is either being recycled or re-used in the new development.

Tony Fletcher, Corporate Affairs Manager for Tesco, said: “Re-using the materials from the demolition phase is just one of the innovative environmental initiatives that we will be rolling out during the construction of Woolwich Central.

“Sustainable measures will be incorporated into every phase of the project from design, through to construction and operation.”

Sabah Abed, Willmott Dixon Project Director responsible for Woolwich Central, said: “We needed the best machinery available to deal with the very strong, heavily reinforced concrete that we have on site.

“These machines are capable of processing a massive 1,000 – 1,500 m3 a day and have given us tremendous capacity to deal with the ground excavations in the most efficient way possible.”