North Sydney Olympic Pool, Milsons Point

North Sydney Council engaged Dixons Tree Transpanting to relocate two mature Canary Island Date Palms (Phoenix canariensis) from the creche area at North Sydney Olympic Pool. The palms had become a safety concern in that setting: mature Canary Island Date Palms carry heavy foliage and sharp spines around the base of each frond, which is a poor match for a children’s area.

Removal would have solved the safety issue and lost two established landscape assets. Council chose to keep them. The brief was to extract both palms, transport them across to St Leonards Park, and re-establish them in prepared planting locations, then return to reinstate the original site. Each palm weighed approximately 6.5 tonnes and stood around 5.5 metres, so the work required a 70 tonne all-terrain crane, specialist excavation, heavy transport between two separate sites, and AQF Level 5 arboricultural oversight throughout.

Working across two sites with two 6.5 tonne palms created a series of constraints:

• Constrained pool site – The creche area offered limited room for excavation, crane positioning and lifting around the existing palms.
• Surface and services protection – Artificial turf, irrigation lines and electrical garden lighting all sat around the palms and had to come through the works undamaged.
• Root ball integrity – Each root ball had to stay intact and protected through excavation, lifting, transport and reinstallation. Root damage is the primary cause of transplant failure in mature palms.
• Two-site coordination – Crane, excavation and transport equipment had to be sequenced across two separate locations, with the receiving site prepared and waiting.
• Time out of ground – Every hour a palm spends lifted and in transit adds transplant stress, so the programme had to be tight.
• Integrated disciplines – The job combined arboriculture, excavation, crane lifting and heavy haulage, each dependent on the others running to schedule.

Dixons delivered the works across a planned two-day transplant programme, followed by a third day for site reinstatement.

• Receiving locations prepared first – Planting positions at St Leonards Park were excavated and ready before either palm was lifted, reducing the time each palm spent out of the ground and limiting transplant stress.
• Work areas established and protected – Exclusion zones were set up and the artificial turf, irrigation and electrical infrastructure around the palms were protected before excavation began.
• Controlled root ball formation – A 5 tonne and a 2.5 tonne excavator were used to dig around each palm and form a controlled root ball, retaining as much viable root mass and existing soil as practicable.
• Frond and root protection – Fronds were wrapped and protected for the lift and transport. Root balls were wrapped in hessian and kept moist throughout the relocation.
• Crane extraction and transport – A 70 tonne all-terrain crane extracted each palm and loaded it to a semi trailer for the move to St Leonards Park.
• Installation and stabilisation – Craneage and specialist plant placed each palm into its prepared position, then each was backfilled, watered in, mulched, guyed and stabilised.
• Original site reinstated – The crew returned for a third day to remove excess spoil from the original planting location and leave the area flat and level.
• Arboricultural oversight – An AQF Level 5 Project Arborist directed the works at key stages and completed post-relocation assessment and reporting.

Both palms were relocated, installed and stabilised at St Leonards Park, and the pool site was reinstated on programme. Key outcomes included:

• Two mature Canary Island Date Palms retained as Council landscape assets rather than removed.
• Safety concern resolved at the creche area without the loss of established trees.
• Both palms installed, watered in, mulched and stabilised for establishment in their new parkland setting.
• Pool site infrastructure, artificial turf, irrigation and electrical services protected throughout.
• Original planting area reinstated flat and level after spoil removal.
• AQF Level 5 post-relocation assessment and reporting completed for Council records.