A few time a year, a special project comes along that feels like a privilege to be part of. The demolition of the two ageing 74-metre and 65-metre sugar mill stacks at Kalamia, North Queensland, was one of those projects.
This wasn’t your standard “knock it down and clean it up” kind of demolition.
Demex were removing two massive industrial stacks right next to a fully operational sugar mill, with only one metre separating Stack 1 from a live boiler house.
Add tight deadlines between crushing seasons, high humidity, cyclones, 24-hour shifts, and a robotic demolition platform suspended by crane, and you’ve got a seriously complex job.
Demex brought us in to help them tell that story through a case study video that showcased the innovation, planning and people that made it possible.
How We Approached It
Before filming anything, we sat down with Scott and the project team to understand their demolition process step-by-step, the crane placement, Brokk platform installation, shift rotations through the night, and what they actually wanted audiences to take away from the video.
This helped us develop a plan of where we could safely fly the drone, along with some unique angles that best captured the project’s complexity.
We recommended:
- A three-month timelapse camera covering the project duration (it also allows remote monitoring and full gallery access)
- Three filming sessions across key stages of the demolition
- One of those shoots to be filmed between 3 and 6am, capturing their night operations as the sun came up
- Interviews designed to naturally cover the key messaging they’d like to communicate.
That early morning session turned out to be one of the highlights. As Scott said: “I remember thinking, how good will these night time shots look? And honestly, it blew us away… everybody’s been absolutely blown away by it.”
Once onsite we spent time getting to know the crew, understanding their workflow, sharing our plans and goals, and building trust. It meant that we could request to position our cameras in places you wouldn’t normally get access to, including being mounted directly to the Brokk demolition frame.
What Demex had to say
From the moment the video went live, the response was huge. Amanda shared: “Since we launched the video, we’ve had nothing but amazing feedback. Everyone we speak to says, ‘Oh, the stacks – you did that!’ And that’s purely from the footage that came back from Pure Gold.”
Scott explained it from a business standpoint: “As a Project Director going into potential new projects, we use the video to really sell our capabilities.
It gives clients confidence that Demex can carry out a demolition project of this size and difficulty. It makes my job a little bit easier for sure.”
Demex have since received multiple inbound enquiries and opportunities to bid on new work directly off the back of this video.
Amanda summed it up perfectly: “Getting this content created is a significant investment for Demex, but it’s completely invaluable. It’s something we can use for tenders, marketing, recruitment, and it’s still going to wow people in years to come.”
Why this case study video worked
What made this project special was our partnership with Demex. They trusted us early, and let us plan alongside their engineering and operations teams. That let to a creative and visually dynamic video that wasn’t shut down in a corporate boardroom.
We also treated it like a story, not just a demolition. We wanted to showcase the team behind the work, the complexity and pressure, the innovation and pride behind it all.
Night shift filming was a real treat. It captured a side of heavy industry most people never see. We try to understand what aspects of a project are visually strong, and work out how to best capture them on camera – that often leads to a visually engaging and unique video that hasn’t been done before.
It’s one thing to complete the video, but knowing how to get the most mileage from it is another skill altogether. Demex have done a great job distributing and sharing the video, using it strategically for tenders, client pitches, awards submissions, recruitment and internal culture. This gives the video, the project, and their brand more traction that a single one-off post ever could.
Final Thoughts
This project was a perfect example of why industrial storytelling matters. You can have the best engineering solution in the world, but if no one sees it, understands it or feels it, it disappears.
Demex took a risk investing in content like this. It paid off.
We’re proud to have played a small part in helping them showcase what they do best.