Hotel on the Move: How Canada has shifted a 220-tonne hotel with the help of 700 soap bars

It is said, “There is a creative solution to every problem.” A former hotel in Canada’s Nova Scotia, which faced demolition, was saved and moved using an unusual method – hundreds of bars of soaps. Yes, you read it right. Victorian gem, Elmwood building, located in Halifax, now stands preserved thanks to 700 bars of ivory soap. Here’s how an innovative solution helped in the architectural challenge. About the hotel The building was constructed in 1826 as a one-storey house, and was converted into the Victorian Elmwood Hotel about 120 years ago. It was scheduled for demolition in 2018. However, a real estate company named Galaxy Properties, purchased the property. The challenge The Elmwood, a massive 220-tonne structure, was to be moved to a new location and connected to a planned apartment building. The team from S Rushton Construction – House Moving Experts – was assigned the tough task.

Instead of using traditional rollers, the team employed unique solution bars made of ivory soap. With the help of the soft soap bars, two excavators and a heavy-duty wrecker, the structure glided smoothly. Taking to Facebook, they showcased their creativity and weeks of preparation by posting a time-lapse video of the carefully choreographed process. The owner of the construction company, Sheldon Rushton, also confirmed that the Elmwood was gracefully pulled 30 feet. He attributed the ease to the softness of ivory soap. The historic building made its “first journey” in almost 200 years. But this is not its last one. Plans include another relocation once the new foundation is finished. Looking ahead, the hotel is set to continue its journey, navigating towards Barrington Street in the upcoming phases of the relocation process. What is structure relocation? Structure relocation, according to theConstructor.org, is “the process of moving a structure from one location to another.” It involves two consecutive steps – disassembling and reassembling at the required location or transporting it whole. The process also involves lifting and placing a structure on a wheeled vehicle to carry it to the new location. The structures may also be pushed on temporary rails or dollies if the distance is short. Typically, for long distance, huge vehicles like flatbed carrier trucks are used. Such kind of moves also require removing extended parts of the structure such as chimney or overhead cables or long trees. Past instances of houses on wheels In June this year, a farmer named Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi from Punjab’s Roshanwala village saved his home from demolition by shifting its location to a distance from the existing spot. According to ANI, Sukhi’s house was coming in the way of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway project, because of which he came up with a “jugaad” of shifting his house.

The house, spread over 3,000-3,500 square feet, was constructed in 2017 for Rs 1.5 crore. While the state government offered him compensation for demolishing his house, the farmer decided to “shift” it as it would have taken him another two to three years to rebuild a new one. The shifting was carried out using lifting and moving technologies. The entire process cost over Rs 50 lakh. A two-storey 5,170-square-feet house known as the Englander House, was moved from the heart of San Francisco to a new location in 2021, as per The Guardian. The city reportedly suffered from a housing shortage and was ready to build a 48-unit building in its place. Thus, instead of demolishing the century-old six-bedroom house, teams lift it off, put it on wheels and move it to a new location six blocks away. According to the report, the move cost the owner, Tim Brown, roughly around $400,000. It was the first time a Victorian building had been relocated in roughly 50 years. China’s Fu Gang building in the Guangxi Province is the current record holder in Guinness World Records for the heaviest structure moved intact. The multi-storey building weighs 15,140 tonnes or 33.3 million pounds. The process began on 10 November 2004 and the building reached its new location in 11 days.