The demolition of Oamaru's old "hospital on the hill' is back to "business as usual'' today after a 70-tonne excavator became stuck at the site at the weekend, a Nikau Group spokeswoman says.
It was unclear what caused the excavator to become stuck on Saturday, but it was removed early yesterday afternoon with the assistance of two cranes.
"It was stuck at an awkward angle and we just had to get the right people in to help us get it out and make sure everything went well,'' she said.
"Importantly, nobody got hurt. It was not an operator error, everything has been managed and controlled and it's business as normal for us.''
The spokeswoman said she was aware that there had been some interest from the public and a small crowd gathered at the top of the hill to watch workers extract the machine.
The company would carry out an incident investigation, she said.
"The cranes were in there in order to help with the lift and the stabilisation when we got the machine out. This is just the thing that we do as a preventive measure. It's a 70-tonne machine, so we have no choice but to have cranes of a sizeable nature on site.''
The hospital has been unused since Oamaru's new hospital opened in 2000.
Demolition began at the end of April.
Goodland Group, which owns the land and buildings on the site, announced in April plans for an 82-lot residential development on the site.
