Delta Group mourns ‘demolition legend’

Born in 1957, he worked closely with company founder Con Petropoulos and was involved in some of the southern hemisphere’s most iconic projects.

Ziggy Zielecki, second from right, worked for Delta Group for 33 years including some of Australia’s most iconic projects

As well as being primarily responsible for the movement and management across Australia and hundreds of job sites, he sat on the executive management team and had enormous influence in the mentoring and development of foremen, site supervisors and project managers and engineers.

The company said: “A demolition legend, Zig was and always will be larger than life.

“Since the late 1980s, when he first arrived on a Melbourne demolition site with our founder Con Petropoulos, the two have stood side by side and built Delta Group into what and who we are today.

“From Australia’s tallest ever demolition, the 140 m (459 ft) high Legal & General Building in Sydney, to the biggest single explosive demolition in the country, the Hazelwood Power Station stack fells, Zig has been in the thick of the action for the 33 years he was with Delta Group.

“While not formally trained or qualified, his natural engineering talent was profound.

“He knew how structures would (and do) behave – industrial to commercial – and the sequencing or programming required to execute the scope.

“He has shaped so many lives that words cannot properly express the loss we are feeling right now. His legacy will be writ large in the coming weeks and months, but right now our thoughts are with his family.”

Once in a generation – Delta Group takes down Australia’s iconic Hazelwood power station for client Engie Project manager Bartek Kogutowski talks to D&Ri about the challenges of this major demolition job