As it turns out, a lot of manpower and machinery and two weeks’ worth of patience per tree! Recently at Empress Place, I had the rare opportunity of witnessing trees being transplanted.

Eight rain trees, each about 40 years old with a girth of 1.5 m or more, were shifted from their original positions near Victoria Memorial Hall to create a tree-lined lawn in front of Victoria Concert Hall. Each tree was transplanted using the ’raft method‘, which involved driving 23 steel pipes under the trees to create a ’raft’ for the root ball. While this method was deemed the most suitable technique for the relocating of such mature trees, it is an engineering feat. Creating the ’raft‘ alone took four to five days to complete!

That is not all. Even though each tree moved only a short distance, extra attention still had to be paid to hydrating and fertilising the tree root ball throughout the preparation process to ensure the tree remained in good shape during and after the transplant. To secure the tree, the crew removed debris and shaved off protruding roots from the root ball before boarding it up on four sides with planks to ensure a safe relocation.

Prior to the actual moving, a team of arborists had to scale the tree to assess its condition and prune the branches if the tree canopy is deemed too dense for the crane cables to be strung through. They then remain on the tree to strap and secure the tree to the crane. Overall, each tree transplant was a carefully orchestrated event and a fascinating one. Watch the video below for a glimpse into the process of moving one of the Rain Trees.

Though tree transplanting may be time-consuming and labour intensive, I believe it is effort well spent, knowing that the trees will continue to grow and mature, creating a lush plaza where everyone will be able to enjoy for generations to come..

Text by Wong Yeang Cherng
Video directed by Wong Yeang Cherng and assisted by Jasper Ku Wei