Case Study

Project NameBMET, Birmingham.

Ultra-high reach demolition to offer the safest, most practical and cost-effective demolition methodology through demolition sequencing.

Description of Works

The site was located in the heart of Birmingham, directly adjacent to commercial properties, footpaths and highways. Blucon provided a safe and secure demolition site 24 hours a day, in such a heavily populated area. All works were carried out from within the hoarding line, making use of demolition experience to generate sufficient space to enable reliable demolition, processing, crushing and loading away of materials.

Dust suppression was dealt with at source via on site dust cannons and utilising the pre-installed hose lines fitted to the ultra-high reach demolition excavator. Noise, dust and vibration monitors were also deployed to provide real time data records to ensure limitations/restrictions were not exceeded. The monitors were set up on the site boundaries closest to the most sensitive receptors. Alert systems were set up via mobile texts/emails to enable the management of noise, dust and vibration levels during all hours throughout the working days.

The works consisted of;

Full asbestos removal, both notifiable and non-notifiable, were carried out carefully by our environmental division, removing all documented asbestos from the Asbestos Demolition Survey, and, previously unidentified asbestos containing materials.

All areas were expertly cleared and cleaned whilst air monitoring of areas and individuals ensured safety. Four stages clearances following removal allowed the reoccupation certification to be produced.

Soft stripping of all deleterious materials, to take the structure back to grey shell.

All waste generated by soft strip activities was segregated and removed from the structure using internal hoists, and then following the dedicated waste routes through structure at ground level, to external loading area.

 The large plant room was skilfully decommissioned and removed from the roof.

 Ultra-high reach mechanical demolition works was then carried out safely down to three storeys, demolishing floor by floor, applying a traditional demolition stepping technique. The remaining structure was then demolished by 30-40t demolition excavators.

 In order to contain wind-blown fragments and provide a physical protection to the nearby adjacent buildings, footpaths and highways located in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, a bespoke protection screen was manufactured and suspended by crane during ultra-high reach activities

 All slabs and foundations were fully broken out and removed leaving no obstructions in the ground.

 All waste was segregated throughout the duration of the project, and the segregated waste streams left site in dedicated skips. The concrete was continuously processed by another two excavators, enabling efficient crushing of the collected hardcore, the crushed pile was then left on site ready for later reuse by the client.

Contractual Terms

JCT

Project Challenges

  • Large scale Asbestos removal
  • Ultra-High reach demolition adjacent to commercial properties, footpaths and heavy trafficked highways
  • Dust suppression/mitigation
  • Noise and vibration levels
  • Delivery of plant and materials in heavily trafficked highways
  • Carting away of materials
  • Crushing requirements

How the contract was delivered successfully

The project was planned prior to mobilising on-site with a two-week lead in period, enabling all relevant preliminary work to be completed. The site welfare was established from the first day with sufficient resource allocated to the project ensuring the programme was always met and/or improved. Traffic management plans were established to ensure the heavy traffic flow in the heart of Birmingham wouldn’t be affected and in turn wouldn’t impede our programme. All work was completed by competent and experienced personnel, from the site manager to the machine operators and all site labour. Periodic progress meetings were undertaken by the contracts manager and site manager providing regular progress updates to the client.

Contact Blucon now, our team are ready to help with your demolition requirements.