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CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
DECEMBER 2013-JANUARY 2014
DEMOLITION
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The annual 2013 World
Demolition Awards are
held by Demolition &
Recycling International,
sister magazine of CE.
Lindsay Gale
editor of
D&RI looks at this
year’s results
project is a superb example of performing
high profile demolition work with meticulous
attention to every environmental concern and
technical challenge within the very heart of a
major urban arena.”
The site, 110 Queen Street, is in the heart of
Glasgow City Centre, and was originally built
in 1971.
The building was a former Bank of Scotland
Bank branch and main office, and had been
unoccupied for a number of years.
The seven-storey building was made up
of a concrete frame with bison floor slabs,
on the outside of which sat 8m long x 2m
wide concrete panels that were fixed to the
concrete frame of the building on each level.
There were two lift shafts, and in the basement
sat the old bank vaults.
Hunter Demolition was sub-contracted to
demolish the site by client BAM Construction.
BUILDING SURROUNDED
The building was surrounded by offices, high
end retail outlets, city centre residential living
and tourists, and was on a main bus route into
the heart of the city, with over 100 buses an
hour passing the site.
Careful and meticulous planning to take
account of the environmental impact the
project would have on the surrounding area
and those within the area was essential.
As always, health and safety was a major
issue that was again meticulously planned for.
Hunter had to ensure the safety of all of its
staff, the public and surrounding businesses
and buildings. Space around the site was at a
premium given its proximity to the buildings
and main route surrounding it.
Hunter Demolition was contracted to
demolish the existing building safely and to
remove the basement and pile caps to allow
for a new building to be constructed by the
client.
As a result of a lack of original construction
drawings,
Hunter
approached
BAM
Construction to arrange a “soft start” to the
project. This allowed investigation works on
the building to be carried out ahead of the
official programme start date to determine
how the concrete panels had been fixed.
It also meant that it could assess how the
building was attached to the adjacent
buildings – Lomond House on Hanover Street
and Olympic House on Queen Street.
The soft start also allowed Hunter to develop
safe methods of work for the demolition of the
building.
T
he winner of this year’s accolade of
World Demolition Awards Contract
of the Year was Scottish firm Hunter
Demolition, which is headquartered in Kilsyth,
just outside Glasgow.
Its entry for the Awards was for the work it
carried out at 110 Queen Street, Glasgow.
One of the judges that assessed the entries
in the Contract of the Year category in the
2013 World Demolition Awards best summed
up the winning entry from Hunter Demolition.
He said, “Hunter’s Glasgow city centre
Attention to detail
Hunter‘s George Beattie (second right) was
given the award by JohnWoodward (right)
Hunter’s Hitachi Zaxis 670 HCR
at work in Glasgow
