Film House – London
Client: Vengrove/Gleeds/Blenheim House
Duration: 52 Weeks
Value – £2.25m
Project Details
The project is located in Wardour Street W1, the roads and public footpaths surrounding the site are always extremely busy and vehicular access is very restricted. The first phase of our works was to remove all asbestos from site and strip out the existing building back to the RC encased steel frame.
The vast majority of the Phase 1 works were undertaken whilst the existing basement still had a live tenant in occupation. Our site team worked with Blenheim House to sequence and organise our works activities as to not disrupt the existing tenant and maintain live services to their demise.
Phase 2 of the project required the design and installation of extensive temporary works throughout the building; this allowed us to remove significant areas of the 3no levels of mansard and demolish a large central opening within the existing structure for the creation of a new core area. Our works also included the removal of all three internal staircases from the roof down to basement level to complete the reconfiguration of the existing building layout.
One of the key challenges overcome by the Salter team was the resequencing of our works to maintain the existing live telecoms mast operational during the early stages of the demolition process. The mast was due to be relocated from the roof but unfortunately it remained in position for an additional three months into the demolition programme. By resequencing our works, we still managed to create a seven-story shaft through the building for the new core construction to commence. Our team then returned to the roof level to complete the demolition process whilst working immediately adjacent to the new RC construction works.
To undertake the physical demolition process we utilised four of our Brokk machines to work within the existing building carefully demolishing the existing structure whilst working around the temporary works and permanent steelwork installations. The lightweight nature and compact size of the Brokk’s helped progress the demolition works despite the very restricted access and lightweight construction of the existing building.