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16
DEMOLITION AWARDS
15
d
&
ri
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013
Cream of
the crop
The outstanding entry that gained the accolade of
CONTRACT
OF THE YEAR
came from
HUNTER DEMOLITION
who is
headquartered in Kilsyth, just outside Glasgow. The company
entered the work it carried out at 110 Queen Street, in the
heart of that city
T
he words of one of the judges that
assessed the entries in the Contract of
the Year category in the 2013 World
Demolition Awards best sum up the winning
entry from Hunter Demolition. He said:
“Hunter’s Glasgow city centre 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.”
110 Queen Street, in the heart of Glasgow
city centre, 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. This 7
storey building was made up of concrete frame
with bison floor slabs on the outside of which
sat concrete panels 8 m (26.2 ft) long x 2 m
(6.6 ft) wide 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 this site by client BAM
Construction.
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 that
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 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.
BRINGING IT DOWN
Hunter was contracted to safely demolish the
existing building and remove the basement
and pile caps to allow for a new building to
be constructed by the client. Due to the lack
of original construction drawings, Hunter
approached BAM Construction to arrange
a ‘Soft Start’ to the project that allowed
investigation works on the building to be
carried out prior to the official programme
start date to determine how the concrete panels
had been fixed and how the building was
attached to the adjacent buildings - Lomond
House on Hanover Street and Olympic House
on Queen Street. This also allowed Hunter
to develop safe methods of work for the
demolition of the building.
Firstly the concrete panels were removed
using cranes, with lifting pins having to be
specially made to incorporate the weight of
the panels, and the angle and location of the
existing lifting holes. This was a new initiative
that relied on design and reverse engineering
in order to remove the panels in a way that
increased the safety of the operatives involved.
They were removed to plan without any
incident. The removal of these panels was a
whole new concept.
With the concrete panels removed, Hunter
carried out the safe demolition of the building
using a 40 m (132 ft) high reach machine along
with support from a Cat 345 with an extended
boom to remove the main parts of the building
but leaving the end sections that tied into the
adjoining buildings. Once down to ground
The Contract of the Year Award was presented to
Hunter Demolition by John Woodward
Hunter’s Hitachi Zaxis 670 HCR
at work at 110 Queen St
