Project Description
Client: Argent Developments
Project Scope
DSM were appointed to undertake the largest, most complex de-construction/demolition projects in Birmingham City Centre. The project was located on a central ring road which connected both the east and west of the city centre, sitting above Smallbrook Queensway Tunnel which is one of Birmingham’s busiest arterial routes around the City.
Project Constraints & Challenges:
- Working over a tunnel with restrictions on the number of plant and machinery that could work at any one time
- Complex traffic management and logistics plans to permanently rerouted traffic during the entirety of the works
- Extensive real time dust and vibration monitoring due to working adjacent a grade II listed building where the windows couldn’t be sealed
- Demolition adjacent the live operational Birmingham Conservatoire which provided music lessons to children.
- No access to bolted sections of the 2.5 tonne 1.4m wide x 5.2m high pre-cast concrete panels. These had to be core drilled to release the fixing mechanisms and each one lifted clear and craned across the sky-lighted Conservatorie.
Achievements
- Complicated and demanding temporary works were successfully carried out to demolish the Brutalist style inverted ziggurat Birmingham Library building.
- No damage or dust contamination of the Grade II listed Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
