Wayne Bagnall Ltd,
t/a Wayne Bagnall Consulting,
PO Box 41,
Birchwood,
WA3 4FS.
T: 01925 767722
F: 01925 767733
M: 07712 767744
Wayne Bagnall MBE MSc CMIOSH MIDE MCMI 25 years practical experience and knowledge
Provides advice & training to the HSE, Local Authorites & Industry
Has written part of the new British Standard for demolition BS6187: 2000
Laing O'Rourke (Scotland) Ltd had successfully won a prestigous building project for a state of the art office block; to enable this an existing 30m high 1960's office block required demolition. The building being in the city centre on a confirned site fronting onto Bothwell Street linked to the exit of the M8 Motorway; the highways would not allow any lane closures. In the spirit of CDM everyone wished to avoid any unnecessary risks, however without being able to close the road it was doubtful that the building could be demolished remotely; this potentially required persons working at height whilst demolition was done floor by floor.
My Solution
The tendering demolition contractors submitted proposed various approaches, therefore I was requested to visit site to give an opinion on an appropriate way forward. I suggested that the demolition code of practice (BS6187: 2000) encouraged remote demolition where feasible and that we should carry out some trials to check if the available exclusion zone was sufficient to allow this. In liaison with the regulators I designed trials to be carried out utilising physical barriers to compensate for the limited space at the rear of the property to check several parameters:
Exclusion zone needed cf actual available
How the building reacted under demolition
How barriers could reduce the exclusion zone
The Result
It was found that by incorporating a pedestrian tunnel into the physical barriers this provided sufficient space for the exclusion zone. The resultant successful outcomes proved that the building could be demolished remotely with no debris breaches of these barriers.
My/Our Comments
§Besides the safety aspects other benefits included:
All remote demolition achieved using high reach excavators
Regulators were pleased with the approach & the results
Saved 4 weeks on the programme
Wayne Bagnall Ltd, t/a Wayne Bagnall Consulting,
PO Box 41, Birchwood, WA3 4FS T: 01925 767722 F: 01925 767733 M: 07712 767744
