How do you get rid of a 22-storey eyesore?
THE COMPLEXITIES OF REMOVING HUGE 1970S EYESORE FROM THE CITYSCAPE
ONE of Leicester’s tallest buildings will have to be “reverse built” in order to remove it from the city’s skyline.
Goscote House, in Highfields, has been earmarked for demolition now that all of its 134 flats have been emptied and their council tenants relocated.
However, the process of bringing down the 22-storey 1970s tower will be difficult because of the nearby homes, health facilities and community buildings that stand in its shadow.
The city council decided two years ago that the 217ft tower needed to go.
Officials said they could not guarantee its structural integrity for more than five years and ruled out spending millions of pounds refurbishing it – as they have with other high-rise council blocks built at a similar time in the area.
There were also fire safety concerns about the tower, while the council said anti-social behaviour there was making it hard to let some of the properties.
The refurbishment to bring it up to modern standards would cost £6.5 million – as opposed to the £4.3 million expense of demolition.
This week the council has applied for planning permission to demolish the block and has published documents written by consultants showing the complexities and challenges surrounding the project.
It will be the largest-scale demolition scheme since the council’s
former New Walk headquarters, which was toppled in dramatic fashion with a controlled implosion in 2015.
Such an option is impossible for Goscote House, according to consultants Arcadis, who have been asked by the council to prepare for the demolition of the concrete structure in Sparkenhoe Street.
Arcadis looked at four options for the removal of the building safely and with the minimum possible disruption.
The tower was completed in 1971 using a method called Type B, Taylor Woodrow Anglian which used pre-cast concrete assembled floor-by-floor on a frame.
The same method was used to build the 22-storey Ronan Point tower in East London, which partly collapsed in 1968 after it was damaged in a gas explosion.
OPTION 1
Implosion or “pancaking”, where explosive charges are set and detonated to cause the building to fall in on itself within its own footprint.
This has been deemed unfeasible because of the closeness of the St Peter’s Health Centre, which stands at its base.
OPTION 2
Munching. This is the use of powerful hydraulic jaws to literally pull the building down, floor-by-floor.
While this would normally be an option for taking down a building like Goscote House, there is not enough space at the bottom of the building to get the machinery in to do it.
OPTION 3
Using a “remote breaker”. This is another form of top-down demolition using a specially designed machine which would break up the structure, pushing material down the building’s lift shaft. This option, however, risks weakening the structure as a whole and would be the noisiest and dustiest option.
OPTION 4
Reverse construction. This option is the prefered method and would see Goscote House dismantled bit by bit, in a reversal of the way in which it was built.
While experts say the process is arduous and time-consuming, it has the least impact on the surrounding area and chunks of the building can be more easily removed from the site than huge piles of rubble.
Much of the building, which is thought to contain asbestos, has been stripped out but the demolition of the structure is expected to begin towards the end of this year and be completed by April 2022.
Nearby roads will require closure at some point during the process but the council plans to update people in the community about how they will be affected closer to the time.
A workmen’s compound will be set up near the playing fields of Moat College on Sparkenhoe Street.
No decisions have been made about what will fill the 700 sq m site, but new social housing is being considered as an option.
Some city councillors have argued that the loss of 134 council flats is not desirable, but the council’s housing department is looking at alternatives to replenish and expand its stock of homes.