Project: | Bolton Market Place |
Location: | Bolton City centre |
Client: | McLaren Construction |
Status: | Complete |
Services: | Enabling & Demolition |
Working within a live shopping centre to deliver a complex demolition, dismantling and alterations package at the Grade II listed Bolton Market Hall.
Bolton Market Hall was first opened in December 1855. The Victorian structure has stone façades, a cast iron and glass roof and is a listed building. Plans to redevelop and extend the market hall meant that aspects of the building had to be carefully demolished, dismantled and altered – all whilst the facilities remained open to shoppers!
Working to an NEC contract for the main contractor, McLaren Construction, Cawarden’s scope of works included the soft strip of former shopping units, demolition of the top floor of a multi-storey car park as well as removing numerous stairwells, escalators, façades and lift pits. Meticulous planning and night work allowed the large glass and steel atrium within the centre of the market to be dismantled and removed. Within the basement, large brick walls also required demolition. Decommissioning works included several large items of redundant plant.
The complex scope of works was spread across eight levels of the shopping centre and close to listed sections of the Victorian structure. Within the car park, there was a maximum load-bearing of only 3 tonnes. Instead of using conventional demolition machinery, we used a lightweight remote-controlled demolition ‘robot’ (Brokk) to demolish the top floor of the car park. We also removed a tarmac topping to the retained car park areas. Other works involved diamond cutting, hot works demolition, and splits to make way for a new canopy and extensions.
The Cawarden team successfully overcame the logistical challenges the project presented. Careful planning of works meant that the flow of tens of thousands of tonnes of material kept moving. All materials were moved internally to the basement areas, segregated and loaded into skips. We also used one of the largest fixed cranes in Europe to help lift out very large steels on night shifts. Cawarden operated 12-hour shift patterns, 24 hours a day and with multiple gangs working in different areas of the site – this ensured we delivered to the tight programme of works and the shopping centre could remain operational during the day.
The key to the success of this multi-faceted project was exceptional project management and regular liaison with all other contractors on-site. Progress meetings allowed all parties to discuss upcoming phases of works, share progress and complete the works safely, efficiently and to the project programme.