Cawarden demolishes and clears the former Leicester Royal Infirmary A&E department as part of £48 million revamp.

Leicester Royal Infirmary has undergone a major scheme of modernisation to provide new, state-of-the-art medical facilities. As part of the major revamp, old A&E buildings needed to be demolished and cleared – and all whilst the rest of the hospital remained fully operational.

Cawarden was appointed to this high profile project to deliver the demolition and all associated works to clear the site of the former A&E department.

Cawarden completed a widespread soft strip of all buildings, with waste segregated to maximise recycling. Licensed and non-licensed asbestos materials were removed under suitably controlled conditions and were safely disposed of at licensed facilities.

The buildings to be demolished were situated in-between existing wings of the hospital and contained live services running through ductwork and basement levels feeding other buildings. While the majority of services were re-routed, there were some which had to stay in place. Cawarden undertook extensive propping and shoring operations to ensure the relevant services were unaffected.

Along with the service ducting, several basements underneath the Langham Wing required infilling before they could be demolished.

Consisting of a mix of construction types and with major temporary works schemes in place throughout the site, old buildings, wards, link bridges, former nurses’ accommodation and the former hospital chapel were demolished in a planned sequence and using a variety of demolition methodologies and techniques. Complex separation works to live/redundant structures were meticulously completed by hand. All slabs and footings were raised and crushed.

Waste and recyclable materials arising from the demolition works were removed from the site and transferred to a licensed recycling facility.

It was of paramount importance that the hospital was in no way affected during the works – this included the designated blue route for ambulances that had to remain accessible at all times. Due to the nature of the site and the proximity of the live buildings surrounding the working area we deployed some of the latest dust suppression technology around. This ensured we could effectively control the dust created from the works.

To complete our work on the project, the site was remediated and a piling mat was installed to prepare for the new-build construction.

Our in-house expertise in sensitive demolition helped to identify opportunities and manage risks from start to finish. Cawarden was working within a live hospital environment which was an added challenge for the site team, but nothing we had not had to deal with previously. Industry know-how, carefully planned logistics, extensive resources and an innovative approach all contributed to the completion of the vast range of complex activities – and ultimately the overall success of the project.

The result of our work set the foundations for the new-build “emergency floor” – giving both patients and staff an improved environment for receiving and providing care.

Learn more about our work on this project
Check out our feature in Demolition & Dismantling Magazine here