Soundwell College

The landowner required a full services enabling contractor to demolish and remodel various elements of the former college. Weaver Demolition was selected to manage the demolition works on site and subsequently delivered a complete solution to prepare the site for the proceeding refurbishment and planned construction works.

Prior to the demolition of a number of the buildings at Soundwell College, a large scale decontamination project was required to strip-out both licenced and non-licenced asbestos materials carried out by Weaver Demolition’s fully trained and UKATA approved team.

The project also required the draining down and purging of all mechanical systems on site as well as the de-contamination of an extensive network of undocumented underground service ducts.

Intricate hand demolition works were carried out to create a safe working gap between remaining and ‘to be demolished’ areas. The demolition work included the removal of basements, service trenches and ducts, as well as the complete demolition of a number of buildings varying in size and construction type.

Soft strip works were then completed within the remaining buildings to enable the refurbishment of a number of the buildings on site, and structural alterations and openings, ranging from 900mm to over 4m wide, were undertaken to re-model the internal layout of the remaining structures.

Removing all unwanted demolition hardcore and then buying in new aggregates for the proposed construction could have added significant time and cost to the project. However, as part of our full enabling offering, Weaver Demolition operate an efficient and cost effective crushing and screening service that is not only more cost effective but also more sustainable in eliminating disposed materials. On this project, Weaver Demolition were able to crush all hardcore arisings on site which were then re-used on site for the formation of levels for a new artificial sports pitch.

Benefits

At the end of the project, the client had a construction ready site, free from contamination, underground obstructions, and had re-cycled quality certified aggregate to develop the site.

The client also cited the additional benefits of having just a single point of contact covering all decontamination, demolition and alteration works, as well as being able to integrate all of these elements into one project that came from working with a fully accredited and reputable contractor that understands the importance in delivering best value and programme efficiency alongside full health & safety, environmental and quality compliance.

The project began in August 2020 and took 6 months to complete in the middle of the Covid pandemic.