QUALITY HOTEL
Plymouth, Devon
CLIENT SECTOR: City Council
PROJECT DURATION: 47 Weeks
TONNES PROCESSED:
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Plymouth City Council appointed Sam Gilpin Demolition and Gilpin Environmental to carry out the asbestos removal and demolition works of the former Quality Hotel. The hotel was built pre-1970’s, as a result it large amounts of asbestos to used in the hotels construction. Gilpin Environmental commenced work to remove all asbestos containing materials from the hotel in Jan 2016.
CHALLENGES
The quality hotel consisted of 10 storeys, positioned only 8 meters from the cliff edge, with a children’s play park 40 meters below, which had to remain live for the summer and live sub-station under the hotel feeding 5000 homes which also needed to remain live. Fire damage within the hotel created access issues to the building which required careful planning and risk assessment was devised to ensure the safety of our operatives. Along with this there was a large event planned near the site to consider a marine laboratory located next door running high level tests on the atmosphere. Upon commencement of demolition works and the removal of the slab and foundations, Gilpin identified pieces of asbestos cement, the remnant of buildings from the second world war bombings. Following samples identifying the substance as asbestos, Gilpin formalised a new programme for land remediation, under instruction from Plymouth City Council. This phase of the project introduced an additional 12 weeks to the initial project programme.
PROJECT SCOPE
A 10 storey hotel located in the central city area, large amount of asbestos removal required plus specialised high reach demolition to bring the hotel to the ground. Additional works were discovered requiring land remediation of site.
OUTCOMES
The project was completed on time with no delays to the original program. The project stayed inline with the original quotation and the additional works discovered upon commencement of the project were additional quoted for a completed within the new programme and quotation.
OUR APPROACH
Gilpin Demolition as principal contractor had the major responsibility for safety and health during the demolition phase to plan, manage, monitor and coordinate works. As works commenced To keep the sub station live, Gilpin constructed a steel frame crash deck to protect the transformers feeding 5000 homes across the city. To complete the project, Gilpin Environmental were required to be on site alongside the demolition team, clearing one level at a time to allow demolition operatives to come in and carry out the soft strip. Gilpin Environmental designed the removal to utilise the buildings two stairwells that ran parallel to each other. Gilpin Environmental would have access to one and Gilpin Demolition access to the other. Using our high reach machine we were able to effectively demolish the 10 storey structure after the internal soft strip and asbestos removal was complete. Following samples identifying the substance found beneath the slab and foundations as asbestos, Gilpin formalised a new programme for land remediation, under instruction from Plymouth City Council. This phase of the project introduced an additional 12 weeks to the initial project programme.