Built in the 1960s, Lionel House on the edge of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter contained a Ten storey concrete office building which included a five-storey car park beneath it. But with plans for a new 14-storey residential development in its place, Colemans were tasked with its deconstruction and demolition.
With a constrained city centre location, our multi-disciplined team knew that careful planning of enabling works would be key. Our internal deconstruction engineers first set about planning a safe method of works, including load bearing calculations and full structural investigations, with detailed project drawings.
This allowed the Colemans demolition team to complete mechanical and electrical diversions and isolations, asbestos removal, full strip out and temporary works to enable safe deconstruction of the existing building.
The ten-storey city centre office block was deconstructed floor by floor, separated from adjoining buildings.
Work included the provision of market-leading safe working space, introduced to the market by Colemans, where stepping is used to reduce the extent of deconstruction and enable the use of high reach equipment. This increases project efficiency and removes people from the interface, proving key to the safe execution of the work, reduced programme and winning cost proposal.
Removal of slabs, foundations and basements were also completed, including all associated works to backfill, compact and level the site to provide a development platform.
The building was situated in the heart of Birmingham city centre, adjacent to occupied buildings, key road routes and infrastructure.
It was partly adjoining another building with shared fire escape and a shared access road/pedestrian route. A car park and University College Birmingham (UCB) campus nearby also added to site constraints, while an existing substation in the corner of the building had to remain live throughout the works.
The integrated Colemans team of demolition, cutting and engineering staff worked together to design out risk and deliver the project safely and successfully.
The gable end was de-built to first floor level due to the sub-station directly below on the ground floor. Waterproofing was installed by a specialist contractor to eliminate exposure to the elements and scaffold encapsulation ensured all materials remained within the site boundaries, with noise and dust nuisance minimised. This was especially important due to surrounding neighbours.
Stakeholder engagement was essential, with monthly and additional ad-hoc meetings for stakeholders to identify and address any challenges, letter drops to nearby residential buildings and dedicated Traffic Marshalls and Banks Person.
Colemans also liaised closely with Birmingham City Council Highways team to ensure permit applications were in place for necessary road closures.
Thanks to this level of detail and an integrated, collaborative approach enabled through engineering expertise, Colemans successfully delivered a challenging urban project on time and on budget.
In total, 95% of all materials excluding asbestos-containing materials were recycled. Colemans worked out of hours to reduce disruption to nearby buildings including the UCB campus and worked closely with all stakeholders including Birmingham City Council’s Building Control, Highways and EHO teams, as well as neighbouring occupied buildings, to help minimise disruption.