Case Study - Court Barn, Birdham
Project: Court Barn, Birdham
Client: King & Drury
Program: 6 Weeks
Location & Overview
The Court Barn Project was located in a small residential area of north of Birdham & in close proximity to Birdham Pool marina, the site had residential properties adjacent to one elevation & Birdham Pool Marina to all other elevations. A live substation was situated within the boundary of the site near the gate access, this had to remain live throughout the works as this continued to feed the neighbouring properties & the marina.
The access to the site was via a busy single-track road which also acted as an access road for the other residential properties & the marina, the access road was also frequently used by local residents & dog walkers
accessing the marina. The boundary of the site was secured by means of existing close board fencing & Heras fencing, an open grassed area at the entrance & leading to the main works area was to be maintain at all times with no damage to be caused during the works & throughout all transport movement during the project.
Due to the nature of the buildings & the surrounding land on the site including a natural stream running within the boundary of the site, bat investigations & ecology works had to be carried out. Portsmouth Demolition & Salvages trained operatives assisted an ecologist in carry bat investigation works on all of the structures consisting of some single-storey & two-storey brick & timber-built structures & environmental controls were implemented to ensure the water including the stream & marina were not contaminated by the demolition works carried out on the site.
All structures to be demolished were identified to contain various types of nonnotifiable licenced & notifiable licenced asbestos materials which had to be removed prior to strip out or demolition works commencing.
Pre-contract
Portsmouth Demolition & Salvage undertook the demolition works as a subcontractor & were responsible for all notifications to the local authorities to carry out the works, disconnection of the services was carried out by the principal contractor. Our management team attended pre-contract meeting with the principal contractor
(King & Drury) to discuss the restrictions & requirements placed upon the project. The parameters for the project were discussed during the meetings & methods of compliance, environmental management plan, safe systems & a detailed phase plan were developed by Portsmouth Demolition & Salvage.
Site specific requirements included:
Bat investigation & ecological surveys.
Watercourse protection.
Live services/substation protection & management.
Asbestos management.
Protection of the public.
Control of noise & dust.
Environmental & sustainability.
Traffic management.
Project Challenges
Asbestos
The principal contractor arranged for a full refurbishment & demolition asbestos survey to be carried out on all of the structures to be demolished prior to any works being carried out, this identifies both asbestos insulation board & some cement-based products within the structures. The principal contractor arranged for a licenced asbestos contractor to carry out the removal of the asbestos-based materials to be removed prior to
Portsmouth Demolition & Salvages operatives commencing the strip out & demolition of the structures.
During the mechanical demolition work’s Portsmouth Demolition & Salvages CAT B trained operatives identified some cement asbestos materials, all works ceased & the area was cordoned off while the materials were tested.
Once positively identified Portsmouth Demolition & Salvages CAT A trained operatives caried out the removal of the asbestos materials under controlled conditions in line with the HSE guidelines enabling the demolition works to commence with limited consequences to the project
Ecology & Environmental
Prior to works commencing secure Heras fencing was established around the perimeter of the site, ensuring all transport to the site was able to access a safe zone within the fore grounds of the site to ensure the shared access road was not disrupted at any time. Investigations were carried out on the surrounding water courses
such as surface drainage, foul drains & natural stream running across the entrance to the site. All end of line drainage exit points were sealed to ensure water run off/silting from the use of dampen systems used on site of from the works did not contaminate the surrounding marina or stream. No plant or vehicles were permitted to park near or over the stream area & mechanical work near the stream were strictly prohibited, daily inspections were carried out by the supervisor to ensure no debris or contaminates had migrated into the stream throughout the demolition works.
Bat investigation works were carried out on the roofs of the buildings under the close watch of an ecologist,
PASMA & IPAF trained operatives worked from MEWPS & tower scaffolding to carefully remove the roof slates following the strict guidance of the ecologist.
During the initial investigation works some bats were found which the operatives carefully handled & were given to the ecologist to relocate at another site. Due to the findings, further intrusive investigation works had to be carried out & the operatives had to carry out the removal of all the roof tiles on all of the buildings as well as carry out the removal of the battens & felt on particular roof areas to ensure the roof were inhabitable for the bats.
Services
Within the boundary of the site remained a live substation this supplied the surrounding properties & the adjacent marina, a SUMO survey was carried out to identify the routes of the high voltage cabling which showed to be running across the areas of demolition. A temporary site supply was established by the principal contractor within the demolition area, this had to be protected & Portsmouth Demolition & Salvage’s operatives carried out both hand & mechanical demolition works around the services at the initial stages to separate the area from the continuing demolition of the structure. Further control measures such fencing established around the substation & marking out the routes of the high voltage cables feeding the neighbouring properties was carried out & communicated to all operatives during the induction process.
During the removal of the ground slabs & foundation CAT scanning was carried out by a competent person to
ensure no damage was caused to the identified cable & no unidentified cables/services were present.
Two 2000 litre above ground Calor Gas tanks were present on site supplying the property with gas these had to be disconnected & removed prior to an outbuilding being demolished this was undertaken by Calor themselves, the management of the demolition programme & the removal of the gas tanks was arranged by Portsmouth Demolition & Salvage’s supervisor & contracts manager to ensure it was carried out without
interruption to the programme.
Demolition
Prior to the mechanical demolition works being carried out on the main structure, a structural survey was carried to ascertain the supporting elements of the building & ensuring a suspended section of the house could be demolished by mechanical means without separation works being required or premature collapse
occurring.
Portsmouth Demolition & Salvage’s 360-excavator fitted with a selector grab attachment carried out the demolition of a large detached two storey brick & timber-built house with garage & balcony extensions which was in close proximity to a neighbouring property. During the pre-demolition audit Salvageable materials such as roof tiles, oak beams, structural roof timber, floorboards, joist, doors, bricks & York stone were identified, throughout the progression of the demolition works these materials were salvaged & sent to reclamation yard for reuse & repurposing. All other waste materials arising from the works was segregated into individual waste streams & loaded into roll-on-off containers for removal from site to recycling centres to minimise waste
materials being disposed of into landfill sites.
Under the direction of a banksman the 360-operative carried out the demolition of the structure following a progressive methodology demolishing the structure in box sections to retain the stability of the structure throughout the progression of the demolition. The 360-operative removed sections of the roof followed by the demolition of the upper floor walls onto the flooring clearing the masonry from the floor & creating a works
platform for the 360-excavator to continue working from & ensuring the lower levels were not overloaded.
Once the upper level was demolished the 360-operative carefully removed the timber floor from the building placing the flooring in a designated area away from the demolition zone to enable salvage works to be carried out. The 360-operative carried out the demolition of the ground floor walls onto the footprint of the building allowing the 360-excavator to advance onto the following stages of demolition & gaining additional height required to carry out the demolition of the suspended area of the house & a large roof area giving the 360-operative greater degree of control over the high-level demolition works. The 360-operative demolished the structure working room by room from the top down & throughout out the banksman & supervisor monitored the structure for unanticipated signs of stress or premature collapse. Once the main house was demolished down to the ground slab level works were undertaken to demolish a single storey pool house adjacent to abutted to the perimeter wall of the marina. The structure was demolished by mechanical means removing
the entire roof followed by the demolition of the perimeter walls onto the footprint of the building with exception to the perimeter wall abutted to the marina, hand demolition works were carried out by trained operative to demolish the perimeter wall abutted to the marina working from tower scaffolding using hand
tools.
Once all structures had been demolished to ground level a swimming pool was pumped out & the 360-operative broke out the base & walls of the swimming pool then removed the concrete & banked the sides in readiness for backfilling with crushed materials.
Slab & Foundation Removal
The ground slabs of the structures were cleared of masonry & stockpiled to enable the 360-operative to break out the ground slabs of each of the structures using breaker attachment, where possible the sections of the ground slabs adjacent to the neighbouring properties were lifted away & processed in the stockpile area to minimise vibration transfer to the neighbouring properties. With the ground slabs cleared the from the
footprint of the buildings 360-operative with a banksman in attendance carrying out CAT scanning methodically carried out the removal of the foundations to each of the buildings. Working from one elevation of the structures the 360-operative dug out the grounds to expose the foundations & created a separation using the breaker. Once separated the 360-operative carefully removed the foundations & placed them in a processing are then backfilled the voids the foundation removal progress from one elevation to the other until all the foundations had been removed. The areas of the where the foundations had been removed were graded over & tracked in, to level firm & level grounds & the foundations were processed in readiness for crushing.
Crushing
On completion of the demolition & processing works our crusher plant was delivered to site & positioned adjacent to the swimming pool area, the crusher plant was connected directly to a mains water supply & using the built-in jetting system the crushed materials were dampened during the crushing process. Our 360-
operative loaded the crusher with processed concrete & hardcore to be crushed down to a type 6F2 material & used to backfill the pool area & then continued to be stockpiled on the pool area for the principal contractor to reuse during the building project.
All works were carried out within pre-programmed duration, without any incidents or accidents & on budget
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