Heatwaves comes to an end - Merseyside leisure centre demolished

UK contractor J Freeley Ltd, based in Manchester, was appointed by Knowsley Council to demolish the Heatwaves Leisure centre at Stockbridge Village in Knowsley, Merseyside. The Centre had to come down to make way for a £25 million (US$40 million) regeneration project that will see the construction of a new school, children's centre, family centre, swimming pool, gym and other leisure facilities.

Freeley's task was complicated by the fact that the existing leisure centre's imposing mast supported part of the roof loading, meaning that the centre's demolition had to be undertaken one bay at a time, working equally from each end to maintain the equilibrium of the building's three central bays, to avoid premature collapse. Freeley worked closely with specialist civil and structural engineers Thomasons at the planning stage to agree the sequence of demolition.

The demolition programme for the Leisure Centre was designed to minimise the amount of working at height, with most of the work being undertaken by the use of a rotating sheer mounted on a 50 tonne Kobelco excavator. Safe access for the work at height was provided by using a 58 metre truck-mounted Skylift platform. A telescopic crane was used to crane off the mast in sections, which were then lowered to the ground.

More than 6,000 tonnes of concrete and masonry was generated during the demolition, which was crushed and processed on site by using a Finley J1175 crusher to produce 6F2 grade recycled aggregate. A rigorous testing regime was in operation during the concrete crushing that involved daily lab testing of the recycled aggregate to ensure it conformed to both DOT specification and WRAP Protocol. Freeley used 20 and 30 tonne excavators with a range of attachments for sorting and loading the material. This was then used to fill the substantial underground voids and foundation spaces and to prepare the site for redevelopment.