​Urban Demolition Award under $10m

Winner

Deconstruct UK

Country

United Kingdom

Project

141-143 Harley Street, London

Also shortlisted

Despe (Italy);

O’Keefe Demolition (United Kingdom)

Scudder Demolition (United Kingdom)

Judges said

“It was a very constrained site with complex excavation and an innovative debris removal solution”

Summary

While the World Demolition Awards had moved on from London, after two awards the winning project – and in this case the company behind it – were still firmly rooted there. With three of the shortlisted companies being United Kingdom based contractors submitting entries reflecting projects in the capital, this always looked the likeliest outcome. In the end it was Deconstruct UK, a company formed in the same year that the first World Demolition Summit took place, which took the honours.

As with Erith a few minutes earlier, there was a medical aspect to the successful project. Harley Street is famous as the headquarters of numerous healthcare specialists and in this case the soft strip and structural alterations at the Grade II listed structure are the basis of what will become London’s first private Proton Beam Therapy Centre for treating cancer patients.

Indeed, the sheer number of working medical facilities either side of the project added to the challenge of managing this project while getting on with the neighbours.

Apart from the technical and logistical requirements, the company engaged with schools and the local community.

Everything considered, the project impressed both the United Kingdom Considerate Constructors Scheme (which awarded it a “beyond compliance” score of 43/50) and the client, which awarded Deconstruct a further package of works.