Adjacent to London Bridge Station and Guy’s Hospital…
Whilst the Shard is the tallest building in the UK, we were involved when it was just a hole in the ground. The location abuts London Bridge Station with Guy’s Hospital just across the road. You could scarcely have asked for a site that was potentially more sensitive to noise and vibration.
Explosive demolition
Keltbray, the demolition contractor, wanted to use the technically advanced explosive demolition techniques developed by the Controlled Group to remove the pile cap in the basement of the office block on the site. Breaking up this massive slab of concrete by conventional means would have extended the project by c 2 – 3 months - and the consequent noise and vibration were potential deal-breakers. Explosive demolition offered the opportunity to minimise both the noise and vibration from the site and the programme duration.
Noise and vibration predictions
We were asked to provide the noise and vibration predictions, logging, monitoring and mitigation expertise required to justify the decision both in terms of potential risks and to minimise both the duration of the process and the environmental impact.
Noise and vibration presentations and PR
We also generated and presented multi-media presentations to all the parties involved (station, hospital, security, police etc) to present the predictions and to provide the technical reassurance necessary to assuage any concerns about noise and vibration issues.
The project was very successful with zero complaints re the pile cap demolition.
