After weeks of careful planning by Connell Brothers March 2003 saw the beginning of the end for the stadium at Filbert Street, which was the home of Leicester City Football Club. The stadium located in the heart of Leicester included restrictive boundaries to all elevations and necessitated a very tight programme.

Restrictions included densely populated terraced housing, adjacent nurses home for the local hospital and local primary school. Further restrictions to the south west elevation included over head pylons supplying electricity to the former power station site and the open car park used daily by residents and in match days by the new Leicester City Stadium.

One of the key elements to the success of te project was to reduce and minimise the environmental impact on the local community. Liaison with all parties played a key role in the success of the project. Prior to commencement letters were issued to all property occupiers informing of the proposed works and inviting them to attend a Residents Consultation Meeting held at the local primary school. This meeting explained key stages of the proposed works and issued key telephone numbers to residents in the event of any queries or complaints. This meeting was further followed up with regular progress bulletins to the residents.

With preparatory works completed the demolition project began in earnest with opening up works to enable asbestos removal and soft strip operations. As part of these operations Connell Brothers removed two sub stations which were located within the grounds of Filbert Street Stadium.

All heavy demolition plant was delivered to site out of hours to avoid congestion and inconvenience to other road users. The CIS Stand due to its height required the use of a specialist 100 foot cherry picker to enable the de-cladding of the structure.

Access to the stands adjoining the rear of the gardens of terraced properties was negotiated via the party wall agreements put in place for the project. Once all the structures had been skeletised the specialist high reach machine moved in to cut down the structures using steel cutting shears.

Each stand was demolished in a specific sequence as detailed in the structural engineers appraisal to avoid possible unintentional collapse.

With the older three stands demolished the final stage of demolition works turned towards the recently constructed Walkers Stand. The Stand comprised of a steel work frame with reinforced concrete infill forming the terraces and leisure/bar facilities within.

Following the structural engineers assessment of the large stand, the structure was deconstructed in a planned sequence employing the use of 110 foot high reach machine equipped with concrete cutting shears and steel cutting shears.

In line with Connell Brothers environmental policy for sustainable materials apart from the hazardous asbestos waste and the soft strip material all other waste arising from the work has been recycled.

The final stages of crushing of all the concrete to 6F2 grade was then carried out with stockpiling for reuse on the proposed new development.

Throughout the works the Health and Safety Executive paid several visits to site and noted no non-conformances with the practices being adopted. The work was successfully carried out without any injuries to personnel, members of the public or damage to any of the properties adjacent to the work.

The demolition was the first phase of a £30 million project which form part of the redevelopment of the area being carried out by Downing Developments

PEOPLE INVOLVED
Client: George Downing Construction
Project Management: Dears Brack
Contractor: Connell Brothers Limited
Planning Supervisor: Symonds Group

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