FDS were awarded the principal contractor role to undertake various demolition works to this residential scheme to salvage its planning status. The current owner had received the site in a bad condition with various works having begun but later been discontinued. This gave rise to the presence of two unsafe structures – an internal timber staircase and an external half-demolished RC annex with an RC staircase inside. Both of these needed remedying by a given date in order to keep permissions for the planned redevelopment.
In the rear of the site, there was overgrown brush that needed clearing and some residual foundations left in situ from previous structures. FDS cleared all of this and graded site levels in such a way to provide safe and stable access for surveys and future works.
The internal staircase had been structurally condemned by the project engineer, so needed dismantling without ever being used as a platform. Additionally, to this, the bottom landing entered a room later discovered to have AIB residue coating the walls. As such, careful sequencing was needed – first the asbestos cleaning had to be undertaken in the basement, and next, small penetrations were made upwards through the staircase to enable a progressive scaffold to be built around and through the structure. This eventually provided safe access for the dismantling of the staircase.
Externally, the RC stair abutted the garden wall and oversailed a busy street adjacent to a school entrance. Demolition scaffold was erected for protection purposes and the top half of the structure brought down by hand using a combination of access from the scaffold and from a cherry-picker sited internally
FDS was able to use a specialist mulching attachment on all of the brush to reduce it down in size enough to allow natural decomposition into the soils. We also used the bucket crushing attachment to grade down circa 300T of hardcore, bricks etc for levelling on site. Salvaged timber was utilised in the making safe of exposed edges etc brought about by the demolition works.
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This project was absolutely defined by the situation our client found themselves in prior to our appointment. The scope was drafted with a view to balancing competing needs of project progress, safety, design certainty, and a looming planning deadline.
This demanded a unique approach to sequencing; one that would feel illogical in most settings. It also shaped our responses to discoverable items such as asbestos contamination.
FDS prepared and resourced the project with a view to build in contingencies for all scenarios, practical and bureaucratic. We brought stability to dangerous structures and unstable situations. Ultimately, our client had all their needs met and was able to take the project forward into its next phase.
If you would like to find out how First Demolition can help you please send an enquiry via the form below.
Address: 64 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7JF
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8088 2539
Email: operations@firstdemolition.co.uk
A: When a property is genuinely incapable of occupation because it’s undergoing substantial works, the VOA can reassess it as a “building undergoing reconstruction” at a nominal rateable value, reducing the rates payable while the works run. The relief follows genuine works – it’s never the sole aim.
A: Enough to make the space genuinely unusable: typically M&E services, heating, lighting, sanitaryware, ceilings, floors and partitions. The works must be real and substantial – a cosmetic strip-out won’t qualify. We work with you rating surveyor to determine the right scope for your building.
A: We deliver the works; the rating strategy and the VOA proposal sit with a qualified rating surveyor. We work alongside yours – or introduce one – so the scope matches the strategy and is properly evidenced.
A: Ideally, yes. When the strip-out is the genuine first phase of a refurbishment or redevelopment, the works are clearly real – the strongest footing for reassessment – and the building is being readied for its next use at the same time.
A: Sometimes. If a self-contained part can be assessed separately and is genuinely unusable due to works, it may be reflected for that area. It’s fact-specific, so scope it with your surveyor or give us details of your property.
A: The rates avoided during genuine works, set against the cost of the strip-out. On higher-rated units, the savings often exceed the works cost – especially once full empty-property rates would otherwise apply. The calculator gives an indicative figure only.
A: As early as possible once a unit is, or is about to be, empty – at lease end, tenant departure or insolvency. The rates-free void is limited (generally three months), so planning the works around that point is where it counts. Speak to us and your surveyor early.
