Leicester prepares for intensive demolition process
Demolition plans for Leicester's New Walk Centre could see surrounding roads shut for as long as five months while the centre's two towers are demolished.
Civic leaders have planned for the centre, which is the now-vacant former headquarters of the city council, to be brought down and then rebuilt with in two years, with the demolition process alone costing some £2 million.
The local demolition expert in charge of bringing it down, William Eyre, said that the buildings are potentially hazardous and the process will be very intensive.
"It's a concrete building which was constructed in the 1960s, so the asbestos content means it will be expensive to demolish. Extra care will have to be taken to control the dust," he told the Leicester Mercury.
"They'll start the demolition by fencing off and securing the site. Then the building will have to be soft stripped, which means the interior will be stripped of things such as door frames and other fixtures and fittings."
He said the stripped-down building will eventually be dismantled floor by floor from the top down, and the process is likely to take around 20 weeks.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the decision had been made to bring the towers down due to fears from local engineers that they are unsafe.
