Sloyan Doyle Demolition

Demolition of this chimney formed part of the University Heating Infrastructure Project. Working in partnershiop with Messrs Emcor Engineering, we were responsible for stripping out of the existing boilerhouses and plantrooms, dismantling boilers, steam mains and other services (including asbestos removal) around the campus and demolition of associated redundant structures.

The chimney was located adjacent to the Quad boilerhouse and comprised a 46m high reinforced concrete wind shell, enclosing two large brick flues with steel linings.

Due to the location of the structure within a busy operational university area, and because temporary boilers serving the campus were located at it’s base, remote demolition methods could not be used, and we decided to reduce the chimney by hand methods from the top down, working from a perimeter access scaffold.

We carried out a structural analysis of the chimney and prepared calculations to justify breaking an opening through the base of the RC shell, which allowed debris to be transferred to ground internally, then cleared through the opening using a mini excavator.

In order to minimise noise nuisance to staff and students, and to minimise the use of vibrating tools by our staff, demolition was undertaken using sets of hand held hydraulic jaws, which crushed the concrete in place, reducing it to small sized rubble without noise or vibration.