Demolition of the old office—new stuff!
October 30, 2007
An exciting new twist in the documented-via-the-medium-of-low-quality-mobile-phone demolition of 20 Fenchurch St—well—twisted over the weekend. For a while, I’ve been rather perplexed by the appearance of a large steel cradle wrapped around the concrete core of the building (see below). You can see it as the zig-zaggy bit where the first floor used to be. Until the appearance of the vertical I-beams in each corner (best seen on the mid-left of the pic), I had no idea what it was for. Were the savants at Keltbray going to lower floors 3 and 4 down the I-beams slowly onto the cradle?
NO! It’s so much better than that. Over the weekend,the cradle has been lifted up to directly underneath the 3rd floor, where one can only assume that the connectors at the top of the 4th floor will be cut—I saw some eager Keltbrayers wielding gas-axes at the top of 4— and then both floors will be gracefully lowered to the ground.
How great is that? Notice the zig-zaggy thing is now where the 2nd floor used to be, half way up the legs at either corner.
Although the approach being taken is so much less picturesque that good old fashioned shape charges and showmanship, you’ve just got to admire how the old place is coming down, no matter what you think of what’s going up in its place.
October 30, 2007 at 11:57 am
Shape charges not much good if you’re dropping a building onto the District Line.
October 30, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Killjoy
October 31, 2007 at 9:06 am
Actually, it in my line we take these things very seriously. The subsurface lines (Circle H&C, East London, Metropolitan, and District) are ‘cut and cover’. By this I mean when they were constructed, a big trench was dug out, the line etc. laid, and then it was covered over, so they are only just below the surface. Other line are less susceptible. Although then there are the other utilities to think about…