The 2012 Olympics threatens to close London to demolition work.
The announcement that London had won in its bid to host the 2012 Olympics was greeted across the nation by jubilation and celebration. And nowhere was the exuberance and enthusiasm more evident than in the UK construction and demolition sectors for which pre-Olympic works were to provide a temporary sanctuary from the gathering economic gloom.
But with the Games now just over six months away and with that winning bid euphoria now ground away by recessionary erosion, many now fear that the London 2012 Olympics will have a negative impact upon the demolition industry.
Rumours abound that disconnections of utility services will be the subject of a moratorium across the capital both before and during the Games; local authorities will be eager to avoid letting work that might cause delays to a transport system that struggles to meet the city’s day-today demands; and even if work is let during that period, the movement of men and machines through London’s streets will be impaired by Olympics-related road closures that stretch from the Olympic stadium in Stratford right out to Surrey.
During the past few years, London and the South East has been one of the UK demolition industry’s most consistent beacons of workload hope. Indeed, although they would admit that margins are not what they used to be, some of London’s larger, more established demolition companies have navigated the recession with relative ease.
But the Olympics now looms large in the nation’s calendar. And what once appeared to be a reassuring glow of promise is looking increasingly like a menacing cloud of stalled and delayed work, just at a time when the industry can least afford it.
