Yesterday’s Red Road blast puts Scottish contractor firmly in the record books.
Here at Demolition News Towers, we have grown very sceptical of world record claims from the explosive demolition industry. Our inbox is filled to bursting point with claims of the tallest (if you include the radio antenna on the roof), widest (if you allow for the fact that part of the building remains standing), and the biggest (building/structure/tower of this type demolished in a month containing the letter y).
But there is no question that yesterday’s successful blast at Glasgow’s Red Road puts World Demolition Contractor of the Year Safedem firmly in the UK record books. At 28 storeys in height, the 153 to 213 Petershill Drive block was a full three storeys higher than the previous UK record holder, 240 Roystonhill, also in Glasgow.
The level of media and public interest in yesterday’s blast was so high that it actually crashed the mini website Safedem had created in advance of the demolition with 8,000 visits in a single morning.
But that was the only failure in what proved to be a highly successful job for Safedem managing director William Sinclair. “It was better than expected. What we had always hoped for was a combination of the structure rotating to the west with an element of drive or force to crush down the lower portion of the structure. With the gauge of some of the steel in the building, there was a very real risk that the lower portion would hold steady and maintain its full height. We had introduced all sorts of bracing and shoring (we actually introduced nearly 35 tonnes of steel work to add strength to the rear hinge point) in order to prevent the classic ‘kick back’ effect. Whilst the structure tried very hard to kick back, the strengthening works held on just enough to allow the top to rotate as planned,” Sinclair says. “Other real positives were the acoustic baffle wall constructed from tyres. These acted both as protection but also reduced the air overpressure readings to the east of the building, recording an average 20% reduction from readings taken at the same distance from the west side of the structure. The client is delighted and getting this entire thing done and charged gives us real satisfaction.”
