Shopping city starts with the Big Bang

23 Jan 2006 

A SERIES of explosions rocked Liverpool city centre yesterday heralding the most significant demolition yet in the renaissance of the city's main shopping area.

A cache of explosives the size of almost 40 two-pound bags of sugar, reduced the old Paradise Street bus station and the adjoining NCP multi-storey car park to a mountain of rubble.

The early morning blasts went off after a few minutes' delay,, while engineers double-checked there were no Merseyrail trains travelling through tunnels beneath the foundations.

People reported being able to hear the explosion from as far away as South Liverpool and Wirral.

The demolition of the 1970s concrete structures marked the latest milestone in Grosvenor's £920m Paradise Project construction programme.

Once the debris is removed, the site will be transformed into a 14-screen multiplex cinema and a twin-level shopping zone, both key elements in what has become Europe's biggest city centre building programme.

Grosvenor's project director, Rod Holmes, said it was the most significant demolition yet in the city centre's regeneration, but would not go into the details of which shops would take the car park's place.

Demolition contractor DSM carried out the operation, following careful planning, just after 7.30am.

Details of the planned demolition were kept quiet because safety experts were concerned that, had news leaked out, the area would have been surrounded by sightseers.

But local residents and business owners had been individually warned to alert them.

Around 60 local residents accepted an invitation to watch the exercise from a special viewing area.

An exclusion zone was created around the site to minimise the risk of danger to members of the public or pedestrians, and the structure was curtained in special material to contain the expected dust cloud.

During Saturday night, experts from DSM installed more than 780 individual charges, and a total of 40kg of explosives to demolish the 8,500-tonne edifice.

The explosives were detonated using a sequence of timed delays to minimise air overpressure and ground vibration levels; and to ensure that the collapsing structure tilted away from surrounding buildings.

An onlooker said: "It was pretty spectacular.

"The first blast went from the middle and then it spread out to the edges, then the whole thing sank down, it was quite a graceful ending."

Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley was working as a firefighter at Toxteth fire station when he heard the enormous bang.

He said: "It's another step forward in the city's development, and is good news for Liverpool.

"The most significant thing for the city is that the old monstrosity is gone, it was an absolute eyesore. What will replace it will be fitting to a city as beautiful as Liverpool."

Mr Holmes said: "This demolition has got us off to a really good start in 2006 and means that we can now move forward with one of our major building programmes.

BEING able to remove the old bus station and car park in this way, we have saved ourselves many weeks. Had we nibbled away at it like we did with the old Moat House hotel, it would have taken a considerable time.

"Everything had to be carefully planned because of the closeness of Argos, the BBC studios and other buildings in Paradise Street. Despite the size of the operation, not a single pane of glass in any other building was damaged.

"It was done quite spec-tacularly. We ended last year with the opening of the new bus station and multi-storey car park. Now this site will be cleared over the coming weeks so that construction work can start in the spring.

"We acknowledge that the new bus station near to Canning Place is a little out on a limb, but that is inevitable. When the whole programme is finished, it will sit next door to the new John Lewis store." Mr Holmes said teams from Grosvenor are now in detailed negotiations with potential customers for the new shops that will be built along Paradise Street.

BUT until contracts are signed, he will not reveal who they are. The next and final demolition work will come later this year when Canning Street fire station, BBC Radio Merseyside and the Friends' Meeting House are bulldozed.

The decision to take down the former NCP car park using explosives followed a rigorous assessment by all those most closely involved with the technical aspects of the Paradise Project construction programme.

Bill Allen, project manager at Grosvenor, said: "Based on the expert advice of DSM and Lang O'Rourke, we came to a collective decision that an implosion would be the most efficient way to deal with the demolition of the NCP. Everything went according to plan and we are delighted with the success of the operation. "

Andy Jameson, a spokesman at the site for DSM, said: "The whole thing went like clockwise and it was a big success.

"The buildings came down within seconds after a series of short explosions, and the dust quickly settled. We are delighted with the operation."

Built in the 1970s, the NCP closed in November last year when the new, award-winning Canning Place car park opened as one of the first of 38 new buildings being created by the Paradise Project.

Grosvenor is working closely with main contractor Laing O'Rourke to ensure that the million square feet development is virtually completed by 2008 when Liverpool celebrates being European Capital of Culture.

LATE last year, the new multi-storey car park and bus interchange close to the headquarters of Merseyside Police opened at Canning Place.

Work is almost completed on what will be the first major buildings to be completed as part of the Grosvenor development, a new salon and training school for celebrated hairdresser Herbert of Liverpool and a new studio for BBC Radio Merseyside.

They need to be completed soon so that their existing premises in Paradise Street can be demolished.

Hundreds of contractors are now busy on a series of projects linked to the Grosvenor development.

Building of the two main anchor stores, John Lewis and Debenhams is under way, a massive underground car park beneath Chavasse Park is under way and work has now started along The Strand on an underpass that will eventually be the main entrance to the new underground car park.

larryneild@dailypost.co.uk

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