Demolition and Explosive Demolition in the Central Belt
Homebuilders Mactaggart & Mickel appointed Hunter Demolition to demolish the derelict Carrongrove paper mill which had previously been owned by Inveresk plc.
The 16 hectare site, on the River Carron near Denny, contained 20 buildings to be demolished, some dating back to the 19th century. They included a five-storey china clay storage building of brick construction, the paper machine buildings with concrete floors some three feet thick, engineering workshops and the mill's powerhouse with its landmark 250 feet high brick chimney.
The mill also presented us with one of our most complex and challenging asbestos removal projects. Some of the roofs were of corrugated asbestos construction and both the internal and external steam mains pipework had asbestos insulation, all of which had to be removed. What is more, the powerhouse contained three coal-fired boilers which, together with their pipework, extended over four storeys and were insulated with asbestos. In total, 300 tonnes of asbestos were removed from the site.
In late November 2009, the mill's brick chimney was demolished using explosives engineering. The chimney was 150 years old and showed signs of severe cracking; nevertheless the blowdown was accomplished perfectly with the 2,000 tonnes of brickwork falling into the planned target area.
Throughout the project we worked closely with conservationists to ensure minimal disturbance to the otters in the mill pond and the adjacent River Carron.
Finally, all 3,000 tonnes of metals removed from the demolished buildings were recycled and some 30,000 tonnes of concrete and brickwork were crushed using our specialist crushing and screening equipment. This material will be used by our client in their development of the site as an estate of high quality housing.
And, whilst the project marks the end of 200 years of papermaking in the Carron Valley, one beautiful building will live on. We ensured that we took great care of the Grade B listed mill manager's house in the middle of the site and this will be converted by our client into luxury apartments.
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video courtesy of ntgraphics
