CASE STUDY - Amethyst House Langtree Group plc Project: Amethyst House, Spring Gardens, Manchester Client: Langtree Group, Langtree House, Millfield Business Park, Millfield Lane, Haydock, St. Helens, WA11 9UT Client’s Representative: WCP Associates, Hamilton House, 205 Bury New Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6GE Planning Supervisor: White Young Green Consulting, Regatta House, Clippers Quay, Salford, Manchester, M5 2XP Principal Contractor: Walter Forshaw Ltd, 7 King Street, Westhoughton, Bolton, BL5 3AY Quantity Surveyor: AYH, Portland Tower, Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3AH Contract Description: The soft-strip, deconstruction, demolition and site clearance of a five-storey office building with a bank vault underneath. Site adjacent to main city centre post office and office buildings on all other sides. Value: £475,000 Timescale: 22 weeks – November 2004 to May 2005 Building Dimensions: 45m x 34m x 18m high Building Construction: Amethyst House was a five-storey brick clad office building with bronze window frames, arranged as a ‘C’ shape with an existing bank vault within the basement construction. Retail units were arranged along the Marriot’s Court elevation. There was also a network substation located within the basement, which needed to be protected and maintained throughout the works until a new network substation was constructed. Demolition Method: Full height scaffolding with debris netting and boards to 3 floors at any one time was erected to 3 elevations. A mobile crane was used to lift mini-diggers and bobcats up to the roof level to allow deconstruction of the block nearest to other buildings. Through propping to floors for additional loads applied by the mini-diggers. All debris deposited down the lift-shaft. Bottom floors and full height central section was demolished using a Liebherr 954V Long Reach Excavator fitted with concrete pulverisor with 360o rotation once the scaffoling had been dismantled. Close liaison with Manchester City Council was paramount, to organise road and footpath closures to ensure the public were protected at all times. Reference Details: Please contact WFL for reference contact details. See attached letter from WCP Associates. back to top