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Case study

From Eyesore to Opportunity: The Demolition of Lincoln’s Co-Op Complex

Transforming Lincoln: The Demolition of the Co-Op Complex

Once considered an eyesore in Lincoln City centre, the former Co-Op complex at Cornhill Quarter has recently been demolished. The site now lays vacant ready for several bidders to gain permission to redevelop the valuable site. Several options have been put to the council including a hotel, housing, and student accommodation.

The former Co-Op building was constructed less than thirty years ago and housed the supermarket, a post office, and a variety of other shopping outlets. Sitting empty since 2019, the safe demolition of the building was entrusted to local demolition experts UDCS.

Formed in 2011, UDCS is headed up by Matthew Browne and undertakes a variety of demolition and construction operations across the East Midlands. “Winning the contract to remove what was seen as one of Lincoln’s eyesores is great for us as a company,” he commented. “The centrally located site with main road and major car park adjacent to it means we are on show to all that pass by.”

Efficient Demolition Process: Overcoming Challenges

With the soft strip of the buildings completed, the structural demolition works could be carried out in a safe and methodical manner. With very little room between the building and the footpath and roads, Matthew’s team worked their way into the structure from one end, gradually opening up the building and offering themselves more room in which to operate.

Whilst a large proportion of the building was open shopping space, the structure was constructed with a variety of methods around its brick façade. The modern fleet of Volvo demolition machines operated by UDCS was ideally suited to the demolition works. With a high-reach EC380E taking care of the bulk of the structure, the secondary processing and material handling was undertaken by smaller Volvo machines and a new JCB 370X, which handled the crushing operation and loading out of processed material.

The company uses a range of demolition attachments to undertake their operations and, like most contractors, pride themselves in possessing a variety of kit to tackle most projects. Unfortunately, the Co-Op building was going to test this range of kit to a point where Matthew and Site Manager Daniel Golebiwski needed to look for alternatives. “We knew there were some large concrete beams and columns in the build which would take some tackling,” Daniel commented. “Our initial thoughts were to use a hydraulic breaker on them, but time and noise constraints made this uneconomical. Instead, we contacted Worsley Plant to see what they were able to offer us. We have dealt with Worsley for many years and run several attachments from them. They have been reliable and productive bits of kit, causing us very little in downtime and costs, enabling us to complete projects with little issue.”

 

 

Worsley Plant: Delivering Innovative Solutions with the RCC45

Not only are Middlewich-based Worsley Plant one of the largest demolition and recycling attachment dealers in the UK, looking after the likes of Rotar, Lehnhoff, Dynaset, Montabert, and MB Crusher to name but a few, they also have one of the largest attachment hire fleets available, offering new and low-houred examples of demolition attachments for hire and as stand-in units should a customer’s attachment need repairing.

When the phone call came into Sean Heron, Sales Director at Worsley Plant, he was able to offer a solution to UDCS’s issue with immediate effect. “We offer a range of our Rotar kit for hire and are able to fit them with the appropriate saddles for a variety of machines at short notice,” Sean commented. “When Matthew called and explained their issue, I knew that our RCC45 was the ideal solution to tackle the concrete beams. Our hire fleet can be equipped with either a Lehnhoff or OilQuick headstock or standard saddle, and with a UDCS running standard PUP hitches, we were able to get the RCC45 made up and shipped out quickly to fit his Volvo EC380E.”

Once on site and fitted to the 40t excavator, the addition of the RCC45 made an instant impact. The RCC45 is currently the largest of the four-model RCC range and comes with an operating weight of just over 4.7 tonnes. The dedicated cracker uses a pair of cast jaws with a huge maximum opening width of 1444mm. The scalloped edges to the jaws transfer the huge pressure from their respective hydraulic cylinders to crack even the toughest of material. Pushing out over 220 tonnes of pressure on the inner points will open up almost any concrete around, and when the tool finds the rebar inside, the knives in the attachment’s throat kick out over 1400 tonnes of closing force, easily cutting through the most stubborn of rebar. The RCC range, like the rest of the Rotar tools, offers users an easily removable jaw set which allows the site teams to quickly change cutting edges when they become worn to ensure the tool’s performance is kept high.

The arrival of the RCC45 has allowed Daniel, who operates the Volvo EC380E, to quickly and safely demolish the large number of beams and columns. “Despite the attachment’s size, the narrow jaws can squeeze in between obstacles, and combined with the rapid opening and closing times, makes cracking the concrete an easier task,” he explains. “We have several RDP processors on the fleet, and they are great bits of kit for general processing and demolition work. When it comes to the heavier material, I don’t think this RCC can be beaten!”

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