Work to demolish two fire damaged buildings on Bangor High Street is likely to be completed by the end of May, engineers responsible for the work have confirmed.
Preparatory work has been underway since the beginning of February to take the weight of a 200-Tonne Crane required to demolish buildings at 164 and 166 on High Street Bangor, which were extensively damaged by a fire in December 2019.
The fire destroyed the Noodle One restaurant and the adjoining Morgan Clothes Shop, leaving the buildings in an unsafe state. Scaffolding to support the buildings has forced part of the High Street, between Bangor Cathedral and Lôn Pobty, to be closed to traffic since the fire.
The update from Evans Wolfenden Partnership (EWP) Engineers, who are undertaking the work, said: “Works on this first contract commenced on 1st February and should have been completed around 16th March however due to problems encountered with the piling and very poor ground conditions this will now be delayed to around the 30th March. Following this there is a period to allow the concrete pads to fully harden.
“The second contract is the demolition or deconstruction itself. This is due to commence on or about the12th April now as a result of the delays with the piling. Deconstruction will be carried out by hand from a basket suspended from the crane, in a controlled manner and in a safe sequence to reduce the risk of premature collapse of the buildings during this operation.
“The deconstruction works should take approximately 6 to 7 weeks to complete and will include the removal of the temporary crane foundations and reinstatement of the highway and footways as works from the crane should be completed in the first 2 to 3 weeks of this programme.
“It is now anticipated that works will be completed around end of May with the road re-opened to traffic.
“These dates are based on the information to hand at present, but they should be treated as provisional and may be subject to change due to the complexity and dynamic nature of the works.
“We will update you on the progress of the works every couple of weeks in order to keep as well informed as possible.”
Businesses have experienced a significant downturn in trade since the fire and have had to deal with problems with deliveries accessing premises on the high street, particularly large vehicles. The Covid-19 restrictions has only compounded the situation for High Street businesses.
Technical and legal complexities are believed to have hampered the progress with the demolition work. The condition and position of the fire damaged properties, poor ground conditions and congested services has necessitated significant investigation and risk mitigation measures have also been attributed to the delays.
