Intu Victoria Centre – Nottingham

After a lengthy tender and interview process, EMDD Universal were awarded the £1.5m demolition and dismantle contract on the new £45m Victoria Centre re-development.

Having worked on the last 2 major re-furbishment projects in the shopping centre EMDD Universal were well placed to understand the contractors and shopping centres requirement’s for carrying out demolition works around a fully operating, major city centre, shopping centre.

Our works package on site was split into three distinct areas.

Soft Strip

Our soft strip works involved taking old retail units, public WC’s and service areas back to structural shell for the re-modelling works. Over 8000m2 of existing areas were cleared back, with our work force working a combination and day and night shifts, to minimise disruption to neighbouring retailers and centre users.

Mall Works

Having completed a mock up area prior being awarded the main contract, EMDD Universal had a dedicated nightshift work force onsite for a year carrying out a host of structural and cosmetic alteration though the main shopping mall. The shopping centre is built under a 20 storey block of flats, and therefore there were strict planning conditions stipulating noisy operations could only be carried out during a 4hr period on certain days of the week.
EMDD Universal, drew up a works sequence and strategy to accommodate this working pattern.

Cutting back half a kilometre of concrete upstands was achieved using special laminated blades on our track saws, to carry out the release cuts and use of Brokk electronic demolition robots to crush the upstands into manageable pieces for removal from site.
To open up certain areas of the shopping mall the client had identified RC structures that they wanted to removed. This included pedestrian crossing bridges and old plant rooms. EMMD Universal designed and installed temporary steel support structures, before using the largest Brokk demolition robot permitted to work on the existing RC slabs within the mall, to crush out these sections of concrete into easily hand able pieces for removal off site.

All of this work was again carried out within the client’s strict mall working hours.
Sections of existing mall slabs and stair cases where also saw cut using special laminated blades on the sawing equipment and crushed out using the Brokk demolition robot as part of the re-modelling works

Structural Demolition

Part of the project involved careful dismantle of the existing RC concrete frame, to create an opening to install a new “glass box structure” which forms part of a new main entrance to the shopping centre. EMDD Universal used a pair of Brokk demolition robots working together to carry out the crushing and breaking of the RC slab decks, hanging pre cast cladding and RC support beams. Final finished cuts to the beams were critical and EMDD Universal used wire sawing techniques to ensure the accuracy of these works.

Internal structural demolition to the existing centre also included crushing out of structural concrete shear walls, using the Brokk demolition robot, along with forming of some 20no structural openings for new risers and staircases to suit the new layout. All of these works were carried out to minimise disruption to existing retailers within the live shopping centre.

During our time onsite EMDD Universal have also diamond drilled some 1000no holes throughout the project on all levels from basement to roof, to facilitate the installation of new M&E services for the project.