13 August 2018
The demolition of the Fort Regent cable car stations starts today, as contractors begin a 12-week project to safely dismantle the 48-year-old structures, which have been unused since the last cable car ran in 1988.
The demolition work is being carried out by local contractor, DB Cummins (Jersey) Ltd, working in association with a UK demolition contractor, JBV Demolitions, who will be operating in a confined site, with restricted access through pedestrian tunnels.
To ensure the safe demolition of the structures, the contractors are using innovative techniques and machinery. Scaffold ramps are being installed through the tunnels to allow small machinery to be moved through them.
Contractors will also use a ‘spider crane’, which retracts its legs and folds down to fit through tightly-confined spaces. The spider crane will be taken through the tunnels on the scaffold ramps, and will then fold out its legs to achieve a stable footing on Snow Hill’s uneven ground, in order to lift heavy loads.
Using small machinery reduces the need for manual handling of materials. The spider crane will hold the large pieces of steel frame while contractors ‘hot cut’ the pieces of steel from a small mobile elevating work platform. The steel will then be lowered to the floor where it will be cut into smaller pieces to allow it to be taken back out through the tunnels and placed into recycling skips for disposal.
Demolition in numbers
The cable car structure is a steel frame building, with concrete and asphalt decking. We estimate that the demolition will process:
- 110 tonnes of scrap metal
- 12 tonnes of concrete/asphalt
- 2 tonnes of timber
We aim to recycle at least 96% of the cable car building. Recycled metal will be transported to Bellozane recycling yard; all concrete and asphalt will be transported to La Collette; and any re-usable timber will be sent to Acorn, Trinity. Asbestos will be taken to La Collette for safe disposal.
We anticipate more than 40 truck movements during the project – some to deliver and retrieve machinery and scaffolding, and the majority to remove the scrap metal, concrete and timber.
A responsible project
Most of the demolition work will take place between 07:30 and 18:00 on Monday to Friday. Noise will be minimised by building a wrap-around scaffold around three sides of the structure. The scaffold will be clad in monoflex – flexible cladding material, which acts as a noise reduction barrier.
In order to minimise disruption and ensure continued access to La Petit Ecole children’s nursery at Fort Regent, the lifting of aerial walkways, and other non-noisy work, will take place an alternate Saturdays between 08:00 and 16:00.
Dust during the works should be minimal, as the cable car stations are constructed from steel, rather than brick. When the floor slab and brickwork below the structure are demolished, contractors will use water to suppress dust particles, which is a common technique used in demolition works.
No public access will be blocked during the works. Access restrictions and traffic management will be in place around the entrance to the nursery, but all movements of traffic and pedestrians will be kept as free flowing as possible. However, people using the nursery should allow an extra five minutes for their journey time, to allow for parking and walking through the fort.
Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Senator Steve Pallet, said: “After 30 years of disuse, we are finally dismantling Fort Regent’s cable car stations, and we’re doing so in a safe and responsible manner that minimises disturbance and maximises recycling. We’ll recycle and reuse 96 per cent of the structures and the very small amount that we can’t recycle will be incinerated to create energy from waste.”
gov.je