Oxgangs, Edinburgh

Following a week of gale force winds and storms, the clouds rolled back and the winds died down just in time to provide a perfect clear blue backdrop for a demolition double in Edinburgh.The two 16 storey buildings were demolished on the instructions of the City of Edinburgh Council, who awarded the contract to Safedem. The re-inforced concrete structures were constructed in 1961, but were cleared as part of the regeneration of the Oxgangs area of the city.

Our Explosives Engineers designed a collapse mechanism to direct the structures away fron a live substation and gas srvices. The use of delays minimised ground vibration and air over pressure all to the satisfaction of the stand-by service teams who confirmed that their equipment was unaffected following their post blowdown inspections.

The gale force winds throughout the week preceding blowdown, posed numerous problems with installed protection being disrupted and making it nearly impossible to complete operations on schedule for the blast date.

Our Managing Director stated “its only natural for everybody to focus on the ten second result , but the hard work in the build up from our entire team is something of which I am very proud. From our lads on site to our community liaison team to our office staff who all muck in on the day, the Safedem team puts in an incredible amount of hard work to ensure that we deliver the most professional explosives demolition service possible.”