Work starts on £25m Stockbridge Village scheme

THE £25m redevelopment of Stockbridge Village in Knowsley has begun following the demolition of the Heatwaves Leisure Centre.

Manchester-based demolition firm J Freeley has been pulling down the centre to make way for a new scheme which includes a swimming pool, state-of-the-art gym, a learning resources centre, games area and a supermarket.

The centre had a supporting central mast which held up part of the roof so the demolition had to be sequenced to ensure the structure wouldn’t collapse prematurely. Once the building was knocked down, its large substructures, cellars and foundations also had to be removed.

The project was overseen on behalf of Knowsley Council by Mohammed Altaf, project manager of 2020 Knowsley, which provides design and management services to the council.

“Knowsley Council has a strong reputation for maintaining and improving its environmental performance and the recycling aspects of the contract were an important part of the tendering process.

“More than 6,000 tonnes of concrete and masonry was generated during the demolition. This was crushed and processed on site to produce recycled aggregate which was then used for filling the underground voids and foundation spaces, and to prepare the site for redevelopment.

“This significantly reduced the amount of construction traffic that would have been needed to take this material off site.

“It also meant that construction vehicle movements will be minimised when the redevelopment work takes place.”