NatWest Tower demolition now under way
FIRST phase demolition of the former NatWest Tower on Colmore Row in central Birmingham has started following a four-month strip-out of the building’s interior.
Rockspring Property Investment Managers and Sterling Property Ventures won approval to demolish the 22-storey tower in August. It will be replaced by a new 26-storey building, scheduled for completion in 2018.
Part of the banking hall’s façade is being retained temporarily, to create a noise and dust buffer along Colmore Row; the removal of the banking hall itself will create a working zone on site for contractors to manage the demolished materials before leaving site.
More than 19 miles of scaffolding has been erected to date to facilitate the works.
Materials salvaged from the 1970s building, including timber, metal and concrete, will be processed and removed to a recycling plant. Around 94% of the total waste will be recycled.
The ornate aluminum doors of the banking hall, commissioned from late artist and sculptor Henry Haig, have been retained for use within the new building. The bronze coloured double doors boast an abstract triangle design, based on the NatWest logo.
Peter Graham, construction director at Sterling, said: “We are working on a very constrained site in the centre of a busy business district. The removal of the four-storey podium fronting Colmore Row will create space for the contractors, without the need to impinge on public space around the site.”
Phase two of the demolition programme – dismantling the concrete tower floor by floor – will start shortly and is anticipated to take around 11 months.
The NatWest Tower will be replaced by the £60m building, 103 Colmore Row, which at 346 ft will be the tallest office building under construction in the UK outside London.
It will comprise 211,000 sq ft of Grade A office space over 19 floors.
At street level, plans include a winter garden and a café facing Colmore Row. At the top of the building there is provision for an 8,600 sq ft restaurant.
