Bower Building, Glasgow University

Background:

Located in a crowded area of the campus with many residents living nearby, the University of Glasgow's listed Bower Building had long been acknowledged for its architectural and historical significance.

This meant Reigart employing a variety of specialised demolition techniques when this famous library and research facility caught fire and collapsed in September 2002.

Challenges:

Our company was called in shortly after the fire started and was soon on hand to advise in consultation with the fire service before the final flames were doused.

Solutions

A Reigart team went in early the next day to make the building safe and take emergency measures to save its historic facade. An important early task was to create access through the debris to enable staff to salvage precious research material and artefacts, as well as valuable computer data.

The Bower presented many other challenges:

Tight noise and dust restrictions, and an adjacent building in use meant much of the work had to be carried out at nights and weekends-often by hand, owing to restricted access. Vast amounts of broken glass and undocumented asbestos also had to be removed. An internal and external facade retention scheme incorporating external Kentledge was installed taking due care to avoid damage to the road surface and nearby drainage systems.

Once all dangerous internals were finally removed, the Bower site was ready for redevelopment in autumn 2003.