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Temporary works for demolition of Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, UK

2020; ICE Publishing; Volume: 173; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1680/jcien.19.00055

1751-7672

Tomasz Mochol, Stuart Vaughan,

Structural Engineering and Vibration Analysis

This paper describes the challenging temporary works used for demolishing the vast Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, UK, in particular the removal of a major access bridge and one of the main roofs. The bridge, which provided vehicular and pedestrian access between the two main exhibition halls over a railway line, was removed by cutting, lifting and sliding entire spans. The 1300 t truss roof was lowered 28 m to ground level in a single operation using strand jacks. The works were a serious challenge because of the conditions and requirements of both the client and various structural, logistical and environmental factors. The temporary works also required a very large number of designs and other documents to be prepared and approved by multiple parties.