Member Article

Chester eyesore shedding tiers for new theatre

A towering city centre eyesore is to be demolished brick by brick as work gets under way on Chester’s new £37m theatre.

Manchester-based specialists Vale Park Demolition Services, will start work on the £237,000 contract to carefully remove the eight floor Commerce Housde office block from Chester’s skyline.

Built in the sixties, and the third tallest building in Chester’s city centre, after the Cathedral and town hall, it will become the site of the theatre’s 800-seat auditorium, orchestra pit and back stage facilities.

The office block has stood empty for years, and demolition is expecteded to take 18 weeks to complete.

Vale Park contracts manager Tom Perks said: “This will not be demolition in the strictest sense of the word. It will be surgical de-construction, floor by floor, piece by piece, brick by brick. Our structural engineers have already inspected the site to check the building techniques used back in the sixties to ensure there are no hidden problems.”

“We are well aware of all the considerations posed by such a restricted site. The sensitive location has been the main consideration throughout the process of planning our de-construction of the building. The whole of Commerce House will be scaffolded and screened and all residents will see is the building reduced in size floor by floor until there is literally nothing left.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .