The Death of Hallam Tower (up-dated 11-10-17), Sheffield, September 2017

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HughieD

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The Death of Hallam Tower (The End 14-10-17), Sheffield, September 2017

1. The History
Done this before so you can find it all HERE.

2. The ‘Explore’
Kicking myself that I never went round this place while it was do-able. Then all of a sudden got the tip-off from my mate that it was being demo’ed. What follows are a series of pictures documenting the demolition of Hallam Towers. There’s probably another week’s worth of work to be done so will add to this report as it reaches its conclusion.

3. The Photos

24th June 2017

Before the demo started

23589762668_4990ea85a1_b.jpg24-06-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37441597561_6ea617e769_b.jpg24-06-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

23589702368_11a9db0d97_b.jpg24-06-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

6th September 2017

A few days into the demo. Work starts on the north wing

37441535581_7a3506ddfa_b.jpg06-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37184522020_bb913d445b_b.jpg06-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37441463451_eae06b0c4c_b.jpg06-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37184421850_3bcb96fcc7_b.jpg06-09-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

10th September 2017

Four days later and the progress isn’t too dramatic

36731958004_c05d053382_b.jpg10-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

36731921924_4498627c36_b.jpg10-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37393844436_69dcfa8abb_b.jpg10-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37184220290_5d823e23a3_b.jpg10-09-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

13th September 2017
Just three days after the previous pictures and the south wing is all but gone too…

37410181622_c8c2531f93_b.jpg13-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

23589350508_65de0e592d_b.jpg13-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37393749866_0d7f1bce85_b.jpg13-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37410151562_771b723221_b.jpg13-09-17no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37393630106_ed0ea86e5f_b.jpg13-09-17 no5 by HughieDW, on Flickr

17th September 2017
Four days on and both wings are now gone:

36770857473_b1c76767f2_b.jpg17-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

36731513404_70f5436f3f_b.jpg17-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

36770812053_39c355318f_b.jpg17-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37183867530_4df97c8eb2_b.jpg17-09-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

26th September 2017
Can’t remember why I took so long to go back. Bit of a gap between these and the earlier shoot. Now half on the central part’s façade is gone.

37409976292_8f62c70496_b.jpg26-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

36770730133_0f545b6be0_b.jpg26-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37183757510_29dc6b2f3d_b.jpg26-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37409876752_d47455b2f5_b.jpg26-09-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

30th September 2017
Four days on again and real progress made:

37440779281_f73d6e143e_b.jpg30-09-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37183633610_c5323fb4f5_b.jpg30-09-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37440715651_ea27230479_b.jpg30-09-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37409723532_4d1acca9e4_b.jpg30-09-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37183552440_5c67bfc8dd_b.jpg30-09-17 no5 by HughieDW, on Flickr

More up-dates to come!
 
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nice to see Kid acne still holding on :)
thanks for the update i did enjoy exploring this a good few years back !
 
Sad to see a demo in progress, but really nicely captured as is your usual standard. Nice work for putting the leg work in, you gave the old girl one last dance! Cheers!
 
You have been documenting this place well hughie.shame it's going before you got in.but that's progress I guess
 
you'd have thought they would have exploded the bottom out on this one, or is it real close to other houses?
What a dump, better that mess is out the way
 
you'd have thought they would have exploded the bottom out on this one, or is it real close to other houses?
What a dump, better that mess is out the way

Cost of demolition with explosion... hundreds of thousands.

Cost to eat away at it with a long reach arm... some diesel.
 
UP-DATE:

2nd October 2017
A few days on from 30th September and now all of the façade tiling is gone:

37307118390_5b7b23723d_b.jpg02-10-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37517682246_f88a8a6f4b_b.jpg02-10-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And the central stair-case gone too:

36896024593_0fc4018f4d_b.jpg02-10-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37533853502_03b743400f_b.jpg02-10-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

7th October 2017


Was expecting more progress than this as was the site worker who I spoke to on the 2nd. He said it would be done by the end of the week but he was being a bit over-optimistic:

37535820012_f0e8d771ed_b.jpg07-10-17 no3 by HughieDW, on Flickr

23715585538_a91f849da7_b.jpg07-10-17 no1 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37309265830_4def2c102d_b.jpg07-10-17 no4 by HughieDW, on Flickr

37519622046_3f5b93b618_b.jpg07-10-17 no2 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
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Still going, going but not gone yet. I wondered why explosives were not used, but as I can see from your photos, residential houses are too near. Nice update. I'm looking forward to the shot with a bare horizon.
 
Still going, going but not gone yet. I wondered why explosives were not used, but as I can see from your photos, residential houses are too near. Nice update. I'm looking forward to the shot with a bare horizon.

Cheers Hugh. That picture should be with you by the end of the week!
 
you'd have thought they would have exploded the bottom out on this one, or is it real close to other houses

All one gets if the ground floor is blown is a flattened ground floor, with all the other intact floors sitting on the rubble. You could have wired up every floor and then blown in quick sequence, from bottom to top - however you still require the hydraulic nibbler to cut up the resulting heap of reinforced concrete, and as Krela states - very expensive in preparation and explosives. One side of my family run a demolition business. A major concern is when you find the actual reinforced structure does not follow the architectural drawings you had been presented with when you tendered for the job. Mostly hidden behind block walls etc, some of these 'alterations' can cause a massive re-think or at least a delay whilst one checks the figures. In my student days, summer vacations mostly consisted of drilling holes for explosives or lugging gas bottles and cutting torches around.

Hughie - Another very nice set of images!
 
Whoever planned the demolition did it well, you have documented its demise beautifully, I hope you're around to record it's end. Proper Job, Thanks
 
Whoever planned the demolition did it well, you have documented its demise beautifully, I hope you're around to record it's end. Proper Job, Thanks

Nice one hughie, you’ve been there all along through its journey!

Props to you good sir, and awesome pictures.
Cheers both. Think there's probably two more visits left is this!
 
Is there anything your family doesn't do?

I have a very large paternal family base, which due to circumstances - wars, business partnerships, travel and farming have always had to keep in touch with each other via various means, and thus I have a very large and interesting family archive and know my family background. No different to most people on here really, if you all do a bit of searching! It is all down to being in the right place, at the right time, as far as I can see from what I have read in the archive. The crawler crane and the big iron ball was the standard tool of the demolition boys for years, but if the British Army had taught you to blow up enemy fortifications, why not carry on using your new found skills with explosives in peace time and give the family business another string to its bow? As to what we don't do - unfortunately any attempts to mint money seem to be well outside our grasp!
 
and insurance, and security, and managing people.

Is there anything your family doesn't do?

I've had a few interesting chats with DS via PM and he is a wealth of information and anecdotes, he knows explosives especially black powder, I love a chance to read his family Journal's,
 

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