Camden Town Hall, Euston Road, London WC1H

The Town Hall annexe is located in Argyle Street, on the south side of Euston Road, opposite St. Pancras International and King’s Cross Stations. Neighbours included a Primary School to the rear, so vehicle movements were coordinated, with routes designed to cause minimal disruption.

The building was constructed in 1974 and consists of a double basement, ground floor, 7 upper floors and a large 8th floor plant room with an additional smaller plant room above to create the 9th floor. The scope of the works included services terminations, asbestos removal, soft strip back to original concrete structure, and removal of all redundant plant and equipment. Previously used by Camden Council as administration offices and a library, each floor had a centrally-located toilet block and a variety of components that required stripping out.

A Refurbishment and Demolition Survey was carried out and asbestos was found to be present in various forms and most significantly as a bitumen coating to the sub-basement floor. The bitumen was removed using the latest 110v pneumatic rotary cleaning machines. These are equipped with integral vacuum pumps which pick up and filter the waste as it is produced. Approximately 1000 tonnes of waste was removed from the building and each waste stream was separated within the building before being loaded into 40yd skips to be removed from site for further processing / recycling.

A mobile crane was used to lift a smaller crane onto the roof, to help in the removal of the large amount of heavy plant from the plant room. In conjunction with a Site Waste Management Plan, 95% of the project arisings were recycled or re-used

40 operatives and 3 supervisors were required to complete an ambitious 12- week programme within time and on budget.