News / Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone
Demolition – a family business
Steve Lugg leans on a metal barrier overlooking the derelict sorting office next to Temple Meads as Bristol mayor Marvin Rees climbs into the huge machine that in a few minutes will start demolition work on the building long considered to be one of the city’s most notorious eyesores.
Over the next 18 weeks, it will be the job of Lugg and his colleagues to reduce the building to rubble.
Once the photo opportunity is over, Rees climbs out of the driver’s cab and one of Lugg’s team climbs in, turns the power on, tilts the cab back and sets the two-and-a-half tonne muncher to work.
Over 18 years, Lugg has worked his way up at demolition specialists Wring Group from a labourer to his current job as site manager on this particular job to level the building that has been empty since the Royal Mail moved its operation to Filton in 1997.
His son, Dean, is also employed by the Bedminster-based company whose recent jobs include demolition of much of Ashton Gate before the stadium’s redevelopment, and of the escalators and footbridge over Temple Way.
Lugg, who lives in Hanham, described this job as “a nice easy one” because much of the sorting office has already been stripped, leaving just its concrete shell.
The demolition will be completed using the ‘step’ technique, starting from the top of the building and removing one or two bays at a time.
“It’s exciting,” Lugg said when asked to describe his job. “It’s different every day. Buildings react differently. And the weather changes. The most satisfying part is that we are like a big family.”
The sorting office’s removal will make way for the development of the University of Bristol’s new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus .
The new campus, due to open in 2022, will span both the sorting office plot and part of neighbouring Temple Island, where Bristol’s long-awaited arena was due to be built before Rees scrapped the plans.
As well as teaching, research and innovation space, there will also be accommodation for up to 1,500 students including a 25-storey tower, waterfront cafes and shops, and new walking and cycling routes including a proposed floating boardwalk to Temple Quay.
The city council purchased the site including the now demolished Cattle Market Tavern in 2015 and sold it to the university in 2017.
An artist’s impression of the future Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus
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