DISASTER was narrowly averted after a section of a building being demolished collapsed into a public thoroughfare full of shoppers.

An estimated 30ft piece of the former British Home Stores (Bhs) building broke away spilling brickwork onto the pavement and causing panic in The Parade at about 10.30am yesterday.

The building is being demolished to make way for a number of shops which will eventually house a new Bhs and River Island among others.

Although no one was injured in the incident, workmen said “death or maiming” was only averted by the safety scaffolding, which contained the wall and held up under the intense pressure.

The scaffolding was held up, in part, by a lamp post which was bent during the incident.

“That scaffolding has saved lives,” said Cliff Flanagan, from Skanska Paving. “If it wasn’t for the strength of it all that debris would be in the street where people were walking.”

One shopper said she reacted quickly after hearing a “loud rumbling” while leaving a shop in The Parade.

Karen Coulthard, 47, from Broad Street, Broadgreen, said: “I came out of Savers and heard this loud rumbling, then all of a sudden I heard workmen panicking and running – and then someone said ‘oh my god the building has collapsed’.

“Everyone went into panic mode and moved away, it’s amazing that no one was underneath.

“I was very pleased with the emergency services, they responded very quickly and evacuated the shops and the shoppers right away.”

The shops remained closed for the remainder of the day and a safety assessment is due to take place this morning to see whether they can reopen.

Greg Izon, fire and emergency services’ incident commander, said structural engineers worked much of the day to make the building safe.

He said: “The engineers have to decide whether to push the left over section out into the street or to pull it back in.

“There was potential for this incident to have been much worse.”

He added that bystanders must remain alert to the instructions of the emergency services.

He said: “We had people asking us if they could walk by when we were trying to deal with the situation, it was as if people were oblivious.

“This is just a reminder that in situations like this the public need to listen to emergency services and give them the space that is required.”

The contractors, Sisk UK, said the company had been conducting “controlled demolition” during the collapse.

Ian Wright, the company’s national business development manager, said: “The part of the building, a roof slab, that came off was to come down in a controlled way, but it came down unexpectedly.

“The cladding did its job and contained what had fallen.

“The HSE has been working with our team today.

“We will be investigating and working overnight to make it safe.”

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it would be investigating the incident further.

A spokeswoman said: “The HSE visited the site and worked with the contractors to agreed measures which will be carried out overnight to ensure the site is made safe and to allow the work to be completed.“