Date finally set for college demolition (From Swindon Advertiser)

Get involved! Send photos, video, news & views. Text SWINDON NEWS to 80360 or email us

Local RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos

Date finally set for college demolition

9:00am Thursday 16th February 2012 in Local By David Wiles

Coun Dave Wood pictured at the OId Swindon College building where work has started to demolish the site

PREPARATORY work has started ahead of the long-awaited demolition of the former Swindon College site in April.

Developer Ashfield Land has faced many delays since acquiring the site, in Regent Circus, in 2006, but the redevelopment new looks certain to start soon.

The £50m project will include a 52,000sq ft Morrison’s superstore, eight restaurants and bars, a 30,000sq ft six-screen cinema and a 450-space car park.

This week, work has started to remove some of the trees around the site in the build up to the college being dismantled in April.

Director James Digby said he hoped the site would be cleared by early summer, enabling construction work to start.

He said: “We are undertaking some of the tree-felling at the moment.

“These are trees we have planning permission to remove as part of the scheme.

“They’re being undertaken now to be prior to the nesting season in March in accordance with legislation.

“A demolition contract is out to tender as we speak so we will have the tender back at the end of the month there, and with the process that follows we will be on site in April with the demolition.”

Mr Digby said the demolition would take about two or three months and would involve the building being slowly dismantled, and the parts recycled where possible, rather than being blown up.

Coun Garry Perkins, Swindon Council’s deputy leader, who is also responsible for regeneration, also confirmed that the council had been asked how quickly it could close off the college car park, which would become a building site while the project is taking place.

Commenting on the tree work, he said: “I think everyone will be very pleased because once the building is down it means the whole new project can go ahead.

“If this is the first stage, it’s great, we welcome it greatly.

“And we just hope they get the contract placed as soon as possible and the rest of the building comes down in the very near future.

“If it comes down by the end of April, great, but I will wait until the bulldozers move in.”

Coun Dave Wood (Lib Dem, Eastcott) said: “I think the fact the trees have gone down now makes me feel a lot more optimistic about this time-scale we have been given, as opposed to the other timescales we were given in the past where nothing was physically happening on the site.

“But now it’s something physically happening and their investing in the site makes me think that this timescale is hopefully the one and hopefully it will start to come down in April.”

For details of the scheme visit www.ashfieldland.co.uk

Comments(16)

Grimwald says...
9:30am Thu 16 Feb 12

Seeing is believing, its come down so many times I've stopped counting!!
Isn't there an election pending?