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Work to demolish the closed Broadway multi-storey car park in Maidenhead will start later this month.
The demolition will begin on Monday 29 January and is expected to take around 12 weeks – quicker than originally envisaged. The council has waited until after the crucial Christmas trading period to start this work following safety hoarding going up around the building at the end of last year.
The demolition will be carried out from east to west with the spiral ramp and staircase tower being the last part of the car park to be removed.
A full road closure of Broadway will be required for several days towards the end of the work, in order to enable the safe demolition of the staircase tower, and dates and timings will be publicised in advance once confirmed.
Before this, a partial lane closure on Broadway will be needed to ensure a safe distance is maintained from the demolition works for passing traffic and pedestrians while the spiral ramp is demolished. This will involve the closure of the current vehicle lane, and the opening up of the right-hand lane to enable traffic to continue to access the town centre, and these dates will also be publicised soon.
The council will be getting in touch shortly with residents and businesses in the vicinity of the car park to invite them to engagement events, prior to any road closures, as part of managing the impacts of the work.
Cabinet agreed in July to the demolition of the car park, to remove the safety risks posed by the failed structure, while reducing the potential for anti-social behaviour and town centre blight.
Since closing the multi-storey car park for safety reasons in December 2022, the council has worked with contractors and specialists to fully assess the structure and consider options and associated costs for next steps. The 1960s concrete structure is now beyond its economic life and in significant structural failure, due to water ingress eroding the reinforced steel and needs to be demolished.
A section of the footpath on the eastern side of King Street, by the vacant business units underneath the car park, remains temporarily unavailable for pedestrians to use. However, the footpath on the western side of the street, and the road itself, is unaffected.
Safety hoarding remains in place on the footpath on the northern side of Broadway from the junction of King Street eastwards to where the car park finishes.
Councillor Geoff Hill, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “The demolition of the Broadway car park is the second stage of this major project to safely demolish a large multi-storey building in a busy, built-up area, following enabling works before Christmas.
“As with any large-scale demolition project, there is likely to be some unavoidable disruption to undertake these works safely, but we’re striving to minimise this as best we can and have avoided doing this work over the crucial Christmas trading period. This work will also be completed more swiftly than originally envisaged.
"We’ll be engaging with businesses and residents so that they can find out more and ask questions about the work. I would again like to thank everyone for their ongoing patience while technical assessments of Broadway have been carried out to get us to this crucial point, and for continuing to play their part for Maidenhead town centre by shopping locally and supporting traders.
“Broadway is sadly a failed structure, beyond economic repair, and poses a public safety risk. This is not a situation anyone would’ve wanted, but public safety must always be our top priority, and we must now undertake the demolition safely and as swiftly as practically possible while minimising the impact on our town centre.”