Hear the ‘unbearable’ noise neighbours are having to contend with during demolition work at Sheffield university building
and live on Freeview channel 276
On Monday, demolition work got underway to bulldoze part of the university’s new Faculty of Social Sciences building, on the junction of Whitham Road and Northumberland Road.
Construction of the £65million hub began in May last year – but problems were subsequently found with the foundations of the site.
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Hide AdThe university said the partial demolition was ‘necessary’ so alterations can be made to the structure of the building, which contractors BAM will then rebuild.
The problems have pushed back the building’s expected completion date by a year to 2022.
Conor O'Callaghan, 51, who lives on nearby Marlborough Road, said he and other neighbours were being ‘driven crazy’ while working from home by the noise from the demolition work – and complained that his house was getting covered in dust.
The university said it was ‘very sorry’ for the disruption – while BAM insisted it would ‘keep doing whatever we can’ to minimise noise and dust.
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Hide AdMr O'Callaghan, who has sent us the above video, told The Star: “Last year the university built this new building and we couldn’t go into our garden all summer.
“This year they are knocking down the same building and we are all working from home and the noise is unbearable and we still can’t use our gardens.
“The university says they’ve apologised loads to us. It's not true!
“They just tell us they are within regulations.
“And now the completion date has been pushed back a year to 2022 – by which time we will have had three years of dealing with their monumental cock-up.
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Hide Ad“We can’t open the back doors or windows – the house is covered in dust.
“The university hasn’t even offered to clean our windows, which are filthy.
“If they really cared about the community, they should at least offer to clean our windows.
“We all feel completely shafted by them.”
A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “We are very sorry about the disruption to local residents and we are in contact with Mr O'Callaghan about his concerns.
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Hide Ad"We are working closely with the contractor BAM to look at ways that they can minimise this as much as possible.”
A BAM spokesperson added: “We completely understand and appreciate that a construction site can create noise and dust.
“We also do apologise that work on this site will go on longer than planned due to the piling issues, which we are all very frustrated about.
“We will keep doing whatever we can to minimise noise and dust, and work within the time and noise limits set out in the university’s planning permission.
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Hide Ad"We are disappointed that all this has come about and we continue to discuss the situation with our client the university, the expert sub-contractors involved, structural engineers Mott Macdonald and piling contractor Cementation Skanska.”