We're picking up good vibrations from Building Engineer

Thank you to the team behind the Building Engineer, the journal of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) for accepting our contribution covering the story of how continuous vibration monitoring of a demolition site in central is helping to protect a church and glass house.

And a special thanks to Carol Langham for all of her support turning this article into a feature that fits within the journal.

An introduction to the article covering the problem

As residential neighbourhoods grow, developers and site managers face a problem in the decrease of space available for construction activities such as demolition and piling.

Vibration Monitoring Services Limited (VMS) were employed by Crest Nicholson London to protect buildings surrounding a demolition site in the centre of London, to allow them to redevelop the area, combining the historically important parts of the existing building with the new build which contains a mix of residential and commercial space.

Among other properties surrounding the demolition site, within close proximity there is a Church, glass house and Artists’ studio. The Roman Catholic Church of our Lady of Salette was built in 1861, a decade later a school building was built attached to the church, in later years the school was extended before the site was remodelled in the Post War period following bomb damage, a new church hall was built in the 1960’s and the school closed around 1970. The School buildings were then subsequently occupied by Southwark College and leased to the City Banking College and London School of Commerce who vacated the premises in 2012.

The Manna Centre has occupied part of the site since opening in March 1983. The organisation provides a crucial outreach service to homeless people in the area and the presbytery provides sheltered accommodation for the adjacent church and is a further source of community use on the site. The project is to be carried out in two phases to ensure the Manna Centre can continue to operate throughout the project. The project is expected to be completed in February 2016.

Without continuous vibration monitoring, vibration levels could exceed safe levels and not only cause minor damage to the sensitive structures but also cause distress for occupants of the church, the artist’s studio and other neighbouring buildings.