DEMOLITION work is underway in Glasgow on what remains of the Union Street building left ‘seriously compromised’ by the devastating fire on March 8.
Glasgow City Council has contracted local firm Burnfield Demolition to lead the works, after its building standards team concluded that demolition ‘must happen in the interests of public safety’.
Giving an update from outside the site, Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said, “We’re really focused on getting this to be safe as soon as we can and opening it to the public and particularly opening Central Station as soon as possible.
“But right now, that structure represents a risk to the public and actually it represents a risk to the neighbouring buildings as well, including Central Station.”
An inspection of Glasgow Central high-level by Network Rail engineers yesterday, following ‘limited, controlled’ access, found that there wasn’t any significant structural issues at the station.
Susan Aitken continued, “This has been a big deal for Glasgow. It’s going to take us a wee while to recover – but what I want to assure all Glaswegians, and indeed everybody that uses Central Station, is that we will work as fast as we possibly can to get back to normality and then to rebuild and and regenerate Union Street and Gordon Street.
“But, in the meantime, it is safety first for everyone. And it is the protection of the public that is our number one priority.”
