Working for Howard Stott Demolition and Wilmott Dixon on the heavily fire-damaged Echo Arena (King’s Dock) car park demolition.

The fire was national news at the time and arguably the most well-known demolition contract in the UK at that point.

The cause of the blaze, as determined by the police, was initiated by an accidental fire in a Land Rover, which then spread to other vehicles.

The Liverpool International Horse Show, which was supposed to be hosted in the Echo Arena, was cancelled due to the fire which dictated around 80 horses to be evacuated from the ground floor of the car park and led to safety. No injuries were reported.

The incident itself was subject to a Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Fire Protection Report as part of lessons learnt information exchange on fire safety in car parks.

The fire destroyed the integrity of the 7-level, 85-metre by 65-metre reinforced concrete car park as well as more than 1,300 vehicles.

The intensity of the fire caused substantial explosive spalling to the rib deck planks with many in the central sections having the inner reinforcement bar visible with clear signs of deflection. The main span beams also had explosive spalling with distortion laterally with some twisting at their dowelled connection point on the stanchion; the stanchions themselves were relatively untouched with the exception of twisting on the corbelled seat upon which the beam sits. All of which added up to a very dangerous structure.

A neighbouring hotel surrounding the structure was also damaged by the fire, which added further to the complexity of the project, as did the requirement to preserve the evidence; as the source car was subject to a potential claim of £80m.

Site overview video:

PERSES was called to advise the client and demolition contractor as demolition engineers. The insurance loss adjusters were intent on salvaging the structure; a position we strongly opposed on the grounds of safety as outlined in the initial document report.

Once the initial meeting was concluded with the loss adjuster’s engineer, the car park designer and structural engineer, and the Liverpool Mayor’s Office, it was agreed that the building is to be demolished as per our (PERSES and Howard Stott Demolition) advice. The Echo Arena car park was then programmed for demolition.

We initially carried out a comprehensive 3D model of the structure based on the supplied as-built drawings, which were then cross-matched against the physical and drone surveys to identify the areas of structural degradation and where the potential of a collapse was the highest.

This was then used to create a 3D Visual Presentation of the demolition method to present to the stakeholders ahead of the works, and for use in the site-specific induction and the method statement, which we continually commented on the revisions and updates throughout the works.

Howard Stott Demolition carried out all the works that involved progressive defragmentation by high reach, removing the vehicles, and processing the demolition arisings. 

Howard Stott Demolition won the World Demolition Awards 2019 for both new entrants and projects under $1m.

Throughout the work, we carried out audits to ensure the RAMS were correctly adhered to due to the dangerous nature of the work and the unpredictability of the structure.

• Carry out an initial report on the structural condition.
• Attend the client and contractors’ meetings.
• Attend the stakeholder meetings including the liaison with the Liverpool Mayor’s Office.
• Create a 3D model of the structure.
• Consult on the method of demolition.
• Carry out site audits and issue a report on the progress.