Gala Water Retail Park, Galashiels

Enabling works consisted of the demolition of former mill buildings (up to 5 storeys high), including removal of asbestos from all structures, together with demolition/reconstruction of a section of the river retaining wall, removal of Japanese Knotweed/associated ground, followed by site preparation works to receive retail units/carparks. The demolitions involved the disconnection and removal of existing services, with new services included in the main retail development.

Works involved working sensitively in a city centre location on the banks of the River Galawater, with close liaison with SEPA to satisfy environmental issues associated with working adjacent to the river together with dealing with contamination issues associated with the removal of Japanese Knotweed and contaminated ground in the vicinity of the watercourse. In addition, the mill buildings were inhabited by bats which involved close liaison with specialist ecological consultants in order to ensure their safe removal/relocation.

The former mill buildings were demolished to 1.5m below existing floor levels, together with all foundations, machinery, plant and tanks. In order to maximise the sustainability of the scheme, sandstone was salvaged from the existing buildings for re-use in the site boundary wall and river retaining wall, with the remainder of the demolished masonry/concrete crushed and screened to generate 80% of the capping fill and subbase requirement of the new development. The earthworks operation for the new retail development involved an extensive cut and fill operation to re-profile the site levels, involving 13000 tonnes of capping stone and 4500 tonnes of subbase.

Works within the river involved forming a temporary cofferdam to facilitate the construction of new reinforced concrete foundations, to receive proprietary precast concrete retaining wall sections (1m wide x 4m high), faced with sandstone generated from demolition works over a length of 80m.