News on HS2 in Camden

Preparations for London’s high speed rail terminus at Euston have reached a new milestone as the two office towers outside the existing station are now at ground level. Grant Thornton House and One Euston Square – designed by modernist architect Richard Seifert – have made way for the new high speed station, with more space for passengers and better links to the London Underground.

Our enabling works contractor, Costain Skanska joint venture (CSJV), has completed two years’ worth of demolition work, taking the 1970s towers to ground level. The site has now been handed over to the station construction partner, Mace Dragados joint venture (MDJV), who will complete the demolition of the basement in preparation for our new station construction works.

In order to demolish the buildings, they were encapsulated within an acoustic wrap as part of the agreement to mitigate noise and dust in the local area. Excavators with breaking and munching attachments were then lifted onto the roof using the site tower crane and then worked down, demolishing the building floor by floor. Over 35,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete was demolished and processed on site for re-use on our Euston scheme.

The final stage of the works was to demolish the huge 2.7-metre thick One Euston Square first floor slab. This was completed in two stages. Firstly two 45-tonne excavators with breaking attachments were lifted on to the slab with a 450-tonne mobile crane. These machines removed 60% of the slab working from the top. Once complete, they were lifted down and the works were finished using a 45-tonne and 60-tonne excavator from ground level.

If you have a question about HS2 or our works, please contact our HS2 Helpdesk team on 08081 434 434 or email hs2enquiries@hs2.org.uk .