Maidenhead town centre car park demolition date set
The Broadway car park will start to be pulled down later this month
Work to demolish the closed Broadway multi-storey car park in Maidenhead will start later this month.
The demolition will begin on Monday 29 January and is expected to take around 12 weeks – quicker than originally envisaged.
The demolition will be carried out from east to west with the spiral ramp and staircase tower being the last part of the car park to be removed.
A partial lane closure on Broadway will be needed to ensure a safe distance is maintained from the demolition works for passing traffic and pedestrians while the spiral ramp is demolished. This will involve the closure of the current vehicle lane, and the opening up of the right-hand lane to enable traffic to continue to access the town centre.
The council will be getting in touch shortly with residents and businesses in the vicinity of the car park to invite them to engagement events, prior to any road closures, as part of managing the impacts of the work.
Cabinet agreed in July to the demolition of the car park, to remove the safety risks posed by the failed structure, while reducing the potential for anti-social behaviour and town centre blight.
Since closing the multi-storey car park for safety reasons in December 2022, the council has worked with contractors and specialists to fully assess the structure and consider options and associated costs for next steps. The 1960s concrete structure is now beyond its economic life and in significant structural failure, due to water ingress eroding the reinforced steel and needs to be demolished.
Councillor Geoff Hill, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said:
“The demolition of the Broadway car park is the second stage of this major project to safely demolish a large multi-storey building in a busy, built-up area, following enabling works before Christmas.
“As with any large-scale demolition project, there is likely to be some unavoidable disruption to undertake these works safely, but we’re striving to minimise this as best we can and have avoided doing this work over the crucial Christmas trading period. This work will also be completed more swiftly than originally envisaged.
"We’ll be engaging with businesses and residents so that they can find out more and ask questions about the work. I would again like to thank everyone for their ongoing patience while technical assessments of Broadway have been carried out to get us to this crucial point, and for continuing to play their part for Maidenhead town centre by shopping locally and supporting traders.
“Broadway is sadly a failed structure, beyond economic repair, and poses a public safety risk. This is not a situation anyone would’ve wanted, but public safety must always be our top priority, and we must now undertake the demolition safely and as swiftly as practically possible while minimising the impact on our town centre.”