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Demolition begins after partial building collapse

Charles Heslettin Bradford
News imageBBC A yellow mechanical digger behind metal fencing lifting debris.BBC
Part of Dale Street will remain closed over Christmas as the structure remains unsafe

Demolition work has begun a week after part of a building collapsed onto a road in the heart of Bradford city centre.

Masonry began falling from the empty Yorkshire Stone property and created a pile of rubble in Dale Street last Monday.

Emergency crews were called to reports of an "unsafe structure" at about 06:50 GMT and the road was cordoned off, with residents evacuated from an adjacent block of flats.

Demolition experts moved machinery in late last week, with the clean-up now under way.

Joshua Swift from Jennings of Pudsey said it was using a 20-tonne demolition excavator to gather fallen masonry, Yorkshire stonework, floor and roofing timbers.

He said: "Structurally we're just removing brickworks as we've been requested to do.

"As long as the building is left in a safe condition, that's what we're doing up to now and that's where it will be left."

News imageA man in a yellow hard hat and orange reflective jacket standing next to a yellow lorry cab.
Joshua Swift from Jennings of Pudsey, who is in charge of the operation

The collapsed section created a gaping hole in the five-storey building stretching from the roof down to the first floor.

It also left an exterior wall with stone lintels and sills leaning inwards at a precarious angle, with a collapsed tiled roof clearly visible behind it.

Mr Swift said: "We'll be taking three bays of the windows away, the second section we'll be removing two bays, and then the first bay so that the lean is completely gone.

"We will be bringing in a high-reach (excavator) at some point this week maybe to make the building structurally safe."

He said the firm was working with Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Police to arrange when the excavator, which has a 28-metre (90ft) reach, can be brought into the city as it requires a police escort and road closures.

News imageA battered blue skip in the foreground and a Yorkshire stone building with a collapsed section running from roof level to the first floor.
Damage has left an exterior wall unsupported and leaning dangerously inwards

Bradford Council said the landlord of the evacuated flats was working to find alternative accommodation for affected tenants.

The authority said it had also been liaising with representatives of the owner of the collapsed building.

A council spokesperson said it was the owner's responsibility to ensure the site was safe.

They added Dale Street would "remain closed" and "will only be reopened once safe to do so".

News imageA yellow demolition excavator on the back of a bright yellow truck.
The 20-tonne demolition excavator had to be brought in by truck and unloaded on a narrow cobbled street

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