Minerva House

About the event

Morrisroe Ltd have been appointed to undertake the Minerva House redevelopment on behalf of Great Portland Estates (GPE).   This includes cut and carve demolition, piling operations followed by excavation and construction of an RC (Reinforced Concrete) frame.

Minerva House is in the London Borough of Southwark and is sited along the Southbank of river Thames.   The project is surrounded by; Southwark Cathedral on the south site, a residential building and St Mary Overie Dock, this is located along the west elevation of the site which also houses a full-size replica of Sir Francis Drake’s galleon, the Golden Hinde.

Although the location of the project is one of the key challenges of Minerva House, Morrisroe has been able to develop a robust logistics strategy to service the project while utilising River Thames.   This involves the construction of a temporary floating pontoon to assist our logistics strategy during the soft strip and demolition phase.

Throughout the soft strip stage flat top pontoons visit the site with liftable skips.   These are being lifted onto the temporary pontoon using a crawler crane.   Once the visiting barge has a full load it then travels along the River Thames, using tugs, to the necessary recycling facilities.   The use of the River Thames as the route for loading and unloading equipment and materials will save hundreds of road journeys by lorries, thereby reducing the projects’ impact on the air quality of London.