Demolition of Nottingham’s Broadmarsh car park is officially starting on Monday – signalling the beginning of the end for the area’s notorious 1970s landscape.
Nottingham City Council is beginning to knock the structure down piece by piece from 11am – with the first swing of a sledgehammer being carried out by a competition winner from Bulwell.
It marks the beginning of a vast redevelopment of the south side of Nottingham city centre, costing £250 million and including the redevelopment of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
The City Council ran a Facebook competition asking people to say why they should be chosen to start the demolition.
Joy Rice from Bulwell impressed the public and judges with a poem about the landmark and will swing a sledgehammer at 11am on Monday to start the main phase of demolition. After the ceremony she will be given the sledgehammer to keep.
She said: “It will be great to be able to say I played a part in demolishing the car park which I think everyone will be pleased to see the back of – and I’m looking forward to seeing its modern replacement.”
Contractors have already been stripping the site over the last week, ready for the larger scale demolition to start. Work is due to be completed in early 2018 and the council expects to release plans of the replacement before Christmas.
Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of the City Council, said: “I know people have been looking forward to this for a long time – and changes to Broadmarsh are now happening. We will improve this area and make the southern part of the city a place people can be proud of.
“We’re being mindful of the impact works will have on the roads and are putting diversions and signage in place to help during the Broadmarsh regeneration.
“We’ll keep reviewing it to make sure people are able to move around the city, particularly with a busy October for us and Christmas coming up. While we transform Broadmarsh, we will ensure want people can still enjoy everything Nottingham has to offer.”
Joy’s winning poem
I am the right person to swing a sledgehammer at Broadmarsh car park,
because…it would be my one and only chance to make my civic mark!
To go down in history as the demolisher of this Nottingham landmark.
A task to get rid of this graceless monument, I would gladly embark.
People would cheer me on! “Knock it down!” they would remark.
I’d swing that sledgehammer through the air in a wide arc.
I wonder if there’d be splinters or maybe even a spark?
Goodbye! Farewell! Good riddance to Broadmarsh car park!
