Muir Construction

Tank Farm, Rosyth

Client: Scarborough Muir Group Ltd

Description:
Probably the biggest demolition by controlled explosives in the world!

This project is a Joint Venture for the development of an expansive site along the waterfront of Rosyth. It includes the famous concrete ‘Churchill’ bunker with the following vital statistics:-

Total plan area of the structure approx. 9 .5 acres
Total reinforced concrete 1,000,000 tonnes
Total concrete roof thickness 7.5 m
Total perimeter wall thickness 8 m
Number of structural support columns over 2500 at 1.2 m diameter
5000km of reinforcing Bar

Built in the early 1900’s the bunker was used as a Ministry of Defence Oil Storage Facility to fuel the “fleet” that were serviced by the dockyard in Rosyth, strategically located to the north of Edinburgh on the River Forth on Scotland’s east coast.
Following World War I, the remit to Engineers was to design an oil storage facility that was bomb proof. Their solution was to encapsulate the original bunker on all sides and build a roof with a total thickness of nearly 7.5m. This was built up in layers of heavily reinforced concrete laid on top of each other.
Each layer was poured to a maximum depth of almost 1m. On top of the 7.5m thick roof, a 900mm cushion of whin dust and a further 300mm of topsoil would give the illusion of a grass field from above.

A forest of over 2500 1.2 diameter reinforced concrete columns each 12m high, were designed to hold the massive roof structure in place.
With the fate of the structure decided, a formulated plan was prepared to combine clean up and demolition. It would include the use of explosives to break up the structure in pre-determined sections that would then be processed by excavators to separate reinforcement bar from the concrete. Initial vertical drill holes charged with explosives to form an opening within the roof structure to allow the progress to be from the inside out. Thus maintaining the visual look of the structure.
Because of the proximity of the neighbouring houses, the explosive demolition experts have taken into account the levels of ground vibration and the air overpressure emanating from the use of explosives. By utilising an initiation delay sequence and finite explosive charges we have reduced vibration and air overpressure readings to nominal levels.
The resulting material from the demolition once processed is being used for various projects in and around the Fife area.
The A8000 upgrade, the new port access road in Rosyth and housing developments in Dunfermline are all benefiting from the good quality recycled sub base and drainage materials being produced by Scarborough Muir.

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