The Brokk is a clever remote control machine which Havering Demolition will use to break up the concrete floors of the Rank building. The operator stands safely out of the way of the noise and vibrations. It arrived on Thursday morning and was carefully unloaded, just missing a parked Mercedes nearby. Let’s be honest, it looks like it would be great fun to play with but it has a serious purpose and by the end of Thursday it had already punched a hole in the roof of the entrance.
The idea is that it will be hoisted onto the top floor and will gradually demolish the end of the Rank building from the top down. Meanwhile the top floor of our part of the Rank building has been removed – Flat 30 is no more. We have also stripped the rear walls of No 31 back to the eighteenth century brickwork. Our conservation officer thinks that there may be some seventeenth century walls in there as well but we have not come across them yet. It is getting a bit noisy in Jesus Lane now with the demolition in full swing!
Lovely 18th Century brickwork on the east wall of No 31
