The Derelict Building Next Door

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The last piece of major external demolition on site is to remove the derelict piece of building attached to the historic paint frame; one of the most treasured pieces of heritage in the building.

Derelict building surrounding by scaffolding for dismantling the roof. The peak at the top of the image is the paint frame behind it.

A bit of background

Citizens Theatre before work began. Paint frame and derelict building shown to the rear of the site along Cleland Lane
(Imagery © 2020, Google, Map data © 2020)

This derelict building was never part of the Citizens Theatre but was latterly used by us to store excess salvage from sets for re-use, with access via a separate padlocked door on Cleland Lane.

Citizens Theatre pre-demolition.
The amber area is the derelict building and the red area is the historic paint frame.

Removing the derelict portion will create space that helps us to form a new construction workshop In the redeveloped building, that will sit conveniently between the new scene dock and the paint frame, scenic and metal workshops.

New design proposals for redeveloped backstage areas.

This area to be demolished was historically part of another building called the Grand National Halls of the Good Templar. It was used for weddings, concerts, functions and meetings, particularly by the growing local Jewish community at the time. Eventually it was developed and rebuilt by Bertie Crew into the Palace Theatre. You can see one of the meeting halls next to the paint frame in the image below.

Citizens Theatre alongside the Grand National Halls on Cleland Lane
(annotated over drawings by architects J. Thomson & R.D. Sandilands, 1905)
The Citizens Theatre and The Palace Theatre next door on Gorbals Street
(image found at www.scottishcinemas.org.uk)

Bertie Crewe also ran the Princess’s Theatre which went on to become the Citizens Theatre. Both theatre’s shared a columned facade on Gorbals Street. A fire in the Close Theatre, tucked behind the columns, led to the closure of the Close and the Palace. Following on from the clearance of the tenements they were finally demolished in 1978.

  • fire damage on facade
  • facade and Palace being demolished

After demolition, a portion of the Palace was left in place next to the paint frame for fear that demolishing it would bring the paint frame down with it. The Citizens Theatre, our design team and the contractors are acutely aware of the potential risk and every effort has been made to mitigate it.

The remaining structure was left in a deteriorating condition that continued to endanger the Paint Frame. Remedial works to stabilise and weatherproof it were carried out some years ago by Glasgow City Council. The interior levels were a total mismatch with the Citizens and it was in extremely poor condition so it made sense to take the opportunity to remove it as part of this project.

Inside the derelict rooms

  • ground floor corridor we used as a store
  • build up of debris
  • ladder between floors as there are no stairs
  • bricked up old window openings
  • roots penetrating the walls
  • more roots
  • light comes in through a hole in the wall – root hangs from above

In this last photo the steel-work you can see on the wall is part of the temporary works that are required to keep this wall standing as the rest of the derelict area is removed.

Preparation and Temporary Works

The paint frame allows scenic cloths to be attached to a wooden frame that travels up and down on pulleys so that the scenic artist can reach each piece of the cloth from the one level without having to climb up or down (I’ll cover the paint frame and our plans for it in more detail in a future post).

The Paint Frame – Scenic Artist Neil Haynes working on a cloth. The empty frame to the right against the wall of the derelict building
(Photograph by RCHAMS).

Because one frame is against the back wall of the derelict building and the wooden frame has to travel from the basement right up to the top floor unimpeded, it means that without the derelict building there is nothing supporting it from our side all the way up its full height.

Once the new building is complete the new steel-work in the construction workshop will support this wall. Until then, significant temporary engineering works have had to be installed to ensure everything remains intact. This was no easy feat to thread it through the historic fabric without damaging the most important elements of heritage.

  • Empty paint frame (photo Mike Hume)
  • Temporary works in paint frame
Empty paint frame compared to the room full of temporary steelwork (n.b.this photo was taken pre-Covid!)
  • basement of paint frame
  • mid-level of paint frame
Lower levels of the paint frame

Prior to all of this the contractors carried out remedial works to strengthen areas with bad cracking. The mortar was raggled out and steel helifix bars were inserted and cemented back in across the line of the crack. Tell-tales have been installed that show if there is any new movement in the cracks. The glass is attached to one side of the crack and the target behind it to the other side. This means if the crack opens or closes the position of the cross-hairs on the target will change. A vibration monitor was also installed to make sure vibration during demolition is within safe acceptable limits.

  • crack in wall – grey horizontal lines have had strengthening bars installed
  • tell tales show us if there is any movement in the cracks
Paint frame cracks and monitoring

Demolition

Scaffolding was erected to allow safe access to each level of the derelict building externally.

  • scaffolding starting to go up
  • rest of scaffolding in place
Scaffolding around the derelict building

The demolition work had to be carried out with great care and the building was taken down one level at a time. The walls were carefully demolished by hand from the scaffold platform. However, for the concrete slab on each level a demolition robot was employed to mitigate any risk to workers from it collapsing whilst being worked on.

  • top portion of building now gone
  • Brokk demolition robot ready to be craned up
  • just the first floor slab and below remaining
  • remains of the entrance from Cleland Lane
    next to the paint frame fire exit
demolition robot on the first floor slab suspended from the crane

In this video of the demolition you can see how the demolition robot is lifted into position and how it all works.

BROKK demolition robot working on the derelict building

This process carried on until the building was taken right down to the bottom of the basement. Next, the remaining area of slab from underneath the 1990’s metal workshop was removed and the area flattened.

Once this was complete the whole area was leveled and filled with hardcore creating the piling mat ready to start on the foundations of the new build elements.

  • grubbed out basement of derlict building
  • brickwork in need of some remedial work
  • starting to fill with hardcore
area outside paint frame now flattened and filled in ready for the piling mat

What’s next?

Work continues inside the building to prepare the stage area for modification, and in the auditorium we are starting to remove the floors for ventilation to go in. Now that the external demolition is complete work has started on the foundations for the new build elements of the development.

As these continue we will start to see the layout of the new areas of the building taking shape.

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