Bobcat skid-steer solves small space issue

A Bobcat S550 skid-steer loader from UK-based MTS Plant Hire & Sales is being used to demolish the historic Castle Market in the city of Sheffield in the north of England.

Sited on the ruins of the 13^th-century Sheffield Castle, which was destroyed during the English Civil War, Castle Market was a local landmark for more than 80 years until it closed in 2013.

MTS has worked for a number of years with Hughes & Salvidge Demolition, supplying the company with a range of specialist Bobcat machinery.

The S550 loader from MTS has proved to be a vital piece of equipment for the customer, as it was able to work easily in the confined spaces inside the market to collect debris and rubble.

Demolition work began with careful asbestos removal, followed by a ‘soft strip’, with the superstructure now being demolished down to the concrete, and 98% of the waste material being recycled.

Some elements of the demolition have had to be carried out by hand with steel plates being used to protect and preserve the ground under the structure. Hughes & Salvidge will leave the site at ‘slab level’ so that the ground can be dug up for archaeological purposes in phase two of the project.

The local council already has plans to turn the area into a public park which will feature whatever exposed ruins are currently buried under the site.