Market reaches closure

Hughes & Salvidge has hired this Bobcat S550 skid steer from MTS Plant Hire & Sales to carry out work during the demolition of the Castle Market in Sheffield, UK. Constructed on the ruins of Sheffield Castle, which was built in 1270 and destroyed in 1648 by Parliamentarians after the English Civil War, Castle Market was for many years a local landmark dating back to 1928, with later additions being made in the 1960s and 1970s.

The indoor market finally closed in November 2013 to coincide with the opening of Sheffield’s new Moore Market. Demolition work began with careful asbestos removal, followed by soft strip, with the structure now being demolished down to the concrete, with 98% of the waste material being recycled. Some elements of the demolition have had to be carried out by hand with steel plates utilised to protect and preserve the ground under the structure. Hughes & Salvidge will leave the site at slab level so that the ground can be excavated for archaeological purposes in phase two of the project.

It is currently uncertain as to how much of the original castle remains intact under the market structure. However, the local council already has plans to turn the area into a public park that will feature whatever exposed ruins are currently buried beneath the slab level.