Demolition Gets Underway At Greyfriars

19 April 2014, 06:00

Demolition crews move into Northampton this weekend as work begins to dismantle the town's old bus station.

On Easter Sunday, the two vehicle bridges across Greyfriars Road will be removed as Northampton Borough Council move ahead with the demolition of Greyfriars. 

Whilst the bridges are removed Greyfriars Road will be closed from Wellington Street. 

While a lot has been happening inside the building for over a year, this will be the first major external work to take place. 

To minimise any disruption to traffic the work is taking place on Easter Sunday. The road will close at 8pm on Saturday 19 April, with work being completed ready for the road to reopen at 6am on Monday 21 April morning. 

Councillor David Mackintosh, Leader of Northampton Borough Council said: "A month ago we opened North Gate Bus Station, bringing bus users into a modern facility in the heart of our town centre.  With Greyfriars closed we have had specialists on-site to complete a detailed survey of the building ahead of demolition work.

A key concern for us in this complex demolition project is to keep the town centre moving and avoid any unnecessary disruption, so we are timing this phase of the project over Easter Sunday.

As the demolition work progresses we will finally see the end of a building that has cost people in Northampton £500,000 a year to keep running as we open up the north of the town centre for investment and redevelopment."

Information is being hand delivered to all town centre businesses about the road closures, and a letter is being sent to town centre residents who may be affected.