Where did all the demolition go?

How retrofit stole London’s office development from under demolition’s nose.

A look across the skyline of the UK capital has long provided an accurate snapshot of the status of the London construction and demolition sector; the tower crane jibs and booms like the spikes on an ECG machine confirming that the heart is beating strongly.

For demolition watchers, those tower cranes were a welcome tell-tale sign because they either meant a top-down demolition was underway or that a demolition crew had successfully cleared the way for the construction to follow.

Suddenly, however, that once unwavering indicator can no longer be relied upon.   In fact, it is possible that those crane jibs are perpetuating a lie; a lie that demolition apparently believes.

The capital’s skyline is currently and reassuringly awash with tower cranes.   To the untrained eye, all should be well in the London demolition business.   But it is not.   In fact, according to a new survey from Deloitte, the demolition industry finds itself cast as The Three Bears while an interloper is breaking its chairs, eating its porridge and sleeping in its bed.   And that Goldilocks interloper is the refurbishment sector.

According to the Deloitte Office Crane Survey, there is a record 5.1 million square feet of new office space under construction.   This is the highest volume of new starts since the Crane Survey was extended in Summer 2005, and it is 16 percent higher than the volume recorded in the last survey.

From a purely construction perspective, happy days you might think.   But the demolition industry needs to read more closely.