Taking Down ‘London’s Ugliest Building'

The stark brutalism of Keybridge House, built 1975-78 and regularly named by critics as "London's ugliest building", will make way for the breathtaking new Keybridge development and one acre of landscaped, public open space. This architectural meeting of London’s mansions and Manhattan’s apartment blocks, boasting Britain’s tallest residential brick tower, will be a stunning new landmark on the Vauxhall skyline.

The much-criticised existing structure is a 17-storey high, poured concrete tower accompanied by a five storey building. We’ll be approaching the job with the care and expertise that have made Mount Anvil the UK’s Number 1 company for Health and Safety for the second year running, containing and removing over 21,000 cubic metres of concrete and 1,200 tonnes of other waste (that’s as heavy as eight jumbo jets) from the site while ensuring as little inconvenience to the local area as possible.

It's a tall order, so we're tackling the job in a number of stages.

Firstly, we’ll be erecting sheeted scaffolding to contain any debris. The tower’s 88m high reinforced concrete chimneys make the job trickier than most. Lifting holes will be drilled at regular intervals, before the tower is cut into sections using a specialist saw. The cut sections will then be lifted out of place by crane, one by one, and removed from site. Over 95% of the waste will be recycled.

For the five storey building, the team will start a top-down demolition from roof level, using two machines to remove external and internal walls, one storey at a time, before part-removing the floor. Cranes will lower the machines through the partly removed floor to the level below, where they’ll complete the clearance of the floor above them, before starting the process again on the next storey.

The cranes were installed at the end of August, and by the end of November the five storey building will be completely cleared. The tower will take longer but will be cleared by March 2016.

For more information about Keybridge and finding your new home in the heart of thriving Vauxhall, visit the development page, or search our apartment finder for the latest released homes. Alternatively, to visit to our stylish show apartment contact one of our Sales Consultants on 020 3797 4369 or register your interest online.