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Dover's Burlington House will be dismantled floor by floor to minimise disruption to the community.
Dover District Council and its developers Bond City has commissioned DDS Demolition to demolish the building after it takes ownership of the last 5% of the land next month.
Due to the proximity of Burlington House to Townwall Street and local services the building will be encapsulated with scaffolding.
This will minimise the impact to the community and motorists using the A20 towards Dover's Eastern Docks.
It will be demolished floor-by-floor using a top-down method.
Demolition of Burlington House is expected to be complete this winter so that construction of the main retail block on Townwall Street can start in early Spring 2016.
Construction of the hotel and cinema will start this autumn.
East Kent based DDS Demolition, established in 1977, are professionals in working in sensitive, live traffic environments and are currently working on the demolition of buildings in Dover’s Eastern Docks.
Jay Preece, operations manager for DDS Demolition said: “We’re delighted to be working on this project.
"We’ll be working closely with Bond City and Dover District Council to ensure that we minimise disruption to the local community during the demolition.”
The multi-storey car park will be the first building to go to create more space for the processing of materials from the demolition of Burlington House.
Waste streams will be processed on-site with as much as possible recycled for use in the construction of the St James’s retail and leisure development.
Waste leaving the site will be handled by TW Services, with the aim of achieving ‘zero to landfill’ through recycling and recovery.
Clive Lynton of developers, Bond City, said: “We’re delighted to be working with DDS Demolition to rid the town of its most unloved building, and to starting work on the construction of the new retail and leisure facilities that will revive Dover’s town centre.”
Cllr Paul Watkins, leader of DDC, said: “We know that everyone will be glad to see the back of Burlington House.
"It will restore the vista of Dover’s historic castle from this part of the town, and is highly symbolic of a new, positive future of growth and opportunity for Dover.”