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Council refuses to give demolition finish date

Paul MoseleyNorfolk political reporter
Paul Moseley/BBC Lucy Galvin is looking at the camera. She has long brown hair and glasses and is wearing a blue fabric coat. She is standing in front of Norwich City Hall, which is out of focus in the background.Paul Moseley/BBC
Council leader Lucy Galvin said she could not say when demolition work on Anglia Square would be finished

A council leader has refused to set a date for when the demolition of a former shopping centre will be completed.

More than a thousand homes will be built on the site of Anglia Square in Norwich, where demolition work was due to be finished by the end of May.

But Norwich City Council said it was held up after asbestos was discovered in one building, while nesting gulls have been found on another part of the site.

The council's Green leader, Lucy Galvin, said "it would be wrong to put a date" on when work would be finished and insisted safe clearance of the site was the priority.

Owen Sennitt/BBC A grey Brutalist office block from the late 1960s can be seen with hoardings surrounding it on a grey day Owen Sennitt/BBC
The former government building Sovereign House still needs to be demolished

Built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Anglia Square and nearby buildings were bought by the council for £5.6m at the end of 2024.

Demolition work on the 11-acre site began last November, and the then Labour-run authority said it expected it to be clear by the end of this spring.

Several shops, a multi-storey car park and a cinema have been bulldozed.

However, a number of significant buildings, like the seven-storey Sovereign House offices, still remain standing.

Asked by BBC Radio Norfolk when demolition would be complete, Galvin said "with the safety-first approach we're taking, it would be wrong to put a date on that".

"We're flexible on that because we want to do it properly," she added.

The council leader, whose party took control of Norwich after last month's local elections, said she was "highly cognisant" that nearby residents and businesses were being affected by the work.

Paul Moseley/BBC A yellow and black digger on caterpillar tracks is positioned in front of a concrete and glass low-rise building, which has ANGLIA SQUARE in red letters, with a shop underneath it. The SQUARE section has partially detached and is hanging loose from the wall. There are taller buildings to the right of the heavy plant.Paul Moseley/BBC
Work demolishing the existing buildings was due to be completed by the end of spring

In April, the council dismissed concerns that hazardous asbestos had been found in the site's former cinema, but said it had now been found in the former QD shop.

The council said that had delayed demolition work, along with the discovery of nesting gulls on Pitt Street.

Galvin insisted she was "confident work was proceeding at pace", with demolition of a former bridge link connecting St Crispin's Road flyover set to begin on Thursday.

When the site is cleared, 1,100 homes – mostly flats – are due to be built, along with retail and leisure spaces.

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