Work starts on new football stadium

Workers from Ron Hull Demo to begin clearing the old Gloystarne

warehouse from the site.

The company's chairman, Ron Hull, said: "As a Millers fan myself, I know just how pleased everyone will be that preparation work is starting to happen on the ground.

"The building we're taking down in this first phase of the project is a 90,000sq ft steel frame warehouse that has recently been used for the storage of surplus flatpack furniture.

"The demolition and clearance of the building is scheduled to take four to five weeks."

The chairman of Rotherham United, Tony Stewart, said the club is hoping to move into its new ground in the next two years.

He added: "Now we have commenced the process of demolition I think it will show the people of Rotherham that the progress that is being made on the new stadium is gathering pace, so much so that it is now visible for all to see.

"The demolition process is a huge operation, but when the site is cleared it will give us the platform to ensure we have the best facilities possible for when we move into our new stadium in 2012."

Stuart Senior, the managing partner of Gleeds Nottingham, which is project managing the scheme, admitted there were particular challenges being faced in building the new football ground.

He said: "Being located in the town centre, the site is bounded by a railway line and the River Don, making access to the site and public safety one of our top concerns.

"To manage this issue, we have assembled a project team who are specialists at dealing with such challenges and it is really encouraging to see that progress is now being made with the demolition."

Ron Hull Demolition's commercial director, David Wall, confirmed that an in-house specialist team had removed a "small amount" of asbestos material from the building and the structure has been prepared for the start of the demolition.

He said: "The project is pretty straightforward from our point of view, although we are having to close a section of the river path for a time while the demolition is taking place, purely for safety reasons.

"The path will be re-opened as soon it is safe to do so."

Almost everything recovered from the site will be recycled.