Weymouth: North Quay council offices finally demolished

Yesterday the final few parts of the main structure were taken down leaving just a very small section of the building on the western side standing.

Opened in 1971 by Princess Anne, the building - the former home of Weymouth & Portland Borough Council - has been part of many people's lives. 

The building was built in the 1960s (Image: Newsquest)

Dominating the skyline along the harbour for so long will mean it may take some adjusting to, but Weymouth will never look the same again. 

READ: Weymouth's residents welcome North Quay demolition

Some people believed the building should have been repurposed, whilst others welcomed its demolition after years of standing derelict following the council's departure in 2017.

Kareen Martin from Weymouth remembers when the office was first built.

She said: "It was quite modern when it was first built, but now it is an eyesore.

"It is good it is going to be demolished, we waited a long time."

However, some people have been left feeling sad it was not repurposed. 

Another resident added: "It's very sad, I don't know why they couldn't reuse the building.

A decision was made though to bring the building down after funding was secured by Dorset Council via a £19.5 million government grant to help redevelop Weymouth. 

Volunteers spent several months unearthing parts of Weymouth's harbour side history (Image: Context One Heritage & Archaeology)

It started with an archaeological dig on the site's car parks that began in September 2023.  

READ: North Quay open day sees people learn about Weymouth's past

A pub damaged during World War Two known as the Weymouth Arms was revealed, along with a find of medieval pottery and a cannonball from the Civil War era.

An open day was held so that residents could come and see what the dig had uncovered before the real work of demolishing the building could start. 

Some of the finds uncovered at the dig included a sandal from the 1950s and coannonballs from the Civil War era (Image: Newsquest)

Stormy weather in October and November meant that the dig was delayed for a couple of weeks, but workers made a start stripping the interior of the building by the beginning of December. 

As Christmas approached, work to bring down the 'main superstructure' started. A meticulous process of bringing the building down floor by floor with a 50ft excavator got underway. 

Workers started stripping the inside of the building floor by floor in early December (Image: Newsquest)Workers stripped out the inside of the building before the main demolition got underway (Image: Newsquest)

After a pause for the festive period, work resumed in the new year, and the demolition started to take shape week after week as the excavators pulled and tore concrete and steel beams from the building. 

As January drew to a close only remnants of the old council building remained, and the view from the harbourside looked completely different.

The demolition started from the corner closest to Town Bridge (Image: Andy Jones)

As January drew to a close the building had almost completely disappeared (Image: Andy Jones)

Work also got under way investigating the damage to the harbour walls as part of the redevelopment of the area before finally the final walls came down and brought upon the end of an era.

Now that the building has been demolished, work can begin on processing the debris which will be recycled and used by Dorset Council for predominantly highways repairs. 

Some of the material will be used to build the temporary car park which will sit on the site from spring.

The council will now be hoping to step up negotiations with developers to create a series of luxury homes and commercial units that will be built in its place. 

Plans for these were previously unveiled in 2021. 

Weymouth mayor, Cllr Kate Wheller hopes the the negotiations and building of the car park will run as smoothly as the demolition. 

She said: “We hope now that the creation of the car park will go on equally smoothly and as quickly as possible negotiations can take place for the development of the site.”

The site at North Quay with just two small buildings remaining on the western side (Image: Tom Lawrence)

It's mainly just rubble that remains at the site now as works will continue to level out the surface.

Residents took up a vantage point on Chapelhay Street to watch the final pieces fall.

John and Alexis Baker, from Weymouth, visited the site on Tuesday.

John and Alexis Baker (Image: Tom Lawrence)

John, 65, said: "I remember coming down and watching the offices being opened.

"It has been an eyesore on Weymouth for years. Why they haven't done this quicker? 

"I would like to see it become something really nice; a bar, a restaurant, nice apartments. Weymouth has a habit of not thinking out of the box."

Alexis said: "It wasn't a good-looking building it was good to see it go.

"It was the wrong place for council premises, it is a prime location right next to the harbour, it never made sense to me."

Lisa Smith, 63, has been taking photographs of North Quay for a foundation degree project.  She used to work for Dorset Council and would regularly visit the building.

She said: "A lot of people have said it was an eye-sore, which it was. But lots of people have memories of this building so although it is a hideous building, for many people there are other things attached to it.

"People have been married here, got their Duke of Edinburgh Award here. It is not just about the building it is about people's memories.

"But of course, people lived here before who are probably pleased to see it go because they were resentful of it being here, there are all kinds of stories related to it."