Permission has been granted to begin the painstaking brick-by-brick demolition for an illegally-built block of flats in Kettering town centre’s Job’s Yard.

The dangerous six-storey apartment building was constructed by Marcus Fielding, sole director and sole employee of company Michigan Construction Ltd.

Mr Fielding had claimed the planning permission-breaking Kettering six-storey apartment block was safe and built to building regulations.

Kettering 'pack of cards' builder found guilty of health and safety breaches tha...

But in November 2023, High Court judge Her Honour Judge Sarah Watson determined the evidence showed the building was so dangerous she ordered it to be demolished.

North Northants Council’s (NNC) contractors will start the demolition process nearly three years to the day after the original court order was given.

The proposed demolition works application describes the Job’s Yard site as a ‘newly-constructed five plus storey block of flats’ and explains the demolition needs to take place because ‘High Court order to demolish building as classed dangerous’.

Due to the poor construction of the building and its proximity to neighbouring properties, the top three floors will be removed using hand-held tools in sections, one floor at a time, with the remaining storeys demolished by machine.

Restoration of the site will see the building taken down to ‘slab level’ and the site left free. All the building materials will be taken to a licensed waste disposal centre.

NNC had to apply to itself, as the local planning authority, to ascertain if it could demolish the building under permitted development rights or if it needed to seek full planning permission.

The council decided that it does not need permission to demolish and so it can go ahead.

A prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive over allegations that Mr Fielding failed to take steps to prevent danger to the public through the potential collapse of an unstable building – Job’s Yard – and its potential structural collapse.

Chartered structural engineer and expert witness David Smith told the court the whole building was so unsafe it risked collapse at any time, saying it was like a ‘pack of cards’.

Mr Fielding had been resistant to moving out of the block of flats that he had been told he would have to demolish by the end of February 2024.

The builder has yet to appear in court to be sentenced.