FOR better or worse, the town centre is changing.

There is a split on what would work best for the long-running Vineyard Gate development saga.

For many people, restaurants are far too prevalent while others lament the lack of large stores or indeed a covered shopping centre.

Halstead Gazette: Demolition of St James House in Queens Street, Colchester..Machineshammer away at the concrete below them, slowly removing a floor at a time.

But almost everyone is in agreement St James’ House has to go.

You might not know it by that name, but you certainly know the building.

Formerly home to part of the Keddies department store, it has been vacant for many years.

It then became something of a squatting spot for rough sleepers and attracted a great deal of antisocial behaviour.

In recent years, there were calls from some quarters to have it torn down but owners Colchester Council resisted the urge because there were no solid plans for the area’s future.

Halstead Gazette: Demolition of St James House in Queens Street, Colchester..Machineshammer away at the concrete below them, slowly removing a floor at a time.

But with Curzon cinema set to open early next year and Travelodge signing on the dotted line, the time has come for Keddies, as we know it, to be demolished.

Colchester Council has appointed experts Anglian Demolition to carry out the job.

Workers have been on site for some time now but it’s fair to say the “real” work starts now.

Halstead Gazette: Demolition of St James House in Queens Street, Colchester..Machineshammer away at the concrete below them, slowly removing a floor at a time.

But before any of the destructive fun began, one of the key bits of kit is called the Pulveriser, the building was subjected to what is called in the industry, a soft strip.

But there is nothing soft about it.

For months now, workers have been gutting the former store.

Halstead Gazette: Demolition of St James House in Queens Street, Colchester..Cllrs Annie Feltham and Tim Young get to see first hand the works being carried out at the top of the building.

That means stripping out all plumbing, all electrical wiring, all the fixtures and fittings left from the building’s time as a shop, including carpets and stud walls.

That meant when the demolition specialists began work from the top-down in earnest, the building was essentially a shell - albeit an incredibly strong steel-reinforced one.

Halstead Gazette: Demolition of St James House in Queens Street, Colchester..

Rob Eastaff, commercial director of Anglian Demolition, said: “It is actually a pretty straight forward job once the soft strip is completed.

“Once that’s done, we got a crane it, got the machines up and get to work.”

Demolition in real life isn’t quite what the films make it out to be.

There is no swinging wrecking ball and there is no man with his finger on a button.

Instead, the building will be demolished floor by floor and it will take up to six weeks.

So by the time you are doing you Christmas shopping, you will able to see easily Firstsite from Queen Street for the first time.

Iain Kirk, Anglian Demolition commercial manager, added: “Demolition is probably a lot different to what people think.

“For one thing, we’re working in quite a tight, built up area so there are things you can’t do with that.

“If you’ve got a big open space, you would probably look to get a bigger machine in and take a building down from the ground but here, we have a team working on one floor getting it cleared bit by bit then starting again one floor down.

“So people will actually see the building come down bit by bit.”

Once the building is cut to just two storeys, a larger machine will be brought in to finish the job from the ground. Ross Leamon, site supervisor, said: “It is a slog, when you take into account the work which we have to do before we even start the demolition.

“For instance, the surveys told us we probably wouldn’t get too much metal reinforcement but that is what we have come across most, so that takes time.”

Each floor is dismantled in a U shape, which means the strongest part of the building, the middle, often the lift shaft, remains intact until the entire floor is cleared.

Once that is completed, each bit of machinery is lowered onto the next floor down and the work begins again.

When the demolition is completed, there will be a significant gap in the Queen Street landscape.

But not many people will miss it.

Building work on a new Travelodge hotel is due to begin in autumn next year.

It will be the second phase of a £30 million overhaul of the area, which will also include a number of bars and restaurants, a student accommodation block and a so called public boulevard which leads directly to Firstsite - finally.

The development is due to be completed in 2019.

A number of bars and restaurants are believed to have shown an interest in the site but none are confirmed.

The Curzon scheme will include a rooftop terrace bar as well as ground floor bar and at least one restaurant.

The plans have been years in the making but they are finally becoming a reality.