Work to demolish a building that was described by architects in 2016 as "in danger of sudden and uncontrolled collapse" is due to restart in the next few weeks.

The building, 8-10 Webber Street in Falmouth, was left structurally unsound after tenants attempted to remove a main structural wall without the owner's permission, which resulted in a partial collapse in 2015.

In April 2017, Cornwall Council gave the owner planning permission to demolish the building.

Work was due to start in December of that year, but the government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) intervened.

An HSE spokesperson told the Packet: "Work on site was stopped due to serious health and safety concerns having been identified."

A statement from CSA Architects submitted to the council in October 2016 stated: "Structural spine walls are unstable and buildings, which are located immediately adjacent to towncenter [sic] footpath and public highway are in danger of sudden and uncontrolled collapse. Demolition is required ASAP to safeguard the public."

The statement went on to outline the different possible methods of demolishing the building and the difficulty involved in each of them.

Possible methods included: lifting an eight-tonne excavator over the building from Webber Street and into the back garden to demolish it from the rear, doing a "forced collapse" with a demolition ball or demolishing number eight Webber Street first in order to access the rear of the other buildings.

Neither the HSE or CSA Architects would provide more details about why the demolition was halted other than to cite health and safety concerns.

An HSE spokesperson has confirmed that "work is due to restart on the site within the next few weeks" more than two years after it was found to be in danger of sudden collapse.

Richard Gates, Falmouth's town manager, said: "We are keen to see this improve and progress as soon as possible as it does not give a good impression to the town. You then have adjacent properties that it impacts in a negative way so the sooner works restart on this site the better."

The building's owner will need to complete the demolition before planning permission expires in April 2020 or else permission will have to be sought again.