Birmingham's Paradise Forum closes this week for Central Library demolition

Residents and regular visitors to Birmingham city centre will be well aware of the Central Library and Paradise Forum that runs at ground level through it. Once a small, but bustling retail area as well as a convenient route for pedestrians, the Forum will finally be closed off on November 1st. This is to allow demolition of the Central Library building to get under way.

As a consequence, a new route has been created for pedestrians and bike riders wishing to travel between New Street and the Broad Street areas of the city. This route takes you behind the Birmingham Conservatoire and through Fletchers Walk. Road traffic will also be affected, with a new route being used from November 15th so as to cut out the area where demolition work is occurring.

The image below shows the new route in blue. The yellow and black roadways will be closed off.


Source: Birmingham Post

The ATV Centre on Broad Street in Birmingham is no more

If you remember watching Crossroads, Bullseye, Blockbusters, Tiswas on a Saturday morning, or enjoyed Central News, then you have Central Studios in the ATV Centre on Broad Street in Birmingham to thank for those productions. However, after two decades of closure, the building is no more. C&D customer DSM has now removed an iconic part of Midlands TV history.

At the time of its opening in 1970, the ATV Centre was the most advanced TV production studio in Europe. Oh how things have changed.

Source: Express & Star

C&D customer DSM Demolition bring the house down in Hockley

C&D customer DSM Demolition have successfully carried out the explosive demolition of a tower block in Hockley, Birmingham, which you can watch above.

The Hockley block is the first of eight blocks within the Birmingham area marked for demolition as part of a £26 million Birmingham City Council programme. The reason for the removal of the blocks is one of efficiency. Council Housing is removing properties that would otherwise require a large amount of investment in the near future. It also frees up the land for redevelopment and the creation of new housing stock.

For more information and images of the Hockley block demolition please visit the Birmingham Updates website.

We've collaborated on a new Health & Safety for Directors and Senior Managers course

C&D Consultancy are proud to announce a collaboration with the British Safety Council for a new Health & Safety for Directors and Senior Managers course. You can read full details about the course over at our sister training site.

The training course will run in Birmingham on Wednesday 15th October 2014 at Crowne Plaza Birmingham City Centre, Central Square, Birmingham, B1 1HH, at a cost of £295.00 plus VAT per attendee.

IIRSM to run 3 more free CDM Consultation events this month

The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management has seen huge demand for its free CDM Consultation events when they were run in London, so we are pleased to pass on news that three more such events will be running this month. Better still, IIRSM has expanded their reach, targeting Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh.

The date and location of each event is given below:

Birmingham:
Friday 23rd May 2014 at Maple House, 150 Corporation Street, Birmingham B4 6TB (Morning Session)

Manchester:
Tuesday 27th May 2014 at Thistle Hotel, The Portland, 3-5 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 6DP (Afternoon Session)

Edinburgh:
Wednesday 28th May 2014 at Surgeons' Hall, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DW (Morning Session)

IIRSM's new Director of Membership and Business Development, Greg Brown will be doing the talking at each event, with the main focus being on the HSE's Consultation Document (CD261).

If you would like to attend then please email IIRSM using this address: perminder.dhillon@iirsm.org. Places are limited so please book your place as quickly as possible.

Director's Role for Health & Safety in Conjunction with Webbs Training

Construction Skills is set to run a new course aimed at Company Directors called Director's Role for Health & Safety.

The course will provide a summary of how to promote a positive organisational culture for health & safety. Workshop exercises throughout the day will give delegates the opportunity to discuss their thoughts about health & safety in an open forum. The day concludes with delegates preparing an action plan for use when they return to the workplace. This will include a check list to utilise within their organisations that will help to ensure compliance with legislation.

• Accountability of Directors
• HASWA 74
• Turnbull Report
• Criminal Offences Act
• Corporate Homicide & Manslaughter Act
• Achieving Best Practice
• Managing Health & Safety
• Outlines of specific regulations
• CDM Regulations
• Putting people to work safely

Course assessment is through multiple choice questions given at the end, but participation during the course is also expected.

If you are interested in attending the cost will be £165 + VAT with the following days available in Birmingham:

• 03/03/2014
• 02/04/2014
• 02/05/2014
• 28/05/2014

For further information get in touch with Construction Skills directly.

Institute of Construction Management Southern Region Newsletter available to read online

The latest newletters from the ICM covering the Southern Region has been made available to download and read in PDF form. You can get it by clicking on the link below.

The newsletter covers the following topics:

• Forthcoming meetings and lectures
• National viewpoint summer 2013 edition
• Birmingham's new public library
• HSE site traffic management controls
• Rebuilding of the Broadmoor high-security mental hospital in Berkshire

Download the Institute of Construction Management Southern Region Newsletter

C&D Customer City Demolition (Birmingham) Limited produce a great new video

Here at C&D we love videos to do with demolition of any sort so we were pleased to see today that one of our customers in Birmingham, City Demolition, have produced a new corporate video showing their team in action on a number of sites around the city.

The video shows them at work, carrying out site inductions, removing asbestos and recycling arisings.

Why not take 5 minutes out of your day and take a look at the video:


Why not also follow them on Twitter at @CITYDEMOLITION

Mock Employment Tribunal in Birmingham on September 24th

On September 24th Acas and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors are running a special Mock Employment Tribunal event in central Birmingham. It will recreate what actually happens during an employment tribunal and should be very informative for all who attend.

From the announcement:

"Irwin Mitchell will field a team of expert employment lawyers who bring much experience of dealing with Employment Tribunal claims, and attendees will be able to put questions to the solicitors involved during the course of the event.

This event has been developed to help employers improve their understanding of the system and processes involved. It will also show how decisions are made.

Those who would benefit from attending:

Anyone with staff management responsibilities, particularly those involved in disciplinary matters, including HR specialists, line managers, owner managers, TU officials and lay representatives and those involved in representing staff at formal hearings."

To register to attend you can either phone 08457 383736 or visit the ACAS website for more details.

Free Stimulating BIM Seminar this Wednesday

This Wednesday, September 11th, a free Stimulating BIM Seminar is being held at Millenium Point in Birmingham.

This is actually the third seminar in a series given by David Boyd, Professor of Construction and Director of the Centre for Research in the Environment and Society in the Birmingham School of the Built Environment at Birmingham City University. Below is the description of the seminar in full:

Supply chain management in construction has mostly been limited to client partnering and reduced sub-contractor lists. BIM opens the opportunity for interchange and coordination of information amongst sub-contractors in order to achieve more efficient building production approaches. By working on the flow of work for each party with good operative access and with the correct materials then every trade can manage their work better and so remove costs and reduce job times. This seminar will consider how the supply chain needs to be developed and how new procurement arrangements need to be devised to realise this. BIM allows subcontractors to be involved in production planning and even the design process. The knowledge of sub-contractors is key and this elevates their position giving them greater responsibility and authority. New skills need to be developed and the role of main contractor moves to a coordinator rather than a manager of subcontracts.

If you would like to attend for free then simply register your place via the Eventbrite page.

Free Stimulating BIM Seminar Series

A series of free Stimulating BIM Seminar Series are set to be held at Millennium Point, Birmingham in the coming weeks and months. All seminars will involve a 30 minute presentation followed by an expert panel discussion and interaction with the audience, and it is hoped both consultants and contractors will attend.

Here's a description of what the seminars cover:

BIM allows us to look at costs of buildings differently. This will challenge past approaches to bills of quantity, tendering and production payments. This seminar will explore the significance of these developments for design and construction processes, roles and client interaction. Current approaches to costing have arisen from the construction clients’ desire to control costs. It is possible to use different principles of costing and aligned these with different task in the construction process. This can also acknowledge how costs are used and even viewed differently by different parties in construction. The seminar will consider the new skills of the 5D quantity surveyor and how BIM can be used more effectively for decision making.

The seminars are planned for 10th July, 11th September and 30th November 2013, at 5.30pm for 6pm to 7pm respectively. The person giving the seminars is David Boyd, Professor of Construction and Director of the Centre for Research in the Environment and Society in the Birmingham School of the Built Environment at Birmingham City University.

If you;re interested in attending then please sign up at the associated Eventbrite page.

Demo Expo visitor numbers continue to grow

The first UK Demo Expo jointly arranged by the IDE and the NFDC has seen ticket sales increase over the last few days as the industry realises that this is THE SHOW to go to and be seen at.

With a full seminar programme on the Friday, for which tickets are needed priced at £50.00 each (available from the NFDC) and a FREE plant show on both Friday 28th and Saturday 29th June the show is proving to be very popular.

Both days have been designed to be children friendly with rides, face painting, ice creams and competitions. Parking is FREE, the shuttle bus from Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International Station is FREE and all the rides are, you've guessed it -FREE!

If you haven't put the dates in your diary yet then do so NOW and get yourselves down to Demo Expo 2013 or you will regret it, as where else can you see BIG MACHINES, attachments, ride in a dump truck on an off-road course, buy some new workwear, eat ice cream and talk about all things demolition?

Groundbreaking Demolition Exhibition comes to Birmingham

The IDE and NFDC have, for the last few years, held exhibtions around the UK to promote the skills that we have in demolition and the diverse techniques available. Whilst each organisation's events have been successful and supported by the other organisation there has never been a joint event to showcase all skills in one place - until NOW!

The IDE and NFDC have now joined forces to present the Demo -Expo in Birmingham on 28th and 29th June 2013. This new event will be held at the premises of Armac Group at Bickenhill, near to Birmingham Airport, Birmingham International mainline station and the M42 motorway so the venue could not be easier to get to.

The event is split into 2 distinct days to give you the choice of CPD related presentations on the Friday and a fun day with the children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces etc on the Saturday.

The Friday, 28th June, will be opened and closed by the NFDC President William Sinclair and IDE President Steve Jack will be one of the speakers on the day. The day will involve presentations in the main marquee on demolition related topics such as current HSE issues, bridge demolition and explosive demolition coupled with external display areas with free awareness training on quickhitch, hot works and other related topics along with plant displays from Leibherr, Volvo and others. Tickets for the Friday are priced at £50.00 per head if you want to attend the seminar, the plant show is free. Saturday is a free admission day and what a day Saturday 29th June will be!!!

We have the actual CAT machine from the James Bond movie Skyfall, dump trucks for test and passenger rides, the 22RB driver challenge, (if you are a driver of a 22RB then come and test yourself against other demolition drivers to see if you can win the 22RB challenge), bouncy castle, face painting, free food, free ice creams, free parking as well (including ring and ride). In fact they do not intend to charge you a penny to attend so why not put the dates into your Google calendar or your diary and get down to DEMO - EXPO 2013 as you know that you want to.

If anyone reading this is considering carrying out demolition in the future as a client then the NFDC are offering special rates for your seminar tickets. Please contact info@demolition-nfdc.com and they will advise.

If you are interested in demolition then this is a must attend event so we will see you there!

(Click the flyer below to see it full size)

Timelapse of Birmingham's Pallasades Shopping Centre car park demolition

Birmingham's Pallasades Shopping Centre and New Street Station are currently undergoing a major renovation. Part of that effort saw the removal of the Pallasades car park, which was also captured on video and turned into a timelapse.

Unfortunately ITV News has restricted the embedding of that video, but you can watch it via the link provided below:

Watch the video now at ITV News

Collection at the funeral of John Woodward Snr goes to help Q E Hospital, Birmingham

The funeral of John Woodward Snr on 20th March was well attended by family, friends and demolition buddies, all of whom contributed towards the retiring collection in aid of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham where John Snr spent the last months of his life.

We are very pleased to report that the collection raised £700 in total that has been sent to the QE for use on the ward where John Snr was treated.

On behalf of my Mother and I, may I say a big Thank You to all, as this sum will be invaluable to the ward to help them continue the excellent care that they give to patients from the Midlands and returning Armed Forces personnel wounded in Afghanistan.

Demo/Abo Awareness training course February 16th

We have arranged a further NDTG Demolition/Asbestos Awareness course on a Saturday in Birmingham on 16 February 2013.

Full details of the course and how to book your place can be found on our training website.

Calling all NFDC companies, why not apply for this tender in Birmingham

If work is slack at the moment here is a good opportunity to apply for a nice sized contract in Birmingham for HCA via WYG.

Here's the general description:

"The Homes and Communities Agency wish to appoint a Contractor for the demolition of Aston Arena, Birmingham. The work includes; enabling works to create site access, asbestos removal and disposal, erection of protective scaffolding, demolition and removal of buildings."

For further details please visit:
http://www.government-online.net/demolition-works-at-aston-arena-birmingham/

Aluminium in Building Conference 2012 cancelled

On June 4th we reported that John had been asked to speak at the Aluminium in Building Conference 2012 at the ThinkTank in Birmingham on 19th September 2012.

Today we are sorry to advise you that, owing to the current economic climate within the UK, the conference has now been cancelled.

It is a great disappiontment as John was looking forward to attending the interesting event as it would have been a departure from his normal demolition related presentations.

John Woodward to talk Scrap

John has been asked to deliver a presentation on scrap recycling in demolition at the “Aluminium in Building Conference 2012” at Thinktank, Birmingham on the 19th & 20th September 2012.

The conference will discuss how aluminium can contribute to building a sustainable future because it is so easily recycled and can be done so many times during its lifetime.

John’s talk entitled:

Aluminium - I really wish it was a heavier metal! (Recycling of metals from demolition projects).

Will take place on Wednesday, 19th September during the afternoon session so we hope to see you there.

Full details of the event can be found at:- www.alfed.org.uk/conference2012

C&D announce new Fire Marshall and Fire Safety Manager training dates for 2012

New dates have been added for the Fire Marshall and Fire Safety Manager courses. Both courses take place on the same day starting with Fire Marshall that is a half day course up to lunch and then the afternoon course added to the Fire Marshall course takes the candidate up to Fire Safety Manager level.

Dates and venues include:

Coventry. Ibis Hotel, CV3 4LF
03/01/2012 and 20/03/2012

Leicester, Mercure Hotel LE1 6ES
04/01/2012 and 21/03/2012

Wolverhampton, Park Hall Hotel, WV 4 5AJ
17/01/2012 and 03/04/2012

Birmingham, Ibis Hotel, B5 4S
18/01/2012 and 04/04/2012

Rates are:

Fire Marshall £100 plus VAT
Fire Safety Manager £200 plus VAT

For bookings contact Jill at jill@demolishdismantle.co.uk