Contractor chosen for Reading Civic Centre demolition

Reading Borough Council have privately selected a contractor who will now be tasked with demolishing the old Civic Centre, but only after asbestos had been removed from the site. The council believe this could take some time, suggesting there's quite a lot of it used within the building.

The land the Civic Centre is constructed on is owned by the council, but they want a developer to come in and redevelop the land. Until that can be sorted out an urban park will be created for local residence to take advantage of.

Source: Getreading and image by Stephen Richards.

IDE Council elections are looming

This year sees changes at the top of the IDE with Duncan Rudall taking over the President's jewel from Steve Jack and five places on the Council available in the election.

The nomination process is now complete and all members will soon receive their voting papers via email along with full biographies of those standing for election.

The voting papers will indicate that you have UP TO 5 votes to use on your selections and I would urge you all to vote and to think carefully as to how you use those votes. If, for example, you really like three candidates then just vote for those three as if you cast your "spare" votes for others who are not your preferred choices then you could, inadvertently, end up voting candidates in to office who were not your preferred choice. As in effect using all of your five votes "dilutes" the election process.

Please remember that the IDE is an organisation for Individual Demolition Engineers and not company organisations and that the core membership is individuals working within our industry. During my time on the Council and during my Presidency I tried to make the IDE an institute for the people, please vote for individuals who want it to remain that way and who have the best interests of the IDE and it's core members in mind.

This election is crucial for the future of the IDE following the last two years of consolidation so please vote wisely and, please vote Woodward.

C&D customer Total Reclaims Demolition creates new jobs

We are very pleased to report that C&D customer Total Reclaims Demolition is creating new jobs to deal with additional business in Nottingham.

Business is so good that the demolition contractor has taken on over 30 new staff to cope with demand. The main reason for this expansion is a new contract that sees Total working on a council regeneration programme.

You can read the full story over at the Nottingham Post.

Demolition of Mansfield General Hospital to cost an extra £360,000

The demolition of Mansfield General Hospital has been awarded to CMEC Demolition, but it is going to cost £940,000 rather than the initially expected £580,000 -- a £360,000 increase. The reason? Asbestos and trespassers.

Apparently more asbestos has been found on the site than was first thought. If that wasn't enough of a problem, trespassers have disturbed it, taking the cost of removing it and making the location safe up even further. CMEC will spend 6 months demolishing the buildings, including one dating back to 1900, but which has remained unoccupied and unmaintained for over two decades.

Although there are no concrete plans in place for the plot once cleared, it will mean an eye sore has been removed and there are a number of development projects being put forward. Let's hope whichever is accepted earns the council back the extra money it cost to clear up the site.

Source: Chad