A chat with Matt Birch about the Demolition Degree

Last week we brought you the news that the UK’s first ever demolition degree had been announced.

C&D’s very own Matt Birch, trainee demolition engineer, was one of the first people to sign up for the course, which will be officially launched at the University of Wolverhampton in September 2017.

Here we speak to Matt about his journey with C&D so far and to find out what he hopes to achieve from the course.

What made you want to pursue demolition as a career?

It all happened when John Woodward (C&D founder) came to Smestow School in 2014 to do a talk as part of an initiative called ‘Inspiring the Future’. He spoke really passionately about the demolition industry and its use of ground-breaking technology, which I found very interesting.

Feeling inspired, I contacted John a couple of days later to ask if I could do a week’s work experience with C&D. He agreed and following that I returned for a further four week placement in 2015. Then earlier this year, I joined C&D full-time as a trainee demolition engineer.

Why did you want to sign up for the degree?

When I first heard about the degree, it was a very easy decision to put my name forward.

I enjoy learning and I have developed a real thirst for knowledge during my brief time working in the demolition sector and this gives me the ideal opportunity to develop my skills and knowledge even further, not to mention the chance to secure a national qualification in the process.

What impact do you think these developments will have on the sector as a whole?

There is a lack of understanding about the complexity of the industry as a whole, there is a lot more to it than just knocking down buildings and clearing the rubble. No two projects are the same.

Now is an incredibly exciting time to break into the demolition industry. Hopefully the course will go some way towards eliminating the common misconceptions surrounding the sector as well as presenting demolition as a viable alternative to other engineering career choices such as mechanics or architecture.

Will you continue to work at C&D during your studies?

Yes. The degree is going to have a big emphasis on working in industry, so the hands-on experience will only benefit my studies.

Work experience pays off for Matt Birch

Regular readers of this site will know that this time last year Matt Birch came to C&D for work experience having heard about demolition via a school talk that John gave at Smestow School.

Well since that experience Matt has kept in touch with John and Mike and C&D and we are delighted to say that Matt has joined us for 4 weeks this time during his school holiday.

Matt will get more involved in the day-to-day work of C&D this time around and he is already working away revamping some of the company paperwork.

As he is a permanent feature of C&D for a while he needed his C&D email address so if anyone wants to ask Matt what life is like at C&D you can do so via mattb@demolishdismantle.co.uk.

Matt Birch Work Experience Blog Entry #5

Better late than never, here's the final entry in Matt's work experience blog:

Today John and I went to Coleman and Co so John could do a few asbestos awareness training sessions. I was given the grand tour of the facility by James Howard whom I met earlier in the week. He went into detail of how the material waste gets processed and recycled into widely used aggregate and other materials that can be used, such as sand and dirt matter. The tour included a detailed guide of the machinery used to process the waste materials from the sites.

After the tour, I went to the training that John was leading meaning that I have a qualification in asbestos awareness! John and I are now discussing my future in the company and I will be returning over the summer for more work and I might be getting a part time job. The main role would include standardising the company's documents and indexing them as well as typing up all the information that is only in hard copy form.

I've had a great experience and can't wait to come back.

Matt Birch Work Experience Blog Entry #4

As all students find, working a full-time job 5 days a week turns out to be very tiring:

After a beautiful night complete with the soundtrack of car alarms, Les and I met up at 7am for a coffee before going on site in Warrington for the day. I was given the grand tour by Brent and shown all the ins and outs of the job.

I was also involved with a series of meetings with a client. Naturally the one day I'm on site it tips it down. Finally got home after a long busy 2 days and I can here my bed calling me. Just need to get ready for the 6am wake up to be gone for 8am so I can finish my week with a bang.

Matt Birch Work Experience Blog Entry #3

Day 3 is over and Matt is suitably shattered, but also loving every minute of his work experience week:

Spent the day moving all over the place. First I was in the office with John doing the usual office tasks such as sorting the certificates for the training courses. After that was a meeting with Margret discussing the finances and how the company should look at taking and sorting payments in the future.

After a quick cheese sandwich there was a trip down the road to Coleman's for a meeting with James Howard regarding some work with them. I then managed to get enough time for a cup of tea before traveling over to Chester with Les for a 5 star luxury night in a Days Inn at a service station on the motorway! Safe to say that I am shattered but loving it all at the same time!

Matt Birch Work Experience Blog Entry #2

The next entry on Matt's blog sees him kept extremely busy helping to improve C&D:

Today I spent the day working at home on projects/work the company have given me to complete. I was tasked with creating my own review of the company's website and to give a comparison to what other reviewers thought.

I was also given the job to create a new layout/format for a minutes document for use in meetings. I have also had a read through of some more health and safety, and methodology documents for use on site, ensuring that the information has sank in.

Matt Birch Work Experience Blog Entry #1

As mentioned last week, this week Matt Birch will be part of the C&D team shadowing John, attending meetings with Margaret, visiting site with Les and auditing with Roland & Craig so that he gets a real feel of life in a demolition consultancy. One of Matt's jobs this week will be to write his own blog posts on this site detailing what he has been doing, here's the first entry:

Just finished my first day with C&D. Today was all office based tasks including reading on site documents to get a proper look into what it is like to work in the industry. Due to C&D being a private business, we have to do all the usual office jobs ourselves so I spent part of the morning sorting out certificates for courses which members of other companies have sat through. I have also been taught about business financing regarding bank transactions.

Perhaps the most important part of today was the reading of the site material. This included the methodology document for the demolition to be undertaken which included COSHH, Health and Safety reports and Site Audits. This means that when I go out on site later on in the week I can better appreciate and understand what is going on, why certain things are happening and the method in which the workers are operating as well as being able to spot health and safety risks which I may not have seen before.

Check back tomorrow for the next entry!