Construction News Specialist Awards Winners announced

It is unusual to be asked to attend a black tie awards event in London on a Tuesday night but that is exactly what happened last week with John & Jill atttending the Construction News Specialist Awards at the Hilton Park Lane. John was invited to attend as he was one of the judges of the Demolition Specialist category.

The awards ceremony was excellent and saw NFDC companies win awards in a number of categories:-

• Demolition - Winner Erith with Safedem and Cantillon highly recommended
• Safety - Winner Cantillon
• Construction News special award - Winner Cantillon
• Business Growth - Winner Hughes & Salvidge

Photos of the event can be viewed on Flickr. The full list of winners is available on the Construction News website, but we want to go into a little more detail for our readers as to which demolition companies came away with a trophy on the night.


Business growth was won by NFDC member company Hughes & Salvidge following a 96.5% increase in turnover for 2011/12 pushing that turnover up to £25.7 million. Their diversification into new markets was the key to this growth and they fully deserved their trophy.

Health & Safety Excellence saw Cantillon win following its record of Zero RIDDOR accidents since 2006 achieved by working 1,336,865 hours without a RIDDOR accident. The company motto "demolition and safety hand in hand" is clearly demonstrated by Cantillon.

CN Special Award was also won by Cantillon with the judges noting that "Continued business growth, an impeccable safety record, sound environmental credentials and strong leadership" were the qualities demonstrated to win the award.

Demolition (John was one of the judges in this category) saw Cantillon receive a Highly Commended scroll, following a first class interview, and Safedem win Highly Commended for the text book blowdown of Red Road Phase 1. However the big award went to join many others in the now bulging trophy cabinet of Erith Contractors who won because of their "Consistent high level of expertise in all areas" and the judges felt that "The company demonstrated some exceptional strengths in developing a culture of workforce empowerment and driving business growth in all areas".

The event was a great success all round and we were particularly impressed with the "Guestbook" available when we entered the room and the fact that the "Winners Supplement" was in our hands as we left the room at the end.

We look forward to next year and hope that Construction News editor Rebecca Evans asks John to be a judge for 2014.