Demolition engineering; Battersea gas holders free lecture tomorrow

Tomorrow the ICE is holding a free lecture at Coventry University. The speaker is Andre Jaarson, Design Engineer at demolition firm, Coleman & Company.

This is the gas holder demolition featured in the BBC Two television series: "Demolition – The Wrecking Crew". Andre will talk about the constraints surrounding the site, the engineering behind the innovative techniques and physicality's of cold cutting the gas holder down.

To attend, please book online.

Coleman & Company start work on massive Wednesbury gas holders dismantling

If you've travelled along the M6 past Junction 9 (Wednesbury) then you can't fail to notice the massive gas holders at the side of the road. Now those structures are set to disappear as they have become redundant.

The work is being carried out by C&D customer Coleman & Company. Once removed, the 20 acres of land will will be managed as a Black Country enterprise zone, creating hundreds of new jobs and regenerating the area through business development (with a focus on manufacturing). You can see the size of the development area in the image above.



Over 90% of the first gas holder has already been dismantled, with work on the second expected to get underway shortly. A few weeks from now, both holders will have been completely removed from the site.

Source: Express & Star and Invest Black Country

Coleman & Company Hot Works and Oxy-Propane Cutting Courses at Didcot

C&D are delighted to have been appointed as the approved trainers for hot works and oxy-propane cutting techniques for Coleman & Company at Didcot Power Station and have delivered four courses at the site over the last three months.


The C&D course covers all aspects of hot works and oxy-propane cutting including full demonstrations and practical tests of cutting techniques and the issues that can arise when cutting old tanks and vessels on site.

The course includes a classroom element to the day as well as full on site practical work and has been very well received by Coleman staff.

We have 155 images of the training in action. You can see them all by viewing the gallery.

Coleman & Co order a further 100 days of training

Over at our sister site Demolition Training we have details of how Coleman & Co has placed an order for over 100 days of new training. That will take the total well over 300 days on a range of subjects including Work at Height, Harness Use, Traffic Marshall, Hot Works, CAT B asbestos and DOSA.

Read the full story over at the Demolition Training website.

The One Show features Didcot Power Station

The One Show last week included a section on Didcot Power Station, which has been closed since March 2013 when decomissioning commenced. C&D customer Coleman & Co have been working on the site, and you may remember the southern cooling towers were demolished on July 27th.


You can watch the episode of The One Show including details of Didcot by following the link below. Please be aware that you may not be able to watch the video depending on your location. The BBC typically limits such broadcasts to the UK only.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04httcf/the-one-show-29092014

Coleman & Company purchase 4 more JCB skid steers

Coleman & Company has invested in five JCB skid steers after initially only asking for one. That first JCB 135 model proved so useful, they ordered four more consisting of three more JCB 135 as well as a single JCB 155. The sites you can find them working at include Didcot Power Station, St David’s Shopping Centre in Swansea, and Birmingham New Street Railway Station.

Malcolm Hurst, Contract Support Manager, commented:

"The JCB skid steer models have a number of positive safety features that impressed us. These include far better all round visibility and safer access to the cab which in turn allows a demolition guard to be fitted at the front of the cab. This is something unique to JCB’s design, it is very different to any other skid steer on the market.

We are also very impressed with the build quality along with the flexibility of the JCB skid steers. Given the complex, technically challenging and high-risk nature of the work Coleman & Company undertakes, we felt JCB was best placed to meet our needs. The machines have excelled in these conditions and the support we receive from our dealer Gunn JCB is superb. We are also proud to support a fellow Midlands and UK-based firm."

Coleman even went a step further and requested the safety of the skid steers be enhanced. The models they received include an alarm that is triggered if the door opens whilst the engine is running, solid puncture resistant rubber tyres, and a grapple bucket that ‘clamps’ a broad range of materials.

Coleman celebrate 50 years of trading with a bang!

Congratulations to Coleman & Company on achieving 50 years in business. From the early days of muck shifting with a machine and a couple of wagons the company has progressed to complex demolitions throughout the UK such as this textbook blowdown in Glasgow.

C&D were not involved with this project, but we can sit and watch it and admire the organisation that was involved in achieving such a successful outcome.

Coleman & Company acquire Eneotech Environmental

Coleman & Company have announced that last month they managed to acquire specialist land remediation, landfill restoration and industrial cleaning contractor Eneotech Environmental.

Eneotech is active in the UK, across continental Europe, and overseas, working out of offices in Manchester. Coleman sees the synergies between the group of companies allowing them to deal with the most difficult and complex of sites.

David Coleman, Group Chairman, stated of the acquitision:

“The combined Group Structure of Coleman & Company now allows Clients to contract with our organisation from start to finish in dealing with high risk hazardous sites.

It is also very exciting for us, as we now have experienced people based in three strategic regions across the UK that have expertise in all Group Activities”

Although now a part of Coleman & Company, Eneotech will continue to be treated as a separate entity and will trade as normal.

C&D customer Coleman & Co bring down Gorbals towerblocks

Yesterday when some of us were having a lie in Coleman & Co were hard at work evacuating residents, setting exclusion zones and commencing a countdown to bring down two Gorbals towerblocks. The demolition, with explosives work by John Turner of Robinson & Birdsell, was the latest in a long line of Glasgow explosive contracts that are slowly clearing the Glasgow skyline of redundant tower blocks.

We at C&D were not involved in this blast but, like all fans of blow downs, we followed the events live via the twitter feed and were delighted to see that it all went without a hitch.

Congratulations to all concerned.

Coleman & Company wins Battersea gas holders contract

Coleman & Company's latest demolition project involves dismantling a series of gas holders in Battersea , London. One of the holders is the equivalent of 40 storey’s in height and situated only a few metres away from the London Victoria line.

As Mark Coleman, Managing Director of Coleman and Company, said:

"In recent years we have focused on developing some unique skills to tackle the most challenging demolition tasks. For example, our approach to dismantling highly flammable gas holders has been recognised worldwide and this month we are presenting in Milan at the EDA (European Demolition Association) on the topic .

With the property sector having such a tough time in recent years, we knew that we had to go the extra mile and offer something special to win significant projects like the Battersea one.

It also means that although our revenue did dip, that our profit margin remained healthy due to the challenging contracts we secured."


The Battersea project is expected to start before the end of 2013 and will last approximately 12 months.

Coleman & Company post statement on crusher incident verdict

Following their court appearance last Thursday with regard to an accident on a crusher at their Meridan Quarry facility, Coleman & Company have released a statement detailing the unfortunate incident and outlines the steps the company has taken as a direct result of this incident to further enhance their robust Health and Safety procedures.

It's also important to point out that their Aggregates Quarry is run as a division of Coleman & Company Limited and is totally independent of their core specialist demolition activities.

You can read the statement in full at the Coleman & Company website.

Institute of Construction Management President Les Helliwell attends the IDE Spring Seminar in Leeds

The last Friday in February is now firmly in the diary of demolition professionals as the date of the IDE Spring Seminar at Royal Armouries, Leeds and the latest version of this long running saga saw over 200 delegates attend on Friday to listen to presentations from Able UK, Coleman & Co, Tim Lohmann of Swanton Consulting, and Julie White of DDrill, to name just four, with two of those delegates being Ian Trickey (Membership Director) and Les Helliwell (President) of The Institute of Construction Management.

It was the second visit to the event by Les Helliwell, following his attendance last year with Owen Wood, and John took the opportunity to ask Les why the IConstM had decided to return this year.

Les Helliwell said "I believe that the two institutes are a good mix with IConstM encouraging competence during the build phase of a project and IDE encouraging competence during the demolition. Following our attendance at last year's event when we recruited a number of IDE members to our institute we thought we would return and try to again encourage IDE members to join IConstM. This year we also managed to speak to Philip Baker, Past President of APS, on a possible link up between APS and IConstM in the future. In my opinion the IDE Spring Seminar is one of the must attend dates of the demolition year".

As a member of IConstM it was particularly pleasing for John to greet Ian and Les at the event and we hope to see them again next year.

An Introduction to Demolition seminar on January 31st

The West Midlands NOVUS group are proud to present 'An Introduction to Demolition' by Chris Holland from Coleman & Company on Thursday, 31st January.

It's a CPD event for students, young professionals or anyone wanting to brush up their skills on this topic.

C&C Technical Manager, Chris Holland, will reflect on the way the industry has evolved over the years and with a selection of case studies showcases the innovation and complexity of demolition in the 21st century. The seminar will provide an overview of the broad range of demolition techniques from asbestos removal to high reach demolition, complex deconstruction and explosive engineering.

If you want to know more, or book places, head on over to the CIOB website.

Coleman & Company quarterly update

Coleman & Company have released their quarterly news update covering everything that has happened and is going to happen in the near future.

Highlights include:

• The challenging removal of a National Grid gas holder roof in Liverpool
• The securing of a demolition contract for Jaguar Land Rover’s “Body in White” assembly plant
• A £2m contract to blow down two 24 storey blocks in the Gorbals estate, Glasgow
• The renovation of Holly Wood Park, Great Barr

You can check out full details of each project by visiting colemanupdate.com

Coleman & Company has Furukawa HB15G breaker stolen

The NFDC has sent out a notice to members regarding the theft of a Furukawa HB15G breaker from Coleman & Company.

The breaker was taken from a site in Leicester at 3am on Saturday, 15th December. The serial number of the breaker is 3114.

If anyone has been approached about purchasing the breaker, please can you contact Malcolm Hurst – Plant & Transport Manager on 0121-325-2424.

Coleman & Company 50 year celebration video

Coleman & Company recently celebrated 50 years in the business and they have produced a video of demonstrating some of their most memorable jobs. Unfortunately we can't include it here, but you can watch it by following this link.

Coleman & Company celebrates 50 years of business

After three generations of family management, Birmingham-based demolition experts Coleman & Company celebrate 50 years in business today (October 16th) with continued investment and respectable profit levels.

Managing Director Mark Coleman, the grandson of founders John and Norah Coleman, says the golden milestone is a “massive achievement” for the family business, which had a turnover of £15.5millon last year.

Despite the difficult economic environment investment in people, facilities and equipment has helped Coleman & Company to buck the trend of decline in the construction industry.

Profit margins are increasing and the firm has taken on 40 additional staff in the last 12 months thanks to a string of successful projects. This is in addition to more short-term contracts for locally employed project staff on a number of high-profile projects including demolition works at Birmingham New Street Station. Mark Coleman said: “This milestone is a remarkable achievement for any family business and we are extremely proud to not only to celebrate 50 years in business, but to celebrate it with continued success.

“Revenues have gone up and down in recent years as you would expect with the continued economic uncertainty but our profit performance remains healthy and last year’s margin was our best yet. Some sectors in the construction industry are struggling but others, such as utilities and industrial, are presenting real opportunities and we are well placed to deliver them.

“As the construction industry continues to evolve, we will keep investing in our people and equipment to develop new, innovative methods to reach new sectors and meet changes in customer demand.”


The company was founded in Stechford in 1962 by John and Norah Coleman before their son David took over the helm after John’s death in 1984. David was succeeded as Managing Director by his own son Mark in 2011 and remains Group Chairman of the firm, now based in Great Barr.

Coleman & Company employs 158 people in full time positions with many more in the supply chain working on projects across the UK. It moved to Great Barr in 2006, where it has invested in a purpose-built, six-acre site including the UK’s first urban quarry, a specialist washing plant capable of turning 150,000 tonnes of waste material into recycled sand and gravel each year. This year a further £1.9million has been invested in new plant and equipment, including the formation of a new diamond cutting company.

The firm has completed a string of high-profile projects in recent years including the deconstruction and demolition of Dunston Rocket in Gateshead and sensitive demolition work at Birmingham New Street Station, for which it was awarded World Demolition Contract of the Year in 2011.

This year it also completed the challenging deconstruction of a gas holder for National Grid in Liverpool – another successful project which has been shortlisted for the same award this year.

Mark Coleman adds: “I am extremely proud to be a third generation Coleman working in the family business and delighted to say that the last 50 years have been a great success for Coleman & Company. I sincerely hope that I, and other generations to follow, can build on this and achieve even greater things in the next 50 years.” “This is a true family company, in all senses. Our greatest asset is our people and we want to ensure that as the company progresses we will remain a family business in every way. We may have invested in the latest innovations but without the people that operate, manage, maintain and direct them they are just lumps of metal.” Coleman & Company is celebrating the golden milestone with a year-long charity initiative called Triple 50, aiming to raise £50,000 for three charities; The Sepsis Unit at Good Hope Hospital, SIFA Fireside and Teenage Cancer Trust . It is also working closely with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to improve a local nature reserve close to the firm’s Great Barr headquarters.

Mark concludes: “The Coleman & Company family also extends to the communities in which we work, which is why we were so keen to mark the milestone by helping to make a difference for local people.”

John Woodward to speak to Association of Project Safety Scottish Regional Meeting next week

John recently completed a Round the UK tour of speaking engagements for APS that was very well received and he has now been asked to return to the APS to speak to the Scotland East Region on Tuesday, 18th September.

The talk "Things that go bang in the night (..and in the day)" is about explosive demolition contracts north of the border carried out by Safedem, Coleman and Company and TDS/PDC, and will include video footage of the schemes where C&D have been involved and will show the teamwork required from all parties to achieve successful blowdowns.

The talk will take place at Rooms 3/07 & 3/08, Edinburgh Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus, Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1DJ between 18.00 and 20.00.

The regional APS meeting normally has 2 speakers at each occasion and it may be that John is the first to speak so we suggest that, if you are going, and we hope that you are, you get there for just before 18.00 for the tea and coffee.

Details of the talk can be found on the APS website.

Contract of the Year Shortlist announced

The judges have now decided on the shortlist for the 2012 World Demolition Award Contract of the Year. The list includes:

• Armac
• Coleman & Company
• Despe srl & De Goyere
• Erith Contractors
• Ferma Corp
• Keltbray
• Nikau Contractors
• Ward Demolition

One of the judges commented:

"This year's entries for this category are exceptional, both in terms of numbers and the standard of the expertise and professionalism they display. I have never had such a difficult task in deciding who should appear on the list. As to the final winner, I am going to have to work very hard indeed to reach a decision."

Source: d&ri

Coleman and Company near the end of Shawholme Crescent, Glasgow demolition

Coleman & Company of Shady Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham have continued with the demolition of Shawholme Crescent, Glasgow and are now nearing the end of the main demolition works.

C&D were appointed as CDM-C on the project to continue our working relationship with both Coleman and their client Glasgow Housing Association.

The contract saw Coleman & Company demolish the towers by use of high reach machines to complete the works.

The photo shows the final section of the second of the two blocks. Once demolition is completed at the end of August Coleman will remain on site to process the hardcore and remove the foundations from the blocks.