12 Days of Demolition (Christmas Edition)

It's fast approaching that time of year again, and so we decided it was well worth sharing this video once more to get you in the Christmas spirit!

Learning Points: Demolition contractor electrical flashover

We have a UK Power Networks Learning points case study to share with you below.

The subject of the case study is "Demolition contractor electrical flashover" and it's applicable to persons involved in demolition activities. Here are the details:

A demolition contractor forced the door of a low voltage circuit breaker cubicle open using a metal crowbar. In doing so, the crowbar went across the terminals of the three phase service and caused a flashover that seriously burnt the individual and set the building on fire.

The factory on this site was redundant, but the 11,000 volt substation and low voltage service on site were live. No request to disconnect the substation and electricity service was made by the property owner when the factory closed down. Power was still being used on the site, but at a reduced level.

The demolition contractor had requested and had been provided a quotation to disconnect the substation and low voltage service, but had not accepted the terms of the contract or paid for the work to be undertaken. They were fully aware that the substation and services were "live."


The impact of this chain of events was the injured person received life-changing burns to his hands and face.

The demolition company who employed the injured person is under investigation by the HSE for breaches of health and safety legislation.

The learning points from this incident are as follows:

• Never assume any electrical plant or cables on a site are dead unless proven so.
• The CDM Regulations require utilities are disconnected prior to demolition commencing.
• The Electricity at Work regulations require employers to adopt safe system of work to ensure electricity plant is safe before work commences on it.

John chats about the Demolition Degree

Recently, our very own John Woodward was asked a few questions about the Demolition Degree at the University of Wolverhampton. The university was kind enough to share the footage with us, which you can watch above.

C&D assist Wakefield Council with the successful demolition of Rishworth Street Car Park

C&D were delighted to have been appointed by Wakefield City Council as Principal Designer for the demolition of Rishworth Street car park by explosive techniques.

The C&D team consisting of Mike Kehoe and Matty Bardgett carried out the works and we were very pleased with the result. You can read more about the job over at Demolition News.

IDE Midlands Regional Meeting, August 15th

On Tuesday, August 15th, an IDE Midlands Regional Meeting will be held in The Oak Hotel on Stratford Road in Hockley Heath.

The event is sponsored by DSM Demolition and kicks off at 5pm with registration and networking accompanied by refreshments and a buffet.

After that there will be a couple of speakers including safety consultant Steve Tamplin talking about scaffolding awareness. Then there's Ricky Hay FRICS, regional chairman of the NFDC for Scotland & ireland. He'll be talking about the demolition of the St. James Quarter in Edinburgh.

Attendees will also be able to watch a time delay video on the demolition of the Tottenham Hotspurs Ground at White Hart Lane in London. It's a work in progress by sponsors DSM Demolition.

If you'd like to attend, then please email info@ide.org.uk to register.

Remembering Dave Ross, who sadly passed away on Saturday

C&D Consultancy are sad to announce the death on Saturday, 8th July of Dave Ross.

Dave worked with C&D on a number of projects over the last ten years and was a well respected member of our team. I first met Dave at Loxley Dismantling where he was one of my site supervisors and we kept our working relationship and friendship going ever since that day.

Dave worked on many complex projects for ourselves, Apollo GCL, Thorne Demolition, AR Demolition, and many other companies during his career, and enjoyed his retirement years by cruising the worlds oceans with beloved wife Jean, drinking a few beers in his local working men's club or demolishing things on the few weeks a year that he decided to work to earn some money for another cruise!

Dave was extremely proud to have achieved IDE status after working in our industry for over 50 years and he was one of the first "old school" demolition men persuaded to join IDE when the institute opened its doors to a wider range of entry criteria.

Dave was an excellent site manager, a great machine driver, and a true Yorkshireman, never happier than when in his caravan at some demolition site eating his large pan of "Rotherham Stew" cooked by Jean for Dave to reheat most nights when he was away. In fact, the only nights that he didn't eat Jean's stew he would eat a rump steak as he was a lover of "Proper English Grub."

Dave once sat with me in his working men's club drinking a few beers, as you do, and told me of a great cruise that Jean and he had just completed on P&O Oriana where for the 28 nights of the cruise Dave ate a rump steak every night as "I couldn't face the foreign food."

He will be remembered for his friendliness to everyone and his ability to think a job through to get it down in the safest manner.

He will be sadly missed. Funeral details are unconfirmed at the moment, but we will post them when received and Jill and I will celebrate his memory on Saturday night with a few beers and a steak. I just hope that wherever he is now the menu is not just Curry and Chinese food!

Tudno Castle Hotel demolished due to "historical movement"

Back in April, two roads on either side of the Tudno Castle Hotel in Llandudno had to be closed due to the risk of the hotel collapsing. The developers on site, who were preparing for a £10 million redevelopment, noticed "historical movement" in the walls which was much more severe than first thought.

That risk turned into a need to demolish the hotel asap, and that demolition was carried out in late April with C&D Consultancy being involved through working with reclaimed and period building specialists Cawarden.

With the hotel now gone, redevelopment starts proper. The plan includes building a Premier Inn, a Beefeater, and Prezzo. Other restaurants and retail outlets will also appear on the site, all of which will link back to the town center.

Source: Daily Post

Wolverhampton Bus Garage Demolished

Back in October last year, the Homes and Communities Agency put out a tender for the demolition of the former Bus Garage on Bilston Road in Wolverhampton. Seven months on, and the garage is now demolished, with work continuing to clear the site. New images of the current state of the site can be found on the Express & Star website.

The site covers 12.5 acres of land, which once cleared will make way for new housing as part of the government's new housing plan across England. The Garage formed part of the Royal Hospital redevelopment project. Originally, Tesco was planning a £65 million superstore agreed in 2015, but pulled those plans due to ongoing and disappointing sales.

Local residence will hopefully be happy to see the redevelopment of the site progressing as it has been left in a state of disrepair since 1997.

C&D Consultancy to help 20 young people into employment

We are very pleased to announce that through a collaboration with Groundwork Greater Nottingham and support from the Big Lottery-fund Talent Match programme, C&D Consultancy is going to deliver specialist courses in asbestos awareness and NVQ Level 1 in Demolition to a group of young people in Derby and Nottingham.

The training targets 18-24-year-olds who have been out of work, training, or education for more than 12 months and who typically have a number of barriers to overcome.

Speaking to the Express & Star, our very own John Woodward commented,

"Our sector is crying out for young talent to come through the ranks and this is an ideal opportunity to get people to think about a career in this industry ... We have joined forces with the National Demolition Training Group, Groundwork and Talent Match to deliver these courses in the East Midlands and the first ones will cater for 20 people. If these are successful, we’ll look to hold more."

Matt Hanrahan, Employment and Enterprising Development Worker at Talent Match, added,

"The courses are a greater taster to the world of demolition and, importantly, gives our participants the opportunity to gain employment in a sector that is thriving and full of opportunities ... C&D Consultancy were chosen due to their expertise, track record in this specific industry and the style of their trainers, which gets the best out of people."

Source: Express & Star

Ramping up our Training

For the next 3 months we've managed to greatly increase the amount of training we can offer, so if you were waiting for a specific course to be added to the calendar, chances are it may be on there now.

Full details of the additional courses being offered between now and the end of August can be found over on our Demolition Training website.

John F Hunt Demolition Ltd Carlton School Career Day

2017 sees the launch of the first Demolition-focused degree, but in order for that degree to garner interest from students, who form the future of our industry, we need kids to know about demolition. That's why we're pleased John F Hunt Demolition Ltd attended a career day at Carlton School last month.

The IDE website has a full write up of the visit which is well worth a read. The only part we'll share here is the questions that the children asked, which included:

1. Why is demolition needed?
2. What’s involved in demolition?
3. What’s best about working in demolition?
4. What types of buildings have been destroyed by the company?
5. What do you have to do to be a manager?

Source: IDE

John Woodward talks career choices in latest issue of Demolition

The latest edition of the world's biggest and most widely-read publication for the global demolition industry, Demolition, includes an article entitled "Save Lives Through Engineering" featuring our very own John Woodward.

The article discusses John's efforts to back an initiative and encourage children to consider a career in engineering, which of course includes the demolition sector.

Issue 18 of Demolition is free to read online. John's two-page article can be found on page 10.

RGL Demonstrates How to Demolish Concrete Using Water

RGL is the UK's leading provider of water jetting services, and that includes using water for demolition jobs!

The company have been working on the corrosion protection and concrete repairs project at Coronation Arches, Folkestone for several months. Using Ultra High Pressure water jetting via robotic and hand held methods they have removed over 100 cubic metres of concrete.

To show exactly how this system works, RGL created a video showing the work at Folkestone. It's available to watch on the RGL website, and I highly recommend you pop over and spend a couple of minutes watching how it's done. They even replace humans with a robot during high tide, removing the risk of injury completely.

Save lives through engineering

Misunderstanding has long plagued the engineering industry, something we in the demolition sector know only too well.

For years, there has been misconception among school children that science, technology engineering and maths (STEM) subjects are boring or geeky – and certainly not something you want to profess to enjoying around your mates.

Higher up the education ladder, the barriers are much the same. Courses are seen to be long and hard, requiring high grades to succeed.

Luckily, a new initiative has been launched by the Tomorrow’s Engineers career group.

The 'Save Lives As An Engineer' poster and accompanying teacher booklet are for use with Key Stages 3 and 4. Related to the theme of disaster relief, the resources demonstrate the different ways engineers can be employed in rebuilding and revitalising communities affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and avalanches.

The humanitarian aspect to engineering is often overlooked, and the materials show both girls and boys that a career in the sector can be very rewarding, potentially saving thousands of lives.

The teacher booklet presents classroom discussion topics, links to other useful resources and curriculum-linked lesson plans with student worksheets (KS3 Physics and Design and Technology).

C&D Founder John Woodward has committed a lot of time to promoting demolition as a career choice to school children by taking part in the government-backed initiative Inspiring The Future and writing and publishing his own children’s book called My Dad Does Demolition.

“There is a huge skills gap in the demolition industry as a whole, particularly when it comes to young people. Last year’s announcement of the UK’s first demolition degree was a step in the right direction, but now initiatives such as SaveLives can supplement this by promoting engineering to children of a younger age,” explained John.

He continued: “Many children today are intent on becoming footballers or pop stars, which is fine, but there are also a large percentage of youngsters spending hours on end playing construction-based games like Minecraft. This is the audience we should be looking to attract.”

“If school initiatives can help children understand that there is a direct connection between games like Minecraft and the basic principles of engineering, we may be able to inspire the next generation.”

More information on the SaveLives resources can be found on the Tomorrow’s Engineers website: http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/savelives/

Tributes for Dot Hull - Britain's first female demolition worker

We are sorry to report that Dorothy Hull (better known to her friends as Dot), Britain's first female demolition worker, died on January 15th aged 77 due to asbestos-related cancer.

A female on a demolition site in the 1960's was certainly unusual considering what women were "expected to do" back then. It's also a sign of how far we have come. Females working in any industry now is no longer unusual or surprising.

According to The Star, which featured Dot back in the 60's:

"Dot ran ADH Demolitions Ltd as equals with her devoted husband Archie. They were contracted to Sheffield Council along with five other firms when they had the mammoth job of demolishing hundreds of homes and factories between 1962 and 1989 through compulsory purchase orders."

Dot commanded respect on site and even saved "one of the lads" lives when he made a jump, didn't make it, and she caught him. Her arm caused her trouble after that, but we're sure she would have done the same thing again if given the chance.

If running a demolition company on equal terms with her husband in the 60's, working on site, and saving someone's life in the process wasn't enough of an achievement to impress you, we'll give you one more. Last year, aged 76, Dot gained her LGV lorry license!

Dot will be remembered fondly and our thoughts are with her family. She is survived by her husband Archie, daughter Tina, and two granddaughters Chloe (14) and Hannah (9).

Source: The Star (complete with photos of young Dot working in demolition)

A trip down memory lane… Thursday, 16th January 2014

Three years ago today, C&D’s founder John Woodward visited Smestow School to speak at their school assembly as part of a government initiative called ‘Inspiring The Future’, which encouraged UK engineers to devote some of their time to promoting engineering as a future career choice.

The talk was designed to encourage school leavers to consider a career in demolition in which John showed the audience examples of both high reach and explosive demolitions and how ground-breaking technology is taking the industry to new heights.

He spoke passionately about the myths and stereotypes surrounding the industry, comparing the media’s view of demolition to that of teenagers – outdated and, ultimately, completely wrong.

John also used examples of where demolition has cleared the past to make way for the future, citing London 2012 as a case in point where the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) demolished a former industrial site in Stratford, East London to clear the ground ready for the construction of Olympic Park, which included a main stadium, aquatics centre, velodrome, three sports arenas, a hockey centre and accommodation for competitors.

John’s talk had an immediate impact on one particular student who contacted C&D a few days later to enquire about the possibility of work experience.

That young man was Matt Birch, who now works full-time with C&D as a trainee demolition engineer.

It’s amazing what a little bit of inspiration can do.

Mike Kehoe interview and "the biggest heart-stopping moment of his 32-year career"

The Times has printed an interview with our very own Mike Kehoe, describing his reaction to the incident when a lorry carrying a digger hit a footbridge over the M20 among other things.

It can be read over on The Times website.

Changes to Midlands Regional Meeting Dates and Venues

Following discussions with Adrian McLean and Richard Dolman the IDE have decided to make the following changes to the Midlands Regional Meetings:-

Tuesday 17th January: Venue is changed from Armac Group to an AR sponsored venue. Details will follow but date remains the same.

Wednesday 5th April: Date is now Thursday 30 March at Armac Group Quarry to coincide with the launch of the new Volvo Demolition Range at the venue on the following day.

Important Notice about Demolition Industry CCDO Cards

The following information has been released by the NDTG regarding the implementation of the new CCDO card scheme from the end of the month.

“This article is to provide clarification and to confirm the arrangements for the CCDO card scheme going smart as of the 31st August 2016 and the acceptance cut off for CCDO Assessments.

CCDO Assessments will continue to be accepted up to the smart card go live date of 31st August 2016 but only on the proviso that they have been booked, can be delivered, and resulted before the go live date, otherwise the CCDO new scheme arrangements will apply.

All CCDO card applications delivered post 31st August 2016 will require the attendance of an approved NDTG course and NVQ end test.”

For further information about the new card scheme contact the NDTG on 01442-217144 option 2, or for information on booking assessments up to the 31st August contact Stuart at stuart@demolishdismantle.co.uk

C&D and Apex join forces

C&D Consultancy are delighted to announce that Apex Group have awarded C&D a new three year contract to assist the group with demolition engineering expertise and demolition training.

The award follows a successful twelve month trial period during which Mike Kehoe and Matty Bardgett assisted the group on a number of major demolition projects as well as providing training across the Apex workforce.