EDA running 2nd edition Think tank on October 15th

The EDA's Think tank will be held fort he second time this year, on October 15th in Brussels, Belgium. Last year the topic focused on was recycling and end-of-life products, however, this year the topic is "Pre-demolition audit and waste flows from demolition sites."

According to the EDA:

"Demolition is about handling the space change, transforming waste (what used to be construction products) into new resources and creating at the same time room for future development.

Everyone involved on this process, from the general public, to construction product manufacturers, public administrations,… and the demolition industry itself, is very interested to work towards a circular economy (oriented to reuse and recycle as much as possible).

To generate this circular economy and to make sure the goals on recycling are achieved there are two key aspects to be prepared to detail: the pre-demolition audit (also known as waste management assessment) and the tracking of waste flows from demolition sites"

The preliminary program for the day is as follows:

The think tank will be a morning meeting, with two sessions of debate.

There will be a panel of experts to introduce the topics and the key goal of the meeting is to engage the participation, through an open debate with related stakeholders and EU Officials..

08:30 – Accreditation of participants
09:00 – Welcome
09:15 – Session 1: Pre-demolition audit and waste management assessment/reporting
10:45 – Coffee break
11:15 – Session 2: Waste flows from demolition sites
13:00 – Closing remarks

A light lunch will be served after the Think tank to encourage networking and collective thinking.

If you would like to know more about this event, then please contact the EDA Secretariat directly.

C&D customer McAuliffe Group expand their transport fleet with Volvo

Wolvehampton-based McAuliffe Group has placed an order for eight, brand new Volvo tipper trucks from The Harthstone Group. The order has been made possible thanks to turnover doubling over the past 24 months.

McAuliffe has managed the revenue increase through rejuvenating brownfield sites, and this has led to greatly increased demand for the company's services. They re-profile old land, demolish old buildings, recycle as much of the waste as possible, and decontaminate areas safely when necessary. It's the whole package. And this isn't a new company, 2015 is the firm's 45th year of operation and they've been using Volvo vehicles since the 70's. The reason? High resale value.

We see nothing but positives coming out of McAuliffe's operations right now. Long may it continue!

Source: Express & Star

Total Reclaims Demolition is demolishing five 16 storey blocks in Nottingham

Total Reclaims Demolition is in the midst of a big contract job in Nottingham, which will see the company bring down five sets of 1960s 16-storey blocks of flats. The flats will be replaced by new council homes as part of an ongoing regeneration project.

The first of the blocks to come down is Lenton Court, and luckily for us the whole process was caught on camera. If you'd like to see how it progressed click on the link below as unfortunately there's no way to embed the video.

http://www.khl.com/videozone/item91846

You can read more about the demolition over at the KHL website and such impressive feats as achieving a 98% recycling rate for the flats.

C&D Customer City Demolition (Birmingham) Limited produce a great new video

Here at C&D we love videos to do with demolition of any sort so we were pleased to see today that one of our customers in Birmingham, City Demolition, have produced a new corporate video showing their team in action on a number of sites around the city.

The video shows them at work, carrying out site inductions, removing asbestos and recycling arisings.

Why not take 5 minutes out of your day and take a look at the video:


Why not also follow them on Twitter at @CITYDEMOLITION

What resources are needed to fight a major fire started by a chinese lantern?

The Midlands area experienced the worst fire for decades recently when a celebration Chinese Lantern drifted over the wall of a plastic recycling yard in Smethwick, settled on the plastic and proceeded to burn out before setting alight to the plastic beneath it. The plume of smoke from the resulting fire could be seen from my house, 16 miles away, and was high enough to cause flights into Birmingham Airport to be diverted around the airport.

West Midlands Fire Service have now put together a video which records how the event unfolded and we think it is well worth a watch. We would embed it, but West Midlands Fire Service have stopped that from being possible, so just visit this link to watch.

The owners of the recycling yard could have done nothing to prevent the fire, but the person, or persons, who lit the lantern and set it free could have prevented it by just asking themselves "What if?"

What if this lands on a timber house with people asleep inside?

What if this lands on some waste oil spilled earlier by someone else who forgot to say What if?

I am not calling for a ban on Chinese lanterns, as some people are, but I am asking for people to do the risk assessment before they set it free. A lit lantern launched from a clifftop and blown out to sea is far less a hazard than the same lantern launched in a built up area, because remember "What goes up must come down" and when it does it could have devastating effects.

Terry's chocolate factory demolition begins in York

Although they haven't really been seen on TV for a while, no one can forget the Terry's chocolate orange adverts. Now one of the factories that used to produce the delicious chocolate is being demolished in York. It has stood empty since 2005 when 300 jobs were lost as the factory shut its doors.

The demolition is being carried out by Demolition Services Ltd. who have been contracted by developers Grantside. All materials from the building will be recycled where possible including the steel frame, the bricks as aggregate, and the concrete base as road construction materials. The whole project is expected to take 4 weeks.

Anyone concerned about the fate of the distinctive main red brick building can relax. It is a listed building and Grantside aim to make it a centrepiece of any new development.

With the building gone, Grantside will redevelop the area and bring with it 2,700 new jobs to the area. They will come from home construction, the introduction of two hotels, and a public services area including restaurants, bars, and shops.

Source: The York Press

Terry Quarmby awarded a PhD, becomes Dr Demolition

Former IDE President Terry Quarmby has been awarded a PhD with an 800,000 word thesis being the final piece of work to garner him the title of Dr. Demolition, at least among those who know him.

As for what his thesis covered, Demolitionnews has a decent summary:

"Quarmby highlights the correlation between the increase in recycling and an increase in on-site accidents; charts the rise of accidents since the beginning of the global recession; and postulates that – in the future – the industry might have to choose between safety and sustainability."

Below is a 45 minute interview given with Demolitionnews which is worth saving for a lunchtime viewing:



Source: Demolitionnews

Belfast thieves take recycling a step too far

Here at C&D we advocate recycling as much as possible from all demolition projects but, as this article from the BBC shows, sometimes recycling can get a little out of hand.

Thieves are now not only targeting the lead on roofs, but the bricks so essential to allowing a house to stay upright. Brick bandits are stealing the bricks and selling them in the Village area of Belfast.

The reason this is being done is because the Belfast bricks are worth so much. Each one can fetch up to £1, so grabbing as many as you can carry on a regular basis could see quite an income formed.

The problem for the local Housing Exectuive is keeping people safe in their homes as well as those passing by buildings that are having bricks stolen. The only solution seems to be knocking down the 600 empty buildings being targeted before the thieves cause themselves or others serious injury.