Local students visit Lenton blocks in Nottingham

C&D customer Total Reclaims is knocking down five tower blocks in Park Street and Lombard Close in Nottingham. They are known as the Lenton tower blocks and are being cleared for 142 new homes to built over the next 4 years.

17 lucky students from the Edna G Olds Academy recently got to attend the demolition of the first 90 flats from the 12th floor of one of the blocks. This involved actually visiting the 12th floor and getting to ask lots of questions. As well as seeing Nottingham from a very high viewpoint, all the students were intrigued about the work, and hopefully some of them will choose to investigate further and maybe even enter the industry one day.

If you happen to be visiting the Lenton blocks before the towers have been fully removed, you should be able to see pictures the students created after their visit present on the security fencing surrounding the site.

Source: Nottingham Post. Image courtesy of French Disko on Flickr.

Loughborough University Students who were granted IDE Research Bursaries outline their projects at IDE Leeds Seminar

The IDE recently awarded research bursaries to three Loughborough University students to assist their research with demolition related projects and the successful students are all attending the IDE Seminar in Leeds on Friday 22nd February to outline their respective research. The students and their projects are:-

Warren Mitty - Is nanotechnology the new asbestos?

Nano-technology is embedded into a large number of materials and components used in the built environment. There is some suggestion that nano-particles may have some similarities with asbestos i.e. hazardous to health when the particles are freed. If this fear is realised then there will be real challenges for the demolition & recycling sectors. This project will investigate what these challenges are likely to be.

James Styles - What to do with composite cassette cladding?

Composite panels, such as those incorporating blown insulation and also other materials and services. These are a challenge to the demolition and recycling sector and will become more so in the future. This project will investigate what these challenges are likely to be.

Matt Smith - Is European wind the same as UK wind?

The design of temporary works to support retained facades is significantly affected by the calculation of wind forces. The demolition sector interacts closely with retained facades, often being responsible themselves for the support structure as part of the demolition package. This project will investigate how the use of Eurocodes will affect the design and hence the installation of retained facade temporary works