J. Bryan goes, bounces back…

Widnes-based contractor falls victim to delays in implosion insurance payout.
 
J. Bryan (Victoria) Ltd has gone into liquidation, DemolitionNews can reveal. But the company has already bounced back under the name JBV Demolition which has been trading in the background for more than two years.
 
J. Bryan (Victoria) was a 2014 World Demolition Award winner and managing director Mark Bryan is a former North West regional chairman of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors.
 
Founded in 1960, the company had extensive experience in petro-chemical and power station demolition. Indeed, the company was part of the joint-venture with Coleman and Company that won the contract to demolish the Didcot A Power Station. However, the company had left the ill-fated site before work commenced in earnest, and long before the boiler house collapse that claimed the lives of four demolition workers in February 2016.
 
The company’s financial issues are believed to relate to an implosion stand-up in Seaforth in which two tower blocks failed to fall in a blast overseen by the company. However, the company was later exonerated of all responsibility for the stand-up. But while investigations into the failed blast were carried out. J. Bryan called in an ultra high reach excavator to bring down the towers safely. DemolitionNews understands that the hire of this monster machine alone cost more than £100,000, the cost of which should have been covered by the professional liability insurance of explosive subcontractor PDC.
 
Although J. Bryan received an interim insurance payment, the main payout has been delayed, inflicting fatal financial damage and effectively “starving out” the respected contractor.
 
The company’s directors have responded quickly, however, paying trade creditors, securing the jobs of employees and safeguarding a forward order book with existing clients.