Comment – Payment is NOT optional…

DemolitionNews’ Mark Anthony takes exception to extended payment terms. Call me old fashioned, but I still hanker for the days when a product or service was sold and then payment was received in a timely manner. Sadly, we now live in a post-recessionary age in which main contractors and clients boast openly about how they…Read moreRead more

Comment – The Lost Art of Equipment Sales…

DemolitionNews’ editor Mark Anthony bemoans the dying art of digger sales. When was the last time you were sold something? I don’t mean when you bought something; I mean when a salesperson convinced you to buy a product or service they were selling. If you’re anything like me, you probably can’t remember. The traditional job…Read moreRead more

Comment – Nothing can prepare demolition workers for this…

Like many of my fellow countrymen, I awoke this morning to the tragic and terrible news of the fire that engulfed and seemingly destroyed the Grenfell Tower residential block in West London. It is too early to speculate, but news sources suggest there have been multiple fatalities. It is trite but, having grown up in…Read moreRead more

Comment – Waste crime on the rise…

Environment Agency chief describes waste crime as “the new narcotics”. Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a dedicated Waste and Recycling Event hosted by JCB at its World Headquarters and attended by the great and the good of the waste management sector. One of the guest speakers was Chris Murphy, deputy…Read moreRead more

Comment – An industry with tall carpets…

The UK demolition industry must have very tall carpets, such is the volume of bad news swept under them.   We all know that accidents happen and yet they have an unerring knack of disappearing from view, only to re-emerge without comment, fanfare or explanation when the Health and Safety Executive finally gets around to…Read moreRead more

Comment – Never the twain shall meet…

IDE members should view the vice-presidential election as a vote for independence. It is November and it is officially election season. In the US presidential race, that seems to mean the selection of the lesser of two evils to preside over the world’s largest super-power and thereby dictate the course of the globe over the…Read moreRead more

Comment – One Giant Leap…

The Institute of Demolition Engineers has the opportunity to assemble a Dream Team. It is my personal opinion that trade associations are to demolition what the moon is to Planet Earth. They exert a degree of influence but they are distant and remote; of primary interest to those stood upon them while the rest of…Read moreRead more

Comment – YouTuber death inevitable…

The desire for online fame will lead to a demolition site death; it’s just a matter of time. It is just a few weeks since we warned demolition contractors to be aware of a growing trend among YouTube and Instagram fanatics that were actively trespassing on UK construction sites in order to secure that one…Read moreRead more

Comment – Beware thrill seekers…

Contractors need to step up security to combat worrying trend. Here at DemolitionNews, we are enormous fans of social media in all its guises. We are active on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and, in truth, we could not have achieved the global reach we enjoy without the aid of these various platforms. But social media…Read moreRead more

Comment – Remember them always…

A personal tribute to the four men killed at Didcot A Power Station. Although our professional paths likely crossed, I never had the pleasure or privilege of knowing Mick Collings, Ken Cresswell, Chris Huxtable and John Shaw personally. But having followed every overlong twist and protracted turn of their collective story for almost seven months…Read moreRead more