Firm fined over asbestos clean-up…

Contractor fined after using vacuum cleaner on asbestos

A Norwich-based contractor has been fined £90,000 for carrying out unlicensed asbestos cleaning work.

Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard how the company began a project to refurbish parts of Rose Lane Business Centre in Norwich, including a former kitchen and canteen.

Works started in late April 2015 and various phases continued into late October, early November 2015. It was during the later phase when significant exposure to asbestos occurred.

An HSE investigation found the labourers employed by the contractor to carry out demolition works were mostly vulnerable non-English speakers with limited understanding of English, little awareness of asbestos on site and no prior asbestos awareness training.

The investigation also found no demolition and refurbishment asbestos survey had been in place before the project started.

When one was carried out following HSE intervention, it discovered licensed asbestos debris on the ground level within the area the size of a football pitch.

Despite these findings and surveyor’s recommendations, the unlicensed contractor proceeded to clean the debris between 1 October and 6 October 2015, dry sweeping and vacuuming the area with a vacuum cleaner.

Y Construction Ltd of Rose Lane, Norwich was found guilty of breaching asbestos regulations and fined £90,000 with full costs of £7,184.04.

Read more here.

Video – Squibb deploys Diplodocus…

Scrap Kings TV show captures demolition of Anglesey smelting plant.

A new video from Quest TV, the production company behind the Scrap Kings show, gets up close and personal with Squibb Group as the company tackles a former smelting plant in Anglesey.

The company starts on the building known as the Bakehouse, one of the smaller buildings on the site, using a high reach excavator nicknamed Diplodocus.

Jobs – DSM seeks Bid Team Manager…

Superb career opportunity with one of the UK’s biggest and best contractors.

A vacancy has arisen within DSM’s Pre-Contract Department for a Bid Team Manager and the company is presently seeking an experienced and highly motivated individual for this role.

The role will include actively preparing and/or managing/overseeing the preparation of all PQQ, tendering and budgetary documents, along with the continual updating of the business portfolio, advertising and sales documentation.

Main Responsibilities & Duties will include:

  • Breaking down incoming tenders with the pre-contract team, fully evaluating project specific client requirements and identifying all required tender deliverables.
  • Allocation / tasking of preparation of deliverables to the relevant members of the pre-contract team. Managing and ensuring all deliverables are prepared in a timely manner for quality evaluation and incorporation within tender returns.
  • Point of contact for the client and client team during the bid / tender process, whilst liaising with the technical and estimating teams producing the technical and priced elements of the bid.
  • Collating and compiling the quality and technical components for all tender bids and ensuring that all required deliverables are incorporated to satisfy the requirements of the tender documentation
  • Manage and undertake the preparation of PQQ documentation ensuring that all relevant information is obtained from the pre-contract team members to satisfy the requirements of the PQQ documentation

DSM Demolition Limited is one of the UK’s leading demolition, decommissioning and ground remediation contractors, with an international reputation for, Quality, Innovation, Health and Safety.

CLICK HERE for full details.

The Girl in the Green Coat…

Introducing the world’s first demolition ghost story.

It’s Halloween, so what better day to unveil what we believe to be the world’s first demolition-related ghost story.

Available in both book and audio formats, The Girl in the Green Coat is written by DemolitionNews’ founder and editor Mark Anthony. It has been written with the assistance and input of Safedem’s William Sinclair who also inspired some (though not all) of the protagonist’s traits and methodologies.

“We were in the process of relocating the office so I had a few days offline while the broadband connection was installed,” says Mark Anthony. “I needed something to keep me occupied and with Halloween fast approaching, I decided to put pen to paper on a new short story that was scary but which also had a demolition twist to it.”

The Girl in the Green Coat can be downloaded FREE as a PDF here. Alternatively, you can listen to the 27 minute audio – complete with suitably eerie sound effects below or on iTunes, Google Play or Spotify.

Breaking News – Focus on Recruitment…

DemolitionNews seeks to simplify recruitment process.

As part of its ongoing commitment to providing the demolition industry with the information and the tools it needs, DemolitionNews has unveiled DemolitionCareers.co.uk. Developed to replace Demolition-Jobs.co.uk and produced in partnership with our publishing partners Chambers Media, the new website is designed to make finding and attracting new staff as simple and as painless as possible.

“We were advised to close Demolition-Jobs.co.uk because certain parts of it did not fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that came into force in May. But the demand from workers seeking employment and demolition companies seeking workers continued unabated,” says DemolitionNews’ Mark Anthony. “So we have been working behind the scenes to update the system and to produce a dedicated recruitment website that meets the needs and the regulations of today.”

That new site has just gone live in “beta” format while new jobs are added and while demolition workers register their interest in a possible change of career or employer.

“Demolition-Jobs.co.uk was unique in the recruitment sphere in that it allowed workers to register their availability to work and their desire to possibly change position or company. We were keen to retain that facility while providing demolition companies with a website that allows them to advertise vacant positions quickly and seamlessly as they arise,” explains Chambers Media founder Ben Chambers. “Our web design team took all that into consideration during the design of the new website, while our recruitment advertising team contributed their expertise and experience to ensure that the new site worked out of the box and that it was easy to navigate for employers and employees alike.”

The timing of the launch of DemolitionCareers.co.uk really could not be better. The UK demolition industry finds itself in the midst of an ongoing skills shortage; protracted Brexit negotiations look likely to hinder the UK’s ability to attract migrant workers from outside its own borders; and the resulting economic uncertainty means that many more workers might be looking to switch jobs or employers.

“The prosperity of the demolition industry rests upon its ability to attract, train and retain high-calibre and experienced staff capable of carrying out demolition works,” Mark Anthony concludes. “As the demolition industry’s key information resource, it is our duty to help them do that. That is why DemolitionCareers.co.uk is such an important addition to our demolition portfolio.”

To underline that commitment to the industry, Chambers Media has set in place a dedicated recruitment sales team that is standing by ready to help demolition companies place their recruitment advertising. Furthermore, the company is offering significant bulk discounts for any demolition companies that might wish to advertise multiple times in the coming months. And finally, the website remains free to demolition workers looking to advertise their availability to work.

“We know from our experience with Demolition-Jobs.co.uk that the demolition business is fast-paced and dynamic and that its staffing needs are constantly shifting,” concludes Ben Chambers. “By allowing demolition workers to sign up for job alerts for free, we are allowing them to hear about job opportunities first while creating an online community of experienced demolition workers that contractors can call upon when and where they need them.”

To place a recruitment advertisement, demolition contractors can email . Demolition workers can sign up for free job alerts by visiting DemolitionCareers.co.uk.

Jobs – McFletch seeks Demolition Estimator…

Excellent opportunity for ambitious estimator.

McFletch Ltd are seeking an experienced Demolition Estimator to join our Management Team. The right candidate will becoming a valued and senior member of the company. The ideal candidate must be technically strong, client focused, able to work under pressure and determined to help in the growth of the company by delivering projects on time and within budget, keeping a strong relationship with the current and potential clients. Ideal person would be of smart appearance, self-motivated, hardworking, committed with an existing personal client data base to generate sales and revenue.

Excellent remuneration with the usual company benefits for the successful applicant

Successful applicants will be astute, flexible, have good organisational, presentational, leadership and people management skills and also have the ability to take the business forward.

You will have a sound knowledge of the Health and Safety procedures pertaining to Asbestos Regulations and some experience in the Construction Industry would be desirable.

Initial duties will include but may not be limited to the following activities;

  • Estimating and preparing the cost of demolition tenders
  • Develop the estimate at a level of detail appropriate to the size and complexity of the project
  • Providing outline method statements in line with the pricing strategy along with assumptions and clarifications
  • Develop initial tender programmes in conjunction with the proposed project team
  • Identify potential cost risks and opportunities within tender submissions
  • Sourcing supplier and sub-contractor quotations
  • Lead the tender submission process, tender preparation and ultimately submit the tender
  • Present, discuss and review the tender proposal with the Directors prior to submission.
  • Attendance at post tender negotiations and contract reviews
  • Liaising with clients, consultants, sub-contractors, suppliers and stakeholders
  • Post contract commercial
  • Strong PC Skills
  • Dealing with incoming sales enquiries and developing new enquiries.
  • Assessing potential contracts
  • Technical ability with the completion of PQQ’s
  • Based at our Head Office in Haverhill

Applicants should send their CVs to info@mcfletch.co.uk. Strictly no agencies please.

Video – They do things differently in the Philippines…

This video gives a whole new meaning to the term unnecessary risk.

Under normal circumstances, we like to put our own spin on the content of any video we pull in from YouTube. But, in this instance, we will just let the cameraman’s commentary tell the story because – even in our wildest dreams we could never come up with a sentence quite as eloquent as: “If you think you’ve got a shitty job, you need to think again. I guarantee your job is not as shitty as these gentlemen right here.”

Video – Priestly works through the night…

Epic video captures overnight Canadian bridge demolition.

As a result of wear and tear, part of the 401 Highway bridge over Dufferin Street in Toronto, Canada needed demolishing.

Priestly demolition took on the task during a tight overnight possession. The process is captured in this excellent video (below):

We have moved…

Demolition News Towers has relocated.

After several years and countless false dawns, Demolition News has finally relocated to a larger premises.

The new premises reflects the significant changes in Demolition News’ content which has shifted from words to words, audio and video. Thew new premises has space to accommodate these new disciplines, allowing us to set up a semi-permanent studio environment for the production of both video and audio.

“We have been looking for a suitable new premises for the past three years, but we have finally moved to a location that reflects the needs of DemolitionNews’ business,” says Mark Anthony. “We are generally producing upwards of two audio podcasts and one or two videos each week. At our previous location, that meant constantly setting up the equipment and then breaking it all down again after each recording session. In our new premises, we have a dedicated recording space which will allow us to produce better quality content AND considerably more of it.”

Anyone wishing to send us anything – post, press releases, brochures, merchandise or brown envelopes stuffed with cash – should use the following address:

24 West Gardens, Ewell, Surrey, KT17 1NE. The best telephone number to use is Tel: 07973 465166.

Video – Boiler goes BOOM!

North Dakota plant falls to CDI’s explosive power.

Controlled Demolition, Inc (CDI), acting as explosives subcontractor to main demolition contractor, GSD Companies of Houston, has carried out the explosives handling operations to fell the 255’ tall, brick-lined concrete chimney, the Hung Boiler portions of Unit #1 and Unit #10 and fracturing of Unit #1 turbine pedestal legs in a single explosives sequence in Stanton, North Dakota.

Check out the multi angle action below: