In today’s show: We go behind the scenes of a very big bang; how a modified JCB Hydradig is right on track; whatever the application, Komatsu has a wheel loader to match; and we’re calling by Rotterdam for a spot of Dutch demolition.
PLUS Caterpillar somehow makes hydraulic hoses sexy.
Join us LIVE for your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from the world of demolition and construction.
Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
In today’s show: The mighty Cat D11 surpasses a major milestone; Komatsu perfects quarry loading efficiency; we’re checking in with CJ Charlton to see their latest demolition project; a Spanish eatery is eaten in a high-speed time-lapse film; and Allu mixes it up.
PLUS we will be discussing how a career on construction can impact the families of those working within it.
Join us LIVE for your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from the world of demolition and construction.
Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
The sheer scale of Squibb Group’s financial troubles has been laid bare in the creditor’s list issued as part of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) the firm is currently pursuing to safeguard its survival.
Documents shown to DemolitionNews show that the company owes more than £23.3 million to around 300 creditors. Unsecured creditors are owed £13.8 million.
According to an article in today’s Construction Enquirer, the Squibb Group turnover for the year to January 2022 was just £30.9 million.
Suppliers and subcontractors owed money are being asked to agree the CVA which could see payments of 65p in the pound on debts compared to receiving just 1p in the pound if Squibb goes into liquidation.
Three quarters or more in value of creditors need to agree for the CVA to pass.
The five-year CVA deal would see Squibb make monthly payments of between £100,000 to £160,000 as it continued trading.
The company struck a deal with HMRC last year for extra time to pay tax arrears of £4.4 million but a request for a further extension was rejected and the tax authorities have issued a winding-up petition which is due to be heard later this month.
Squibb has sold and leased back its headquarters raising £8 million and the Squibb family has loaned the business £4.2 million which could make the acceptance of the CVA more likely.
It took fully four years for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate bid-rigging and price fixing in the UK demolition industry. Four years until the guilty were named; four years until fines of nearly £60 million were handed down to the 10 NFDC member companies involved.
But it will be more than five years until the whole sorry business is finally laid to rest.
Both Keltbray and Squibb Group have appealed the CMA findings; and we now know that their cases will be heard jointly at a tribunal in spring next year.
Following a case-management hearing, the start date for the main hearings has been set for 25 April next year, with the case expected to last for seven days.
During the hearing, the tribunal chair rejected a bid by Squibb’s lawyers to restrict the availability of key documents in the case. Squibb is appealing on the basis that the CMA made mistakes in defining the relevant markets affected and the type of work Squibb was involved with.
Late last week, we reported that Squibb Group had filed for a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) which raises the question of what of the company might still be here in April next year.
Legal documents submitted by Keltbray say that it accepts it committed eight infringements of competition law but believes the penalty imposed on it was “assessed on a flawed basis” and was “disproportionate to the seriousness and impact” of its involvement.
Back in August of this year, incoming NFDC CEO Duncan Rudall said in an interview that he would draw a line in the sand [on the CMA issue] at some point. That line drawing remains a long way off.
In today’s show: JCB gets into the Halloween spirit; we’re calling in on a US contractor that has staked his company’s reputation on John Deere equipment; we’re heading for the wilds of Nova Scotia for some high reach demolition action; and we’re grabbing the chance of a trip to Latvia with MB Crusher.
PLUS we are travelling back in time to admire some 1970s demolition.
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Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
For more than 30 years, I have charted the rise and fall of the UK demolition industry. It is an industry that is constantly in motion and in a continuous state of change and flux. So rapid is that change that DemolitionNews evolved from updates once or twice a week to six and seven days per week. Today, DemolitionNews is the driving force behind a LiveStream that covers all the very latest industry developments on a daily basis.
But while the changes are constant and rapid, are they truly significant? Are they game-changing developments capable of shifting the direction or redrawing the landscape of the industry as a whole?
Having thought about it long and hard and having consulted with a number of other industry professionals for whom I have the utmost respect, I am not convinced that there have been any significant contributions for, well, for quite some time.
The Accredited Site Audit Scheme introduced by the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) back in the early 2000s was launched with great fanfare and promise. But, even though it remains a prerequisite of NFDC membership, the scheme has failed to progress. The site being audited is nominated by the member company and it is timed to suit them too – hardly the exacting litmus test of competence and compliance we had all hoped it might become.
The various sets of guidance notes produced by the NFDC similarly had the potential to raise standards among the Federation membership and beyond. But like a swotty schoolboy covering his work with his arm to ensure it isn’t copied, the NFDC has now placed those valuable guidance notes behind a firewall, accessible to just a select few. (It surely undermines any claims of elite status when access to a few books is considered a key differentiator).
The demolition degree pioneered by the Institute of Demolition Engineers gave the industry its first tangible taste of academic credibility; and certainly those that emerged with the qualification did so – rightly – with considerable pride. But the degree course seems to have faltered and now requires a significant shot in the arm if it is to truly progress.
Having polled several key individuals with their fingers on the industry pulse, we have managed to come up with just two potentially game-changing developments of recent years.
The first, I believe, is the Top Down Way tower block demolition system pioneered by Italian contractor Despe. It is unquestionably an engineering marvel; but it is also a vertical (if you’ll pardon the pun) innovation with relatively limited scope – It is best suited to tower blocks of 90 metres or taller. In the right application, the Top Down Way is a game-changer; sadly, the right application does not come along anywhere near often enough.
The second true game-changer, in my opinion and the opinion of others, is the automatic quick coupler from the likes of OilQuick. Steelwrist and Lehnhoff. The arrival of those quick couplers spawned a mini revolution within the industry. Today, no demolition contractor worth its salt is without quick couplers and the broad array of attachments it facilitates.
But that’s not much, is it? For an industry that is constantly innovating and constantly evolving, that is not a great deal to show for two decades or more.
Maybe the industry is now so mature that it is wrong to expect a landscape-shifting development at this stage. We already have high reach machines so now only the height is likely to vary. We have demolition robots so we have already pinned our colours to the remote control and autonomous operation mast that those in construction are only now beginning to consider.
But for all those meetings, those working parties, those committees, the R&D spend, and all those incremental innovations, the industry needle has barely shifted.
In today’s show: We are going to play you the Kinshofer TR045 film that refused to play on Friday’s show; there is an epic crane dismantling from Liebherr; Volvo tyres of Michelin; and winter is coming. Time to break out the Cat grader.
PLUS another happy Hyundai customer.
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Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
In today’s show: We’re revisiting the Kinshofer TR045 for a dual perspective; a giant leap for productivity; a long walk for a dragline; Volvo is on track in South Africa; the unspoken benefits of the Cat Rental Store; and an Italian gets the munchies in Canada.
PLUS cancel culture arrives in the demolition industry.
Join us LIVE for your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from the world of demolition and construction.
Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
From as long ago as 1948, the name Squibb has been synonymous with demolition.
Founder Harry Squibb was hauling waste materials from East London and the docks using a horse and cart before the Second World War. When the war ended and Harry Squibb completed his national service, he found himself ideally placed to demolish the countless buildings damaged and rendered unstable by the Blitz on London. He ultimately founded H. Squibb and Son as a demolition entity in Stepney in 1948.
The company survived, evolved into Squibb and Davies when Harry took on a partner, and moved to the Bow Baptist churchyard. In 1969 Harry’s son, Leslie, joined his father, worked through the ranks, and was the Chairman until he passed in 2020.
The company became a member of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors in 1974, becoming the first demolition company to be awarded an asbestos license in 1984.
Leslie Squibb jnr – son of Leslie snr and grandson of founder Harry – joined the company in 1987.
In 2008, the company changed its name to Squibb Group. In the same year, Squibb Plant Hire and Squibb Environmental were formed. In 2012, the company opened an international office in Qatar.
Having moved to Barking in 1999, the company began the construction of a new headquarters in 2016. At the same time, Squibb Group opened a new regional office at Sellafield as home to its newly-formed Nuclear Division.
The company moved to Stanford le Hope in the newly opened Squibb House in 2018.
As one of the biggest and best-known demolition contractors in the UK, Squibb Group has been involved in a huge number of high-profile projects over the years. These include the demolition of Barking Power Station, the MG Rover factory at Longbridge, and Imperial Tobacco at Nottingham.
In March this year, it was revealed that Squibb was one of 10 members of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) that had been handed fines totalling almost £60 million for their part in a bid-rigging scandal that had been investigated by the Companies and Markets Authority (CMA).
The company received one of the smallest fines – £2.0 million – for its part in the scandal; but the company was one of only two to companies to contest the provisional findings.
On 31 March, Squibb Group announced that it was initiating an appeal against the CMA decision and what the company described as a “disproportionate” fine.
In the latest turn of events, the company filed for a Company Voluntary Arrangement in October 2023.
In today’s show: Squibb Group on the brink; Bobcat rolls out yet another new product; building resilience with John Deere; and we’re tackling a giant jigsaw puzzle with the assembly of a Cat 395 excavator.
PLUS is this the best looking crusher you have ever seen?
Join us LIVE for your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from the world of demolition and construction.
Come for the news and stay for the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.
