How one man has traveled halfway round the world to pursue his demolition dream.

Gabor Prudencio dropped us a line a few weeks ago to let us know that he was seeking work in the UK demolition business. Nothing unusual there; we receive emails and calls like this all the time. But what marked Gabor’s message as unique was his back story.

Hungarian-born, 29-year old Prudencio spent his life in Bolivia. Highly educated, he was ultimately employed by the Bolivian government as a civil engineer with a first response role to co-ordinate demolition projects following natural disasters such as floods.

But he was frustrated by the lack of demolition expertise in his adopted homeland, and by the severe lack of the type of heavy equipment that the European demolition industry takes for granted. And so he packed his bags and paid his own way to Germany to attend last year’s Bauma exhibition to see precisely what equipment was available, before finally arriving in the UK with a single burning ambition – To make a living in the UK demolition industry.

Since arriving, he has put himself through a number of National Demolition Training Group courses and is now actively seeking work, which took him to last week’s Institute of Demolition Engineers’ spring seminar in Leeds. Clearly impressed by Prudencio’s passion, commitment and enthusiasm, IDE President John Woodward personally paid for Prudencio’s ticket, allowing him to rub shoulders with some of the leading lights of the UK demolition industry. And we took the opportunity to conduct an interview with him, which you can hear below.

But, just one point before you hit the play button. As you listen to Gabor Prudencio explain how he has followed his dream halfway around the world, all at his own cost, compare him to some of your current workforce for whom early mornings, rain and “difficult” bus journeys are seen as reason enough not to work.

Now who is feckless?

If you would like to contact Gabor, please drop us a line via manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk and we will pass it on to him. And, as an added incentive, we are hoping to follow Gabor’s progress through the UK demolition industry. So, if you are able to offer him a position, you will receive some positive and FREE publicity as a result!

Unseen basement claims yet another heavy equipment victim.

There is no question that demolition can be a risky business, and that it often pays to have eyes in the back, side and top of your head while on site. But, despite the risk assessments and site surveys that are today considered the norm, it seems that there is one painfully obvious hazard that remains overlooked all too often – The hidden basement.

We have lost count of the number of times we have been forced to write about an excavator falling into a basement or underground void, purely because someone hadn’t checked out the site properly. And so it is with a mixture of “I told you so” and exasperation that we bring you the latest story of an operator’s apparent determination to work below ground.

An excavator being used to demolish the original St. Clement Catholic School in Cambridge, Ontario tumbled over Thursday morning. There were no injuries in the incident, which is the third construction-related accident in Waterloo Region this week.

The machine was reportedly knocking down a wall of the Duke Street building when the flooring gave way and it fell over.

The driver was able to climb out of the cab and was not hurt.

Read more here.

DemolitionNews presents Duncan Rudall with special prize.

We reported last week (twice, in fact) that Bristol-based contractor Wring Group had suffered the double misfortune of discovering two unexploded bombs on a Plymouth site in under four months.

Knowing that the company’s health and safety expert Duncan Rudall (who moonlights as the events co-ordinator for the Institute of Demolition Engineers) would be in Leeds for the IDE’s spring seminar on Friday, DemolitionNews and its Star Signs swung into action to produce a special, one-off high visibility vest as a gift.

Thankfully, Rudall took the joke with good cheer although we don’t expect to see him wearing the vest any time soon.

For the demolition professional who’d prefer to let the machines do the work.

The following video is about a year old, so we have no idea quote how we have missed it for quite so long. But this film of a Stanley F16 demolition robot in action was simply too good to leave to fester in some unexplored YouTube channel so, somewhat belatedly, we’re bringing it to you now.

Locals gather to see high rise implosion.

Hundreds of people watched as the Roosevelt House, a public housing high-rise, came tumbling down on Sunday morning as part of a planned implosion.

The demolition was part of an ongoing effort by the Atlanta Housing Authority to replace run-down, outdated projects with new communities for low-income families.

“When it’s down, it’s wonderful,” said Barry Roberts of Atlanta Demolition. “You never get used to the countdown. But it went down right where we wanted it to fall.”

Atlanta Demolition crews have been prepping the site for the past five months.

This is one of the last two Atlanta public housing high-rises slated for demolition. The final one is the Palmer House. Because it sits so close to other buildings, it will not be imploded. Demolition work inside has already started.

Another day, another UK demolition contractor calls it a day.

An established Hull demolition firm has fallen into administration – with the loss of 39 jobs.

Management at DJ Broady, based at Foster Street in the east of the city, told workers last week they were to be made redundant. They had already been working reduced hours since December.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “While we were working reduced hours and knew it had been a bit quiet, the news came out of the blue.

Read more here.

DemolitionNews.com announced as affiliate member of Institute of Demolition Engineers.

DemolitionNews founder Mark Anthony was in attendance and was welcomed into the IDE fold by new president John Woodward.

“From the moment we started DemolitionNews, we made it very clear that we had no allegiance with any trade body or association and there was always a concern that those trade bodies would, therefore, keep us at arms’ length. The fact that the IDE has reached out in this way, despite our sworn independence, speaks volume for the transparency and media savvy of the modern IDE,” Anthony says. “And the fact that we heard about it from John Woodward – the man who effectively inspired us to start DemolitionNews in the first place – just makes it all the more special.”

DemolitionNews is heading for the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ spring seminar.

Later today, DemolitionNews will be boarding a North-bound train, armed with video camera, stills camera, voice recorder, notepad and toothbrush, heading for Leeds.

Together with around 160 of the UK’s finest demolition engineers and professionals, DemolitionNews is attending the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Spring Seminar at the Royal Armouries, an event hosted by IDE President John Woodward, and organised (at least in part) by Wring Group’s nominated unexploded ordnance expert, Duncan Rudall.

We will, of course, be capturing as much of the action as we can for broadcast early next week. But to follow the action live, please keep a close watch on our Twitter feed (just to the left of this article) for live updates and photos as they happen.

Normal service will be resumed over the weekend.

More news emerging on WWII bomb discovered on Plymouth site.

Late last night, we brought you the news that Bristol-based Wring Group had achieved an unenviable double, uncovering the second unexploded World War II bomb in just three months. Today, as work continues on the site, local newspapers are providing more information.

Within minutes of the bomb being discovered, police threw a cordon around Notte Street, cleared the Holiday Inn and other nearby buildings with some being taken to the Duke of Cornwall hotel, according to This is Devon. Once again, Plymouth Pavilions was used as the main evacuation centre during the major emergency operation.

Sgt Andy Smith said: “On the advice of the bomb disposal team we set up an exclusion zone of 150 to 200 metres. Initially it was quite difficult at rush hour and unfortunately there was a bit of traffic chaos. Things were brought under control quite quickly and an emergency plan was put into action. Experience from previous events like this have helped us to cope with incident.”

Duncan Rudall, regional operation manger for Wring said the team were on the “final run of the job” and were working on “additional foundations” when the device was discovered. He said: “Basically, there was something there before the Naafi building and the team were having to going down a little deeper into foundations. The 40 tonne machine was excavating and it came out of the bucket. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same driver, but the bomb looks very, very similar.”

Tim Sharp, site supervisor who was at the scene when the bomb was dug up. He said: “I was on the other side of the site and the guys were working away. The next minute they called me over and one of them was on the phone to let police know they’d found what was believed to be a bomb. We quickly got into the van and as we were leaving the police were closing off Notte Street. It was eerie with no traffic and lots of officers. The bomb actually appears to be a little bigger in diameter than the last one. My father was the person who found that, but he’s working at another site today – I’ve already phoned him to let him know we found another one.”

Read the full story here.

Delta Group lands historic deal to fell part of asbestos-contaminated museum.

The state government has appointed demolition firm Delta Group to take down the Western Australian Museum’s Francis Street building.

The multi-storey 1970s building has been closed since 2003 due to asbestos contamination and other occupational health and safety hazards, Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said.

“The Francis Street building – which does not contain any of the museum’s public exhibits – will be demolished floor by floor inside a dust-proof canopy as a protective measure for the public and museum staff,” Day says.
“Internal demolition works are due to begin in March, while the external demolition work is scheduled to begin mid-year and be completed in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October.

Day said Delta Group was chosen over a shortlist of three other demolition firms because of its industry skills and experience.

Read more here.