DEFRA unveils new consultation on revised Waste Framework Directive.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has issued a new consultation on the revised Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) for England and Wales.
Further details can be found by clicking here while a copy of the consultation document in pdf format can be downloaded by hitting the link (below).
The number of hits on the Demolition Jobs website escalate as the recession bites.
www.demolition-jobs.co.uk, the website established by the National Federation of Demolition Contractors to help unemployed demolition workers advertise their availability to work to prospective employers, has seen a jump in traffic levels during the past month, underlining fears that the recession is impacting upon the industry’s workforce.
“We monitor the site statistics very closely and we have seen a very sharp increase in levels over the past few weeks,” says the site’s co-founder Mark Anthony. “I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, I am pleased that this free service is proving popular and that the thinking behind it was sound. But the fact that more people are now having to use it suggests that job losses are on the rise. Frankly, I’d love to see the site fail because the industry was sufficiently bouyant to provide full employment.”
Another key fact is the level of qualification of many of the site’s users. “When we initially discussed the site, I think we were all expecting it to be used primarily by site operatives, partly because there are more of them but also because many of them are of an age where Internet use is more common,” Anthony continues. “But the registrants on the site at present are generally individuals with more ‘managerial’ experience. The site currently has a contracts manager, a demolition manager and a pair of site supervisors actively seeking work.”
Anthony says that, although the site’s traffic stats are telling, he’s unwilling to draw specific conclusions about geographic downturns. “The site has certainly received more registrations from the NFDC’s London & Southern Counties Region but I am sure that’s due, at least in part, to the fact that this is traditionally the biggest area for employment in the UK demolition sector,” he concludes.
A straw poll by the National Skip Hire & Recycling Association reveals price differential.
A lack of standardisation on the cost of skip permits is allowing some local authorities to charge ludicrous sums, according to a new straw poll from the National Skip Hire and Recycling Association. Indeed, based upon a sample of 18 local authorities selected at random, permit fees vary from no charge in Leicester up to a staggering £26 per day PLUS a £72 application fee in Kensington and Chelsea.
Full details of the random poll’s findings can be found here.
What is the most unusual thing you’ve uncovered on a demolition site?
There is nothing more likely to get a demolition contractor on the TV or onto the front page of a newspaper than an unusual or unexpected on-site discovery, particularly if the contractor is unlucky enough to unearth unexploded ordnance or, worse, human remains.
But having read recently about a waste management company that received a skip load of new bras for disposal, we were wondering: What is the most unusual thing you’ve uncovered on a demolition site?
We don’t care how weird or inappropriate it is, or even if it’s only a story you’ve heard from a fellow demolition man. And we’d be even more pleased if you have photographic evidence of your unusual finding.
And just by way of an incentive, we’ll pull together a goodie bag of “stuff” for the most unusual entry.
Please just hit the blue comment tab (below) or send us an email: manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk
You know things are bad when the construction business gets its own stress toy!
Here at Demolition News Towers, we receive all manner of goodies (most of which we then give away as competition prizes). In recent months, we’ve had machine models, enough USB thumb drives to store the sum of man’s knowledge, more umbrellas than an average day at Wimbledon and considerably more baseball caps than we have heads.
However, every once in a while, we receive a package that takes us all by surprise; and that was the case this morning when our postman pitched up carrying a box from Make Mine A Builders, a construction trade specific brand of tea (our overseas readers can probably stop reading now – we realise that tea is a very British thing!)
In amongst a box containing tea, a thermal flask, a mug, a t-shirt and the ubiquitous USB was a rubber stress toy that just about sums up the current state of the market.
Professional Demolition International has covered the launch of www.demolition-jobs.co.uk.
In the past, we have made no secret of our support for the www.demolition-jobs.co.uk initiative to safeguard UK demolition jobs and to help employees advertise their availability to work. So we’re delighted to see that Professional Demolition International magazine (PDI) has chosen to cover the scheme in its latest issue:
Earth Exchange website facilitating exchange of building materials shows increase in demand.
An award-winning website created to facilitate the exchange of surplus construction or reusable demolition materials has reported a marked increase in levels of materials exchanged.
Earth Exchange® (www.earthexchange.com) uses a time based map system on which users can enter their current and future construction projects and say what materials they have surplus or require.
The website easily identifies where other construction sites are or will be, who is operating there, what and when surplus materials are available and which sites have a deficit in materials. This allows the user the opportunity to match his site with local sites which have surplus/deficit of materials.
The latest headline figures suggest that materials reuse as a result of the Earth Exchange® website is on a steady and increasingly upward trend:
• Materials exchanged (virgin materials saved): 92,000 m3 (ca. 156,000 tonnes)
• Materials diverted from landfill: 48,000 m3 (ca 81,000 tonnes)
• Road haulage distance saved: 460,000 km (285,840 miles)
• CO2 emissions saved as a result of reduced road haulage: 433.5 tonnes
• Total approximate cost savings to users of Earth Exchange®: £4,215,000
“These headline figures are extremely encouraging and we are pleased that Earth Exchange® is making a tangible difference to the construction materials reuse issue and is streamlining the sustainable procurement process,” says operations director Alex Albion. “We, of course, also have to remember that users of the website are not required to leave feedback, so in all likelihood the amount of materials that have actually been exchanged and cost savings realised with the help of Earth Exchange® are considerably more than that presented.”
“The construction industry is having a hard time at the moment, but the figures show that users of Earth Exchange® have a definite competitive advantage over those construction and demolition companies which are not using our system. Using Earth Exchange® has the potential to make a real difference to the bottom line of any construction project, as well as improve the key environmental performance indicators for a project,” Albion concludes. “As we hopefully start to see a recovery in the construction sector we would expect to see many more housing and commercial developers, their contractors as well as more civil engineering and demolition firms join Earth Exchange® and add to the number of sites on our mapped database.”
A new implosion compilation featuring the music of The Prodigy.
No need to comment; just crank up your speakers, blow up the video to full screen and enjoy.
On 25 September, the IDE will gather at One Great George Street for a truly international event.
The Institute of Demolition Engineers is gearing up for its next seminar at One Grea George Street in London. And vice president John Woodward has put together a tremendous and truly international programme that will include presentations from:
Demolition News is planning to be there on the day but we strongly suggest that you book your tickets now by visiting www.ide.org.uk
Oil rig decommissioning is big business; and when we say big, we mean BIG!
We have just received a photo of a new demolition specification excavator that has been delivered to a contractor in Norway solely for the purpose of dismantling and decommissioning oil rigs. Nothing too unusual there.
The machine is also based upon a Caterpillar 5130 excavator which, once again, is hardly unique.
But take a closer look. Fully rigged, this machine weighs in at 340 tonnes, and has a reach of “just” 34 metres, allowing it to wield a truly massive 25 tonne shear attachment.
Our thanks to Genesis for providing this photo – We hope to see more when this giant machine goes to work.
