2021 has been a strange year for all of us as we try to balance the demands of the business whilst trying to ‘dance-around’ the Government’s Covid guidelines, but nevertheless our business has continued to operate throughout the year, and at a similar rate of pace as throughout the latter part of 2020.
So far this year we have carried out 34 individual contracts at a total value of just over £1,000,000 and our order book remains strong for the rest of the year, which is encouraging. Our client base includes a wide variety of organisations from local authorities and large high-profile house-builders to small sole traders and private individuals and with such a diverse mix of clients it creates a wide variety of work, from the demolition of aircraft hangars for Private Clients at Manchester airport to dismantling old fishing trawlers for the Ports Authorities, and we even dismantled an old garden outbuilding for a pensioner couple in Blackburn, so it’s an interesting mix of work and we never know what we’re going to be asked to do next!.
Below is a breakdown of some of the projects that we’ve undertaken to date this year, along with a selection of contract photos from the works: –
Terraced Houses Accrington - Demolition Contractor Project
Demolition of a row of 23 terraced houses on Pendle Street, Accrington, which were suffering from mining subsidence and within an area set aside for redevelopment and modernisation. As well as the demolition and site clearance, the works included for construction of a new gable wall to the end of the last house on the corner, which was staying in place. Phase 1 demolition and site clearance was completed late Summer 2020 and the new gable end and masonry modifications constructed Spring 2021.
Fred Longworth High School
In January 2021 we completed Phase 1 of a 2-Phase demolition scheme at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley. The first phase was demolition of a single storey teaching block to make way for the construction of a new 3-storey modular classroom block. Once the construction of the new classroom block was complete the students were ‘decanted’ into the new facility and then we carried out Phase 2 of the demolition and demolished the remaining 2-storey block. The Phase 2 demolition was a challenge as it was located tight between the new 3-storey block and the rest of the high school… an interesting and ‘nerve-wracking’ job.
Blackpool Nightclub & Health Club - Demolition Contractor Project
The early part of the Year saw us complete this interesting demolition in Blackpool, which involved the demolition of a former nightclub and health centre, including a swimming pool in the middle of Blackpool as part of a multi-million-pound regeneration project. This contract was another tight site located in a mixed residential/commercial/retail area in the town centre and only 500m away from Blackpool Tower. It was another ‘tricky’ job where part of the property needed to be separated from an existing row of shops and apartments, so the job called for all our skills and patience as we carefully dismantled the 2-storey structures. The contract was completed over a 12-week period and to the total satisfaction of the Client.
New Supermarket Preston - Demolition
Immediately in the New Year, we saw another returning client who along with their professional partners awarded us the job of demolishing an existing supermarket to make way for a new updated and larger store. The location was the Deepdale Retail Park on Blackpool Road to the North of Preston, which was a very busy retail park with lots of neighbouring properties attracting hundreds of pedestrians and vehicles throughout the day, so it was important for us to pay particular attention to keeping noise and dust nuisance to an absolute minimum, and to be very vigilant with our HGV wagon movements. This scheme generated 1,700 tonnes of hardcore, concrete, and brick and we crushed and recycled all this material on-site, which created useful hardcore for the client to then re-use in the construction of the new store, saving thousands of pounds and being ‘environmentally-friendly in the process.
Private Client at Manchester Airport - Demolition & Dismantling Project
Another New Year project involved the internal stripping out and demolition of 2-storey offices and amenity block inside an aircraft hangar at Manchester airport. These works were undertaken over an 8-week period as preparation for the demolition of the whole hangar to clear the site for a new high-tech aircraft hangar and office facility with space for private aircraft just off the main runway and with offices above the new hangar facility. Because these works were being carried out close to the main runways of Manchester airport we needed to exercise extreme caution in respect of the release of FOD (Foreign Object Debris) into the air, which could then be blown into the path of an aircraft and potentially damage the engines, which wouldn’t end well if it happened, so in order to avoid the FOD on the first phase of this ‘stripping-out’ work we worked internally from specialist platforms and removed the cladding and insulation internally.
Two New Supermarkets in Stockport
We have carried out a number of projects for supermarket clients in recent years and in Jan/Feb this year we demolished a large public house and other associated structures on a site in Reddish, Stockport to make way for a new supermarket, and we also demolished a former Mercedes Car showroom on Wellington Rd, Stockport for a second supermarket only 2 miles away. Following the removal of asbestos materials both these sites were demolished down to ground floor slab level only, so as to remove the dilapidated structures and to deter trespass and vandalism, and next year we will be returning to both these sites to break out the ground floor slabs and foundations once the planning approvals have been received and when the sites are ready for construction of the new supermarkets.
Marine Works
This was an unusual demolition job, which involved the dismantling of an old fishing trawler, which had been abandoned at the side of a Dock in the North West. The work was carried out in tidal waters and the hull was sunk into the mud and silt at the bottom of the dock, so it was a tricky operation with the added risk of polluting the dock waters and also the risk of operatives falling into the tidal waters, so great care was required. The works were carried out without incident; on time and within budget. All the material from the trawler was recycled and we even kept the old wheelhouse intact in case somebody can find an imaginative use for it, like an unusual garden shed for a sailing enthusiast?
Major Housing Developer
During the year we have carried out a number of small contracts for this high-profile housebuilder. The work has generally involved breaking out and crushing/recycling concrete roadways and also screening and recycling the builders waste hardcore stockpiles in order to create usable recycled aggregates from otherwise waste building material, so we crush all the old waste bricks, blocks, road kerbs, paving, setts and tarmac and make recycled hardcore out of it for the client to then re-use in the permanent works. This reduces waste and increases the overall sustainability of their housing sites. In addition to these recycling works we also carried out a ‘landscaping’ contract at one of their high-profile sites in South Manchester where we imported 350 wagon loads of topsoil from one of their other sites and re-graded it to create a new leisure park area within the site. We then arranged for the area to be ‘hydroseeded’ to generate the grass cover as quickly as possible.
Davenshaw Mill, Congleton
This was the demolition of a large 3-storey Victorian mill property for a private client on a tight site trapped in between the main Buxton Road and a sizeable river, which made juggling the works rather tricky. Despite the tight nature of the site the demolition works created around 3,500 tonnes of hardcore, which we recycled and stockpiled on site and this was then used by the Groundwork contractor to backfill behind the new river retaining wall, prior to the construction of residential apartments on the site. As well as the hardcore virtually all the other materials generated by the demolition were recycled including scrap metals and nearly 60 tonnes of timber with less than 3% going to landfill, making the overall redevelopment of the site very environmentally friendly.
Manufacturer & Retail Fashion Company, Burnley
Earlier in the Summer we were delighted to be awarded a large warehouse asbestos removal and ‘strip-out’ contract for a major fashion retailer. The work involved stripping out all the internal walls and fixtures/fittings to ‘open-out’ the warehouse back to a bare shell for it to be then refurbished into a new warehouse to house the companies expanded product range from their recent acquisition of another company . This was a sizeable and awkward internal strip-out scheme involving working around some existing services and which required us to work alongside the company mechanical and electrical contractor who ensured that all the important services connecting the various buildings on the site were kept ‘online’ throughout the works.
Wholesale Food Company Sheffield
This was a contract, which we carried out in early Summer where we were enlisted as a sub-contractor to help a fellow demolition contractor carry out a major contract for the breaking out and crushing/recycling of acres of concrete slabs and foundations at a former food process site in Sheffield. The extent of concrete stretched into the distance and overall we had 3no 30t-40t excavators hammering away for 6-8 weeks and then our 40 tonne crusher which reduced all the broken rubble into recycled aggregate, which was then stockpiled on site for use in the redevelopment works. The main demolition contractor was under pressure to start on another scheme and it was nice to know that he had the confidence to leave us on site to complete the works for him, which we did in a timely manner and to the overall satisfaction of the client.
Yet Another supermarket site, Padiham, Burnley
Another contract for a favoured client, which involved the demolition of an old ‘Tripe Factory’, an old Engineering works, and also a carpet warehouse, which included the removal of a large quantity of asbestos cement roof sheeting, which we safely removed by hand and disposed of at a licenced landfill site. We were up against a tight programme and worked closely with the Principal Contractor who were constructing the new supermarket, and to ‘fast-track’ the programme we phased the works so that we cleared the area of the site where the new store was to be built so that the piling contractor could get an early start and ‘crack-on’ with the foundation works.
