How David Keane’s stewardship put the NFDC back on course. At the Rosewood Hotel in West London later this morning, David Keane will once again hand over the presidential reins of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC), the organisation of which he has been acting president for the past nine months. Unforeseen circumstances and…Read moreRead more
Comment
Comment – Cometh the hour…
Comment – Standing on the shoulders of giants…
Why we owe the industry’s forebears a double-debt. Being a Brit, I don’t do Thanksgiving, which is probably just as well as I am pretty ungrateful individual at the best of times. If I did, the list of things I am thankful for would be very short: my wife, children and grandchildren, West Ham United,…Read moreRead more
Comment – An unfitting legacy…
A dog-eared pile of paper is all that remains of the once great Cuddy Group. On Wednesday last week, I was awoken from my mid-morning slumber at my desk by the arrival of a hefty package that hit the mat at Demolition News Towers like a safe. That package contained a communication from Grant Thornton,…Read moreRead more
Comment – We need to talk..
Suicide Prevention Day highlights dangers in demolition and construction. Young men working in the demolition and construction industries represent the highest suicide risk of any industry. Yet while we quickly latch on to issues that might impact upon physical well-being of demolition and construction workers, their mental well-being is still being overlooked, even though this…Read moreRead more
Comment – Extracting maximum value…
Like what we have to say? Then leave us a tip. If there is one thing that demolition men and women are good at, it is extracting maximum value from their work. Whether they specialise in the demolition of tower blocks or toilet blocks, petrol stations or power stations, demolition folk are past-masters at squeezing…Read moreRead more
Comment – Enforce AND Endorse…
The relationship between the HSE and the demolition industry should be a two-way street. During my time as the publicity officer of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, I was the co-author of no less than four sets of industry guidance notes. I was co-author on both the original and the updated edition of the…Read moreRead more
Comment – Temporary fix is not the answer…
David Keane might steady the NFDC ship; but can he fix the holes below the waterline? In the period from its formation in 1941 to its 70th anniversary in 2001, the National Federation of Demolition Contractors had 31 presidents. Although the figures are queered slightly by the fact that Sidney Hunt Snr returned for a…Read moreRead more
Comment – Putting the industry on notice…
No more Mr Nice Guy – We will name and shame the industry’s late-payers. Like a demolition man that has to pay his staff, his chosen equipment hirer, his fuel supplier and his insurance company in order to work, I have a stack of people that I need to pay long before I can even…Read moreRead more
Comment – A dangerous precedent…
Massive fine could be merely the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday’s story about the monumental fine handed down to Mick George Ltd gained traction the moment I hit the upload button. In its first hour online, the story passed the 100 reads, 500 reads and 1,000 reads milestones faster than any other story this year….Read moreRead more
Comment – Where are our thought leaders…?
In search of the left-field, outside the box, blue sky thinkers that will shape the sector. Sci-fi writer and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke – is widely credited as having first conceived the notion of what we now know as a “space station”. Although it was a subject he would…Read moreRead more
