CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
DECEMBER 2013-JANUARY 2014
39
DEMOLITION
European success
In addition to the Contract of the Year, six other
World Demolition Awards went to Europe
a vast array of different construction types.
This included the deconstruction and storage
of a Grade II listed building, and working in the
City of Westminster was a major challenge.
Micor won the 2013 Civils Demolition
Award for the work the company carried out
on behalf of the UK’s Ministry of Defence
to remove the Upper Harbour Ammunition
Facility (UHAF) outside the port of Gosport,
Hampshire, on the UK’s south coast.
The UHAF was formerly used to load
munitions onto warships but has since been
replaced by a more modern facility close by.
It was located 20 minutes offshore in a water
depth of 11m. This and security requirements,
tidal and visibility issues posed a major
challenge.
SAFETY TRAINING
Erith was deemed the winner of the 2013
Safety & Training Award for its robust safety
and training programmes.
In a year in which the company was involved
in an average of 12 contracts at any given
time, Erith workers collectively accumulated
689,000 hours without a lost time incident.
That brings Erith Group’s cumulative total of
man hours worked without a single lost time
incident to 1.5 million man hours.
Erith Group was one of the first demolition
contractors to take its health and safety
regime beyond sites by embracing Safety
24/7, a behavioural safety scheme.
The 2013 Recycling & Environmental
Award went to Danish company J Jensen.
The company was recognised for a system it has
developed to handle highly dangerous PCB
waste that arises from its demolition activities.
Instead of sandblasting, the company’s
system uses a jet that blows tiny sponges to
dust off surfaces.
When using this method, the spread of
contaminated material is minimised and
the amount of hazardous waste is reduced
significantly compared to sandblasting. The
sponges are cleaned in a closed system, which
makes sure there will be no harmful dust.
This year’s Manufacturers’ Innovation
Award was shared between two companies –
Kocurek Excavators and Volvo UK.
The two were recognised for the
development of a well-thought through
design modification that addresses the
problem of access to and egress from raised/
high cabs – a notorious cause of slips and
trips accidents on sites.
The new Step Safe cab eliminates the need
to clamber over the machine’s structure to
gain access to the working environment
by allowing entry to the excavator’s cab at
ground level, ready to be raised to the driving
position simply and easily by a rocker switch
on the dashboard.
ce
C
oleman & Company picked up the
Industrial Demolition Award for a
project that involved the demolition
of four gas holders spread over three sites in
Liverpool and nearby St Helens in the North
West of England.
During the course of the work, the company
had to overcome several unexpected
challenges that made the work infinitely
more complex and involved.
The Keltbray team won the 2013 Urban
Demolition Award, which went to this
company for its involvement with Project
Nova Victoria, working in a complex confined
environment in Westminster, London.
The work it carried out was within
exceptionally constrained boundaries, thanks
to heavy commuter and tourist traffic – both
vehicle and pedestrian. This was combined
with technical challenges of significant
concurrent working and major demolition of
Coleman & Company picked up the Industrial
Demolition Award, which was presented by
William Sinclair (left), EDE vice president and
NFDC president
Bill Moore (left), former NDA president,
presented the Keltbray teamwith the 2013
Urban Demolition Award
The 2013 Recycling & Environmental Award
went to J Jensen, with Kim Ostergaard (left)
and his wife accepting the trophy from Henrik
Bonneson, consultant with COWI
Former NDA president Bill Moore presented
the Manufacturers’ Innovation Award to Brian
Carroll (left) from Kocurek Excavators and Phil
Jones (right) fromVolvo UK
Richard Corrigan of Micor (right) accepted the
2013 Civils Demolition Award from Pilar de la
Cruz, EDA president
Erith’s Stuart Accleton (right) accepted the
2013 Safety & Training Award from Patrick
Frye, project director with Cardem
