Building Bridges

Ask demolition contractors to name their most vital piece of equipment, and many of them will quickly answer it is their hard hat.

John Woodward, the new president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers (IDE), would undoubtedly agree. However, during the past few years his passport has been an even more constant companion.
 

Traveling Man
With his West Midlands accent and shirt and tie combinations loud enough to be heard over the implosions upon which he is a regular coordinator, Woodward has been a consistent and instantly-recognizable presence at demolition events across Europe for the past several years.

From European Demolition Association events in Nice and Istanbul through the National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ convention in Monte Carlo, the Demolition Awards in Amsterdam and the DEMCON exhibition in Stockholm, Woodward has become one of the best-known and most respected individuals in the European demolition industry.

It is unlikely to surprise anyone that this international outlook played into both his inaugural speech and his stated ambition for the IDE, of which he was recently elected president.

Yet while he is obviously keen to increase membership and, therefore, the revenue stream of the Institute, Woodward believes that overseas membership of the IDE is a two-way street, and that the Institute has much to learn from its international members.

This willingness to learn was evident when Woodward was a guest speaker at the DEMCON exhibition in September of 2010. What was billed as a 30-minute presentation on demolition equipment of the past, present and future quickly became a roundtable discussion with Woodward seeking to gain as much knowledge as he was imparting.

“I firmly believe that, in many areas of the demolition industry, the United Kingdom is a world leader,” he commented. “I think our industry-specific training is the best in the world. We have pioneered guidance on a multitude of demolition disciplines that are now in use around the world. And it comes as no surprise to me that a U.K. company has been named World Demolition Company of the Year two years in a row,” he added.

“But I am not naive enough to believe that we can’t learn more,” he told attendees. “Our colleagues in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands still lead the way in environmental terms. Contractors in Japan have devised some truly remarkable demolition techniques. And the blasting community in North and South America has a lot of experience to share on large-scale implosions. It is my hope and my dream that the IDE will become the global forum for sharing this kind of knowledge and expertise.”
 

Maintaining Standards
Woodward went on to point out that overseas membership of the IDE will never be a “send us a check and you’re in” arrangement, and that a formal examination – built around the applicant’s local credentials – will remain a pre-requisite of membership.

“It is my intention to accept as members demolition engineers from the United States, Italy, France, Spain and from many other areas of the world,” he said. “But this will not be done by lowering the standards of the IDE entrance criteria.”

Indeed, maintaining standards will be very much the watchword of Woodward’s two-year presidency, he stated, much as it is in his “proper” job as managing director of demolition consulting firm C&D Consultancy.

In addition to acting as an adviser to some of the U.K.’s largest demolition contractors, Woodward also works as an independent assessor on the Accredited Site Audit Scheme, which is a condition of membership of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC). Also, he has recently been involved in the development of a new Demolition Managers’ training course with the U.K.’s National Demolition Training Group. (See sidebar “U.K. Demolition Managers On Course,”  at the bottom of the page.)

“One of the core values of the IDE is to ensure that demolition engineers are recognised for their skill, and that their expertise is valued in the same way as any other engineer,” he remarked.
 

Ambassadorial Role
Having been a co-author on the soon-to-be-published NFDC guidance on high-rise apartment deconstruction, Woodward says that he has plans to publish under the IDE banner new sets of guidance on diverse subjects such as remote demolition of asbestos roof sheets.

He also wants to forge stronger links with like-minded U.K. associations such as the NFDC, the Institute of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Builders.

It will likely be only a matter of time until the dog-eared and travel-worn Woodward passport is pressed back into action. In his demolition consultant role, Woodward has a 2011 overseas travel schedule that already includes planned visits to Brazil, Australia, the United States, Italy and Spain.

As of late 2000, John Woodward had only been in the presidential hot-seat for a few short weeks, and it’s far too early to be considering his legacy.

When he does eventually hand over the reins of office to his successor, his goal will be that more of the global demolition world will be familiar with the IDE acronym and what it stands for. Chances are, as well, a few demolition engineers will have been inspired to wear sharper shirts and ties.

U.K. Demolition Managers on Course

The NDTG’s Howard Button (far left), Sophie Francis (in purple) and Ronnie Mould (right) remotely direct the Demolition Managers course via CCTV link.

The National Demolition Training Group (NDTG), the specialist training arm of the United Kingdom’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC), has unveiled a new CCDO Demolition Managers course, according to the organization’s training Group Manager Sophie Francis.

Following a successful pilot scheme involving some 10 demolition managers, the NDTG has officially launched the six-day CCDO (Certificate of Competence of Demolition Operatives) Demolition Managers program.
The course will be a permanent addition to the NDTG’s course offerings, for which candidates will be industry-assessed and issued with a Demolition Site Managers Card.

The pilot program was developed in conjunction with John Woodward, the new president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers (IDE), and delivered by a team of trainers that included Woodward, his colleague Roland O’Connor of C&D Consultancy, and the NDTG’s Ronnie Mould and Howard Button.

Thanks to funding from CITB ConstructionSkills, the final session of the pilot scheme took place at the ACT-UK Simulation Centre. It provided a “real-life” test of what the candidates had learned.

The Centre is designed to test interpersonal and technical skills. Through constructive feedback, candidates are able to recognize their own shortfalls, resulting in enhanced self-awareness, empathy, communication skills and leadership qualities.

“Candidates were shown their site [trailer] for the day and introduced to the site, which they had been parachuted into due to the absence of the hypothetical site manager,” says training group manager Sophie Francis.