Chicago-area demolition contractor receives NDA Lifetime Achievement Award

Thomas Robinette, Chicago area demolition industry veteran and former president of the National Demolition Association (NDA), Doylestown, Pa., was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for the influential role he has played in the evolution of the industry.

“Tom has helped lead the industry as it’s grown into the highly sophisticated discipline it is today, requiring knowledge of safe work practices, engineering, and the latest environmental standards and regulations,” says Michael Taylor, executive director of the NDA. Taylor presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Robinette recently at the association’s 41st Annual Convention in Las Vegas.

Robinette is president and owner of the national demolition contracting firm Robinette Demolition Inc . in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Since founding the firm, he has overseen the completion of more than 12,000 demolition projects, plant dismantlements, interior strip outs, and environmental remediation projects.

Robinette Demolition – which is ranked 10th in the nation in revenues among demolition contractors – may be familiar to some as the company which contributed its services to a Chicago project featured on the former hit TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

The company also completed the interior demolition of t he Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Robinette has served as guest lecturer on the topic of demolition at Purdue University, the first university to offer a specialization in demolition.

Within the NDA, which is the global trade organization representing professionals involved in the demolition process, he worked on numerous committee s and eventually held the sequential positions of secretary, treasurer, second and first vice president, president and past president of the association.

“We are especially grateful to Tom for the many years he’s devoted to the growth of our organization,” Taylor noted, while pointing out that Robinette has represented the NDA in Europe, Washington, D.C., at OSHA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Locally, Robinette participates on the boards of several charities and has received a Telly Award for excellence in film and video production. He is also active in the Association of Subcontractors and Affiliates, a Chicago area trade organization, which recognized Robinette Demolition’s safety record nine times in 10 years.