East Midlands demolition specialist AR Demolition has picked up two major industry awards, highlighting its culture of safety and innovation.
Last week’s 2019 Construction News Specialists Awards finals saw AR Demolition picking up the awards for Health, Safety & Wellbeing Excellence as well as Demolition Specialist of the Year.
The company, based in Carlton near Nuneaton, was also highly commended in the training category, for their part in developing the first Masters’ degree in demolition management.
The winners were revealed during a sparkling ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London, with more than 750 industry personnel gathered to celebrate the best of the industry.
These are the only national awards for specialist contractors, with the winners having impressed during a rigorous judging process involving face-to-face assessment by panels made up of more than 70 experts from across the UK construction sector.
Richard Dolman, managing director of AR Demolition, said: “We’re delighted and proud to pick up these two awards.
“It’s a reward for all the work that our management team has put into developing the culture we have here, trying to create a company which is at the forefront of our industry for innovation.
“We want to change the way that the demolition sector performs, to raise standards and also help change its perception, so that we can attract new talent and create a truly sustainable business, in every meaning of the word.
“I’d like to thank the awards panel for recognising our achievements and we look forward to developing our reputation for innovation and safety even further.”
In the Demolition Specialist of the Year award, the Construction News judges were impressed by AR Demolition’s investment in people and equipment, its professionalism and its efforts to attract young talent into the industry.
They said: “AR Demolition have positioned themselves not only as a leading specialist demolition contractor, but also as a centre of best practice and workplace culture that many in the wider construction sector could learn from.
“AR Demolition demonstrated a brilliant understanding of the circular economy and, more importantly, they are actively putting in place all the required steps to make it a reality.”
Meanwhile in the Health, Safety & Wellbeing Excellence category, the judges said AR Demolition was “leading the industry” through the forward thinking ideas it was implementing.
A cultural transformation saw 5,469 hours of training at AR Demolition in 2017-18 and the judges were also particularly impressed with a debris-protection frame and a concrete-panel support frame, introduced to ensure the safety of onsite workers and members of the public.
Last November AR Demolition reported the best ever start to a financial year, with record turnover and profits in the first half of 2018.
In the six month period to July the company saw turnover rise by 54% compared to the same period in 2017, with year-on-year gross profit increasing by 18%.
The figures follow significant investment in new plant and machinery, including £1.5m spent on three new cutting-edge high reach machines last year after previous investment of £1m in 2016.
