Transforming Urban Landscapes: Howard Civil Engineering’s Demolition Project in Leeds

Comprehensive Project Overview

As one of the region’s leading contractors, Leeds based Howard Civil Engineering undertake a wide variety of operations right across the UK.

Formed in 2003 by Michael Howard, the family owned company has grown on the back of delivering high quality construction and civil engineering projects with an emphasis on client satisfaction. The wide range of projects covered by the company saw them quickly establish their own, in-house plant fleet. The range of machines has grown significantly alongside the construction and development arm to provide them with a modern, well-appointed fleet capable of tackling most projects.

Whilst their expansive fleet of machinery allows them to deliver their civil engineering operations, a recent contract win has seen the company look to add a range of demolition attachments to cope with a sea of reinforced concrete.

Craig Coleman is Plant Manager for the Howard Group of Companies and takes up the story. “We have won a contract to clear a large former industrial site in Leeds to make it ready for future development. The largely overgrown site was once home to a small power station which had been demolished several years ago. Whilst the buildings had been cleared, there were thousands of metres of reinforced concrete left in the ground which we have been tasked with clearing. We thought about possibly sub-contracting out the removal works but looking at the timescales and costs, we decided to keep it inhouse and undertake the work ourselves.”

Strategic Partnership with Worsley Plant

Looking at the market for suitable attachments, a call to Middlewich based attachment specialists Worsley Plant coincided with Northern Sales Manager Ross Quinn being close by. Ross quickly acted on the call and met up with Craig to see if Worsley could assist them. “I can’t fault the rapid response we had from Ross.” Craig commented. “We talked through the work we had in front of us and Ross quickly checked if they had suitable attachments within their hire fleet that we could try out before we took the plunge to buy.” With suitable kit in stock from Worsley’s large, modern hire fleet, a selection of attachments were quickly delivered, fitted and calibrated to work on the 21 to 36 tonne Komatsu excavators in the fleet.

Worsley Plant are the sole UK dealers for the Dutch designed and manufactured range of Rotar demolition attachments. The comprehensive range covers selector grabs, dedicated crackers, processors and shears along with a combination range which offers the best of the cracker and processor range rolled into one unit. Ross’s initial visit to site identified the concrete as being material which could be adequately handled by the company’s range of RDP processors. Following the initial trial of the RDP machines, Howard Civil Engineering placed an order for an RDP25 and RDP32 to work on their Komatsu PC210 and PC360 excavators respectively. Along with the two Rotar RDP models which had suitably impressed, Craig also ordered a Dynaset magnet to assist in the removal of rebar from the processed concrete. “We will have a large volume of rebar on the job and ensuring the full recovery of this material will allow us to recover a large proportion of the investment we have made in the new kit.” He commented. The final addition from Worsley Plant was an attachment from the company’s hire fleet. “We suggested to Craig that a steel shear would benefit them in processing rebar and other steel beams they have found on this job.” Ross explained. “Whilst the cost of investing in a new Rotar shear was prohibitive just for the small amount of time it will be used on the job, we were able to offer a quality refurbished VTN MT20 from our fleet.”

Successful Execution and Impact

With the new arrivals set up on their respective Komatsu excavators, Craig’s team set about the job of digging out and processing the concrete obstructions. “We have found the service from Worsley to be excellent from start to finish.” Craig exclaimed. “They delivered the kit on time and made sure the flows and pressures were correct for the tools to perform to their full ability. When we have had any issues, they have been quick to resolve them. I can’t thank them enough for their professionalism throughout this deal.”