Case story: EDA 2016 Annual Convention
The European Demolition Association, EDA, which is managed by RABUSO, organized its Annual Convention 2016, which was held on June 9th – 11th, in Glasgow, Scotland (UK).
The European Demolition Association, EDA, was founded in 1978 and is the leading platform for national demolition associations, demolition contractors and suppliers.
The EDA 2016 Annual Convention included conferences, presentations about new developments, case stories and round tables discussion.
The high quality of the speakers in the Conference program, the presence of important sponsors in an active and friendly exhibitor’s area, an emotional Gala dinner, as well as, an enjoyable leisure program, became this event in a successful meeting for more 150 attendants.
Thursday, June 9th
The first activity of the EDA Annual Convention 2016 was a workshop called “Assessment of Construction and Demolition Waste Streams prior to Demolition or Renovation of Buildings and Infrastructures”, presented and moderated by TECNALIA (Coordinators of HISER H2020 project and the EU Specific Contract on Pre-demolition Audit).
In a full meeting room, the organizers explained what is the currently situation of the pre-demolition audit in Europe, as well as how they work in draft guidelines about the same topic and ways to use them correctly in the future, always under the European Union’s leadership.
After the workshop, and just before the Welcome cocktail, the EDA General Assembly was held with the objective of creating an overview of the demolition situation in each country, between others topics.
The welcome cocktail was the last activity on Thursday, where all the attendants had the opportunity to salute their colleagues and enjoy a fantastic food, drinks and Scottish typical live music.
The President of EDA, Ms. Pilar de la Cruz, welcomed the people assembled with a speech where thanked the presence of all the assistants and sponsors.
Friday, June 10th
On Friday, at the same time of the professional program, there was a leisure program for the companions of the delegates, which consisted in a wonderful guide visit to Edinburg.
The professional program was moderated at the beginning to the end by Mr. Howard Button, Chief Executive Officer of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, NFDC.
The conference started with a welcome by the president of EDA, Ms. Pilar de la Cruz, welcomed the almost 120 attendants in the Conference room thanking their presence and the support of the sponsors: LIEBHERR, ARDEN EQUIPMENT, MANTOVANIBENNE, ROTAR, RITCHIE BROS, SMH, NPK, LEHNHOFF, DEMAREC, CATERPILLAR, HYDRARAM, STANLEY LABOUNTY, KOMATSU, KOCUREK and JCB.
Conference session 1
The first presentation, called “How demolition is changing Glasgow”, was made by Mr. Kenny Crookston, Chartered Building Surveyor with responsibility for the delivery of Wheatley Group’s demolition programme.
Mr. Crookston presented the ambitious demolition programme that has regenerated the city of Glasgow over the last 13 years.
The second speaker was Ms. Angeliki Koulouri, Project Manager at ACR+, currently in charge of the FISSAC European-funded project, topic of her presentation.
Before the first coffee break, it was the turn of the first case story of the conference.
Mr. Dave Rowe and Mr. Jim O’Sullivan, from the company Keltbray, explained the demolition of the Earls Court Exhibition Centres, in London, with a very illustrative plans, as well as a final video in order to complete the presentation.
Conference session 2
Ms. Marianne Hedberg, in charge of Expert environmental matters at the Swedish Construction Federation, make a presentation about the Swedish “Guidelines for resource and waste handling during demolition and construction”, which have been developed over almost ten years through broad cooperation within and between the construction industry, demolishers and recycling industries in the Scandinavian country.
Despite it was programmed a presentation by the president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers, IDE, Mr. Duncan Rudall, finally was its past president, Mr. John Woodward, who explained how this organization works at present.
After him, the Managing Director on the European Association for External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems, EAE, Mr. Ralf Pasker, spoke to the attendants about the Removal and recycling of these materials.
Before lunch and networking’s time, Mr. Carsten Tromp, Project & SHE-Q Manager at Jansen Recycling Group in the Netherlands, presented the second case called “Salvage Baltic Ace project”.
The presentation showed the way Jansen Recycling Group as recycling company prepared the project and how executed it accordingly.
Conference session 3
The session 3 was opened by the CEO of SMH Products, Mr. Oliver Smith, who examined the need for monitoring sites at which decontamination is taking place, including the critical control measures and reasons behind them.
After him, it was the turn of Mr. Manfred Künhe, holder of Geoexperts, a consulting company of Germany, who make a presentation about the preparation of the demolition of three skyscraper buildings in Cologne.
Before the last coffee break, another case story was presented, this time, by Mr. Vittorio Omini, the Operations Manager of F.illi Omini S. p. A, who explained the interesting demolition of Concordia wreck at Genoa port, Italy.
Conference session 4
The last session was started by the Secretary General of the German Demolition Association, Mr. Andreas Pocha, who explained the first collected data of the European Demolition Industry Report 2016.
The final results will be made available in October with the publication of the 2016 EDA Industry Report.
For more information, visit: www.europeandemolition.org/industryreport
After him, Mr. Thorsten Hesselbein, Head of Department Tower Crane Solutions of LIEBHERR, presented the deconstruction of high rise building using cranes.
The last paper of the day was “the decontamination of heavy metals, a case story” explained by Mr. Lindsay Pepperell, Technical Director within ERM based in Oxford, UK, as part of ERM’s Contaminated Site Management (CSM) Team.
Gala dinner
In the evening, the participants enjoyed a Gala Dinner in the historic Trades Hall of Glasgow, which provided a relaxed atmosphere to the professionals at the Annual Convention.
The attendants were welcome by the Bailie Ms. Fariha Thomas, from the Glasgow City Council, who thanked the celebration of the EDA 2016 Annual Convention in the Scottish city.
After that, the president of EDA, Ms. Pilar de la Cruz, made a speech and especially thanked the Gala Dinner sponsor, LIEBHERR and its delegate, Mr. Darren Bennet, who also wanted to say a words of gratitude to all the attendants.
At the end of the dinner, it was time for the awards and recognitions.
First of all, Mr. Howard Button received a plaque for the work done in the conference sessions as a moderator.
Secondly, Mr. James Caldwell was awarded with the NFDC Lifetime Achievement Award in gratitude of its work in the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, NFDC, and in the demolition industry in the United Kingdom.
After that, it took place one of the more emotional moments of the evening: the announcement of Mr. Aurelio Bonaria as new EDA Club of Honor member.
Mr. Aurelio Bonaria passed away a short while ago, a professional who helped in the developing of the European demolition industry, through his company BONARIA ET FILS and his participation in EDA.
His widow Ms. Viviane Bonaria-Pundel was present there in order to receive the necklace with the medal.
This meant the last action of Ms. Pilar de la Cruz as a president of EDA, because just after that, in an emotional speech, she named Mr. William Sinclair as a new president, who thanked the presence in that moment of important people for him during his career.
Finally, the first action of Mr. Sinclair as a president was to announce Ms. Pilar de la Cruz as a member of the Club of Honor.
Saturday 13th
On Saturday, more 25 people enjoyed a leisure program that consisted in a guided tour on bus, visit to the Riverside Museum and lunch by the city center.
DDR Expo 2017
The next Annual Convention of the European Demolition Association will take place on June 14 – 16, 2017, in Brussels (Belgium).
During the three days of exhibition, there will be conference sessions, workshops and other professional meetings taking place in the same venue organised by EDA and other partnered associations.
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