A spotlight on UK demolition contractors David Horton’s most rewarding projects

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Categories: News

For nearly three decades, the team at David Horton has forged an excellent reputation as leading UK demolition contractors, carrying out a range of asbestos removal, soft strip, demolition, foundation removal and crushing work for customers located all over the country. In this month’s blog, we’re taking a closer look at two projects from the company’s archives that still stand out to the team to this day. The first demolition project, which took place in Whitchurch, Bristol, was chosen by supervisor Toby Horton.

Demolishing a deconsecrated church

As demolition contractors working all around the UK, every single job we carry out is slightly different. And that’s not just because the locations vary from inner city industrial buildings to 20th century homes riddled with asbestos (we covered our asbestos work in our march blog, which you can read here) but there are always unique challenges to understand and overcome. This project near Bristol kicked off in March 2014 and saw us demolishing a deconsecrated church to make way for new housing. We were on site for a total of eight weeks including the site setup, the soft strip, the asbestos assessment and removal, the demolition and the crushing. The church presented an extra challenge because it was a high building that was in very close proximity to a school and residential site.

We carefully planned our approach to this site, using mechanical means to demolish the old church while ensuring the surrounding buildings and residents were safe at all times – and on time and on schedule! It’s very rare that you get good feedback from residents near a demolition site – for obvious reasons – but in this case we had lots of visitors to the site. From the client and residents to other demolition companies, the feedback was glowing, and I know the team were very proud of this job. For me, it’s one of those demolitions that makes you think “I love a challenge’! Happy clients, happy residents, happy staff and complete on schedule. 

Making way for a new arts complex at Radley College

Our second memorable project has been chosen by our Director, Dan Horton, and it took place at one of the UK’s most prestigious schools.

Nearly 20 years ago, we were contracted by Radley College, an independent school near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. They wanted us to demolish an on-site chapel and theatre during their school summer holidays, to make way for a new arts complex. This project was very complex for several reasons, not least because there were still people on the premises for summer clubs and activities. The project had the additional challenges of asbestos assessment and removal, and the three buildings we were removing were tucked in between three Grade ‘A’-listed buildings.

The demolition work was being carried out as part of a multi-million pound investment in the arts facilities, with the eventual aim of creating a new studio complex for the lucky students at the school. We were tasked with securing the site and carrying out the soft strip and asbestos work before we would undertake the demolition. We were demolishing and removing everything from the three buildings, right down to the foundations, ready for the new build to begin. The buildings we were working on were connected to such old and precious buildings that this project really did challenge the team. However, they did an excellent job, and the project was deemed a success (all Grade A listed buildings were in the same condition as when we started at the end of the work).

When it was completed, the new arts complex was a superb asset for Radley College pupils – and remains so now. We’ve now been working with Radley College for over 20 years and have an excellent ongoing relationship, so we’re pretty sure they were pleased with the work!

Two excellent examples of our UK-wide demolition contracting work

These two case studies demonstrate how complicated and challenging some demolition work can be. At David Horton we have three decades of experience in professional demolition and asbestos removal, making us the partner of choice for construction companies, small builders and organisations all over the UK. We always offer a professional service and, as these case studies show, can be trusted to manage sites with listed buildings and residential areas nearby, and take down tall buildings accurately. If you’d like to chat to us about our services or learn more about our approach, please get in touch using the form or contact number here