CUDDY GROUP - DEMOLITION AND ASBESTOS REMOVAL SPECIALISTS

In 2004 the Cuddy Group were named by the trade publication Demolition and Recycling International as the 12th biggest demolition contractor in the world with demolition and asbestos removal as the core of the business.

In an article titled "Demolition experts knock over the opposition" and dated the 28 July 2004, the Wales on-line website said of the group............

"THE CUDDY Group is building on its position as the biggest demolition contractor in the UK with another high- profile contract

The Cuddy Group was recently named by trade publication, Demolition and Recycling International, as the 12th biggest demolition contractor in the world, with a turnover of more than £21m.

Brothers Mike and John Cuddy started the business in 1985 and today it employs more than 250 people from its base at Llandarcy in Neath Port Talbot.

The company has four divisions but it is demolition and asbestos removal that have become the core of the business.

Mike Cuddy said he believed it was an important colliery demolition contract in 1994 that had seen the group step up a level and set it on its way to become the biggest in the UK.

"I suppose it was the Taff Merthyr colliery, which was the last colliery to be demolished for British Coal," he said. "That was our first demolition contract in excess of £1m."

A number of significant decommissioning contracts in Wales have given Cuddy strong experience to build on, as it tenders for new work across the UK and abroad.

"It is no secret that there has been a lot of decommissioning work in the steel and petro- chemical industries in South Wales and there are not too many contractors that have experience in those fields - maybe only ourselves and one other in Wales," said Mike Cuddy.

That experience helped the group to secure a multi-million-pound contract to demolish the steel and slab plant at the Corus works at Llanwern.

"The reason why we are doing work in England and Scotland and tendering in Ireland and abroad, is because of the clients we have worked for and are working for in the UK at the moment," he added.

"It is the same as with anything else, it is always difficult to do the first one."

The company is now looking at the safest way of demolishing the Sketty flats.

"We could blow them up, because that is what people like to see, but we have invested in new machinery which will demolish the flats," said Mike Cuddy.

"What we try to do is to stop people working at height because that is where the danger is."

But despite winning huge contracts, the group is not turning away much smaller jobs.

"We do jobs from £500 to £5,000 and £50,000 to in excess of £5m. I don't want people to forget that we still do the jobs we did 10 years ago," said Mike Cuddy.

"We never want to turn anything away."

"The safety procedures are the same, whether it's a £500 job or a £1m [one] and there are less and less people that are capable of doing the work," John Cuddy said.

The demolition industry has seen increasing regulation in recent years and the group has responded to this environment by investing heavily in staff training.

"We used to outsource training, but now we have set up a facility here and bring the trainer to us. It makes it more efficient and the lads learn better because they are not in an alien environment," said John Cuddy.

The company has also invested in new equipment and facilities to keep it ahead of the latest regulatory changes.

"Two-and-a-half years ago we put an asbestos transfer station in our yard," said Mike Cuddy.

"We are lucky that with our forward thinking - we have one of only three in Wales and the only one in West Wales. We are taking waste here 24 hours a day."

But while the company is able to deal with hazardous waste, the vast majority of demolition waste, such as steel and rubble, is recycled.

John Cuddy said that one of the group's internal audits worked out that only 0.4% of the demolition waste the company produced by weight went to landfill.

"If you do the work on site and discipline your men and work to recycle and invest in plant and equipment you can hit the targets for 2015 now," said John Cuddy.

"They are looking for 80 to 85% recycled in 10 years and we are way ahead."

The Group has also noticed that an increasing number of clients are tendering on considerations beyond just price.

"More educated clients are not only placing orders on the basis of price but looking at delivery times," said John Cuddy.

"Clients are waking up to the fact that they have a responsibility under the contract - it is not just a case of driving the price down, they must allow the contract a sufficient margin to properly undertake the work."