Monday September 21, 2020
Cawarden received an emergency response call to attend the site of a fire-damaged listed building which had unexpectedly collapsed. Whilst undertaking demolition and dismantling work to make the site and area safe, the Cawarden team unexpectedly discovered a soft toy bunny amongst the rubble which was in desperate need of a new home.
An unused public house, located in a rural area near Milwich in Stafford, had been damaged by fire in 2011 when a freak incident occurred. It saw lightning strike the roof of the property and started a severe fire.
Earlier this month (September 2020), a premature collapse of the building unfortunately occurred and had entered the roadway. Luckily no one was hurt.
The incident necessitated Cawarden’s emergency response expertise to make the site safe to allow the road to be re-opened, and also eliminate any further damage to the Grade II listed building.
Having received a call from the client on Friday 22nd September, Cawarden’s emergency response site team arrived promptly at the site the following morning.
Following a thorough site assessment and Health and Safety site induction, led by Senior Site Manager, Steve Fox, the team set to work.
With a range of specialist in-house plant and equipment, which was delivered to the site by a low loader, Cawarden applied the safest demolition techniques and per all key processes, procedures, Risk Assessments and Method Statements that you’d expect.
After removing several timber floors that had collapsed from the 2-storey structure, demolition works carefully progressed to minimise a further collapse of the historic building. Burnt remains were also removed, including the timber roof. In making the structure safe, the Cawarden team acted with care and consideration and it was their ultimate aim to remove only what was absolutely necessary.
Unexpectedly, the site team discovered a large soft toy bunny amongst the rubble. Thanks to Senior Demolition Machine Driver, Brett Edge, he was able to lift the bunny out of the rubble with the aid of his excavator attachment and dropped the bunny safely onto the grass behind him. The bunny was then handed over to a little girl called Daisy, who was on looking from the nearby property. Daisy was very happy to give the bunny the offer of a new home and a little bit of TLC after its ordeal!
The roadway was safely re-opened again after the debris was cleared and the Cawarden team left the site clean and tidy and to the client’s specification.