In August a lorry carrying a digger hit a footbridge over the M20 near Maidstone. The falling concrete hit an HGV. A 70-year-old biker threw himself off to avoid the debris. With half the bridge swaying perilously over the road, Mike Kehoe’s phone began ringing. Mr Kehoe, a demolition engineer at C&D Consultants, describes the incident as the biggest heart-stopping moment of his 32-year career. “We had no drawings, no calculations and when we arrived there was 500 tonnes of bridge wobbling over the road. They gave us 36 hours. We got it down in 30. I was really proud of that one.”
His team has taken down more than 150 tower blocks and about 50 hospitals. Some came down in dramatic controlled explosions; others were dismantled using hand tools and small machinery. His specialism? Concrete car parks. He has taken down nine this year alone.
As a consultant Mr Kehoe oversees the process, from ensuring that the contractor is using the right methods, explosives and calculations to making sure that anyone displaced from their homes is taken care of and that the public and site workers are safe.
“It’s no good looking at the paperwork in the office,” says Mr Kehoe, 49, a fast-talking Scouser, as he stands in the middle of a sprawling site in New Bond Street, central London. All that remains is a 200-year-old facade, with hundreds of tonnes of steel stopping it falling on to shoppers. The calculations have to be right. “We’re right in the blood and bullets of it,” he says. “There are a lot of nerves in this job. Every time, a minute before the button gets pressed I take a deep breath and my heart stops. But it’s a euphoric feeling. Once it’s down it’s like scoring the winning goal. It’s that good.”
Mr Kehoe was on sites aged four, with his father and grandfather. “We used the ball and chain. I thought it was fantastic.” He left school on a Friday aged 16 and started work the next morning, taking down a petrochemical plant at Shell Stanlow.
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“It used to be seen as a dirty, dangerous industry full of poorly trained men who’d be picked up off the street and paid cash in hand.” These days it’s all explosives training, asbestos awareness, hard hats and state-of-the-art equipment; one machine can do the work of 30 men.
Mr Kehoe has seen broken bones, crush injuries and one fatality, in 1988, when a worker fell from a roof. “Some people say demolition is a dark art. No two buildings are ever the same, and you have to treat each one with the respect it deserves. My father and grandfather taught me to always look out for the ‘what if?’.”
He speaks to his father, now 84, on the phone every day, picking up tips. His daughter is off to university to study health and safety. “She’ll be the fourth generation of Kehoes in demolition.” She will always have work. “The old buildings have to come down to clear the way for the future.”
Demolition engineer
Working hours “I work from 6am to whenever a job’s done”
Pay Salaries start at £20k-£30k out of university, going up to six figures
Qualifications A bit of everything: a degree, plus qualifications in management, structural and explosive engineering
Best aspect of job “When they scrape the last bucket away, I get a smile on my face”
The worst aspect “A lot of time living out of a suitcase”