Planning For Tomorrow, Today
Established in the mid-1970s, General Demolition provides deconstruction and enabling works across London and the home counties. The company’s expertise encompasses strip-out, cut-and-carve, and total demolition works in and around central London. With a recycling heritage exceeding 30 years, notably at their Walton on Thames site, General Demolition is richly poised for continued growth, having achieved an increased turnover of £15 million in 2024.
Since George Stainton became Managing Director in 2021, his ambitious leadership has driven the company to flourish. Demonstrating a powerful drive for growth, General Demolition has created new roles and opportunities, laying the foundations for future expansion centred on values of responsible and sustainable demolition practices.
Sharing a commitment to sustainable construction and glazing solutions, General Demolition was approached by the Glass Forever team at Saint-Gobain Glass with a proactive glass recovery proposal. George Stainton, Managing Director of General Demolition, praised David Entwistle, Director of Major Projects, and Richard Calcutt, Technical Project Manager at Saint-Gobain Glass:
“What’s refreshing about Saint-Gobain Glass is that they approached us with a proven solution, and importantly for us, it aligned with our sustainability ethics and was efficient to implement at 21 Glass House Street, Soho, London. At General Demolition, we’ve always placed sustainable practice at the core of our activities. We view the materials on our sites not as waste products, but as opportunities to contribute to the circular economy. Partnering with Saint-Gobain Glass and the Glass Forever Programme was a natural extension of our work, and most importantly, it works!”
Learnings and Planning Ahead
For this project, we utilised a trusted methodology involving a custom-built table for safely breaking the glass, ensuring it remained free of contaminants before packing it into the Saint-Gobain Glass custom one-tonne cullet collection bags. Using this process, we successfully recovered both laminated and toughened interior glass, as well as all secondary glazing.
Due to site access constraints in Soho, we adapted the glass recovery model to use Hiab vehicles for cullet collection. The collected glass was transported to a Glassolutions site in Thurrock, ultimately delivering a total of 36 tonnes to the plant in Eggborough for re-manufacturing into new high-performance flat glass products.
From initial conversations to final implementation, the complexity of glass recycling was embraced as a positive opportunity by General Demolition. Commenting on the process, George Stainton said, “The primary takeaway is the importance of early engagement with programmes like Glass Forever. The key to successfully completing deconstruction projects is understanding the nuances and logistics of each site and its challenges. With the knowledge we have today, General Demolition is better placed to approach upcoming projects with a timeframe for glass recovery built into our planned works, this not only suits our existing operational methods but also the requirements of the Glass Forever programme.”
Regarding the project’s overall success, Richard Calcutt praised the General Demolition team, “There’s a real positive and proactive energy within the General Demolition team. Their collaborative spirit shone throughout the process, as the team eagerly learned and adapted. They understood the implicit value of Glass Forever, making the adoption and roll-out across the site seamless. George and the GD management team played a pivotal role in ensuring everyone directly involved in the project were positively engaged, and this unified approach led to the successful delivery of glass on the project. Both teams should be very proud of their accomplishments.”
