WDS 2022 - it’s nearly here

The World Demolition Summit is now just one week away. (Image: KHL Group)

This year, the industry’s annual gathering takes place in the Austrian capital Vienna, on 16 and 17 November, and as the first in-person summit in Europe for four years it is certain to be a special occasion.

As its name suggests, this will be a global event, and the technical conference on Thursday 17 November will see speakers from companies including Argentina’s Grupo Mitre, Delsan-Aim of Canada and Protranz Earthmoving (New Zealand) joining European-based speakers from Belgium, Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Once again, the WDS will be based on a core of high-quality project presentations, featuring power plant demolition and remediation, remote-controlled demolition, and a demolition programme at the start of an urban space creation project.

And with the demolition and recycling industry facing rapid challenge and change, the conference programme will also feature issues dominating the current agenda, such as materials traceability, carbon audits, net zero, the circular economy and people shortages.

In addition to the international speaker line-up, we have two high-profile session chairs in Stefano Panseri, the president of the European Demolition Association, and Thomas Kasper, his counterpart at the Austrian Construction Materials Recycling Association (BRV).

World Demolition Summit 2022 conference programme

0900 Conference opening and introduction of Thomas Kasper, morning session chair
0910 Welcome from the European Demolition Association Stefano Panseri, EDA president
0915 International demolition projects: Meeting the Challenges Kurt van Stappen, senior project manager demolition - cities and territories, Tractebel, Belgium
0940 Demolishing and remediating the Porto Tolle power plant Massimo Baraldi, Ferraro Group, Italy
1005 Remote controlled demolition to support the restoration of iconic Christ Church Cathedral Shaun Coakley and Simon Gaynor, general manager and commercial manager – Protranz Earthmoving, New Zealand
1030 Coffee break
1110 Material traceability and net zero on demolition projects Simon Hébert, civils work manager and project director, Delsan-AIM Environmental Services, Canada
1135 Carbon audits for demolition: the SME challenge Ben Griffiths and Jonathan Cox, safety, health, environment and quality director and marketing director, Rye Group, United Kingdom
1200 Circular economy in demolition: dismantling for reconstruction Kati Tuominen, marketing and business development director, Purkupiha Group, Finland
1230 Lunch
1400 Start of afternoon session, chaired by Stefano Panseri
1410 Urban factors in demolition projects Sanna Lepistö, Engineering Lepistö, Finland
1435 Solving people and skills shortages in demolition Edwin Winton, director, Lawsons Global Recruitment, United Kingdom
1500 Tea break
1530 Implications of legacy asbestos spacer blocks in demolition Wayne Bagnall, director, Wayne Bagnall Consulting, United Kingdom
1555 Barrio 31 Urban Space Creation Project Maximiliano Mauriño, chief operating officer, Grupo Mitre, Argentina
1620 Closing remarks and close of conference

The World Demolition Summit is organised by D&Ri with the European Demolition Association and US National Demolition Association. The headline sponsor is Volvo Construction Equipment.

For more details please visit demolitionsummit.com