COMPANY PROFILE
A capital
THERE are countless sights that will let a visitor know they are really in London: the Palace of Westminster, for example, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace... even Wembley Stadium and Battersea Power Station.
Of course, they are likely to be too engrossed in the capital’s history and architecture to notice McGee’s distinctive yellow lorries as they sweep by on their way to another job.
But if ever a business has its fingerprints on some of London’s most characteristic landmark buildings, it must be the one founded by a hardworking Irishman 60 years ago this year.
Ever since 1959 when Tom McGee used his savings to buy two tipper trucks to run with his father, Thomas, the name McGee has been a feature of London’s landscape. It has popped up at dozens of high-profile sites, demolishing buildings and carrying away debris from excavation sites to be recycled or re-used long before the circular economy was a twinkle in the London Mayor’s eye.
Down the years, McGee’s expert teams have worked on well-known London structures such as Battersea Power Station and at locations ranging from the Dartford Tunnel to Claridge’s and Harrod’s, Ascot Racecourse where they demolished the historic grandstand, to the demolition of the original Wembley Stadium which included the iconic twin towers.
While demolition and excavation run 50
investment
through McGee’s DNA, there is much more to a firm that recycles in excess of 250,000 tonnes of waste a year and has grown to become quite possibly one of the UK’s most innovative businesses of its kind.
“We were probably the first business to recycle concrete and bricks,” points out John McGee, founder Tom’s younger son and the firm’s director responsible for the group’s human resources, plant and haulage, and materials procurement. His brother Brian is group managing director, and another brother, Michael (the oldest of the three), is director in charge of Health and Safety.
Indeed, it was back in 1972 and with a major project to handle at Tilbury Docks in Essex, that Tom McGee grasped the initiative.
“He saw we were leaving London with a lot of material and it made financial sense to do something with it,” explains John. “So, he used quarry crushing equipment to recycle the concrete into reusable aggregate.”
That recycling of demolition waste brought the UK its first recycling facility. Today an average of 98% of building materials removed from McGee demolition projects are recycled or reused.
Greeting the new millennium Since founder Tom and his father hit the road in those two original tipper trucks, McGee has identified as a Specialist
By SANDRA DICK
Engineering Contractor, offering a range of specialisations as standalone services or as an integrated solution: decontamination, asbestos removal, piling, civil engineering, construction, demolition and recycling services.
The business opened a recycling facility in London’s Dock Road in 2008 and introduced dedicated plant and machinery designed to offer an ‘in-situ’ recycling solution – a major advantage in a busy capital city bringing fewer lorry journeys, fewer emissions and more efficiency.
More recently, McGee forged a partnership with Brett Aggregates to provide a state-of-the-art demolition recycling centre in Hithermoor, just off the M25 in West London. It means the two can combine resources and expertise, and maximise the material that can be recycled.
However, movement of materials only occurs once McGee’s teams have hand- stripped buildings of their inner workings and fittings, and in many cases hit the phones to find new uses for them.
“It sounds onerous to be phoning up local schools and colleges and saying ‘we’re going to demolish a building that has so many square feet of carpet tiles, would you like them?’ But it’s now common practice for us.
“We try to give away stuff that's reusable before we start hard demolition.”
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