Meeting 23rd April 2026 on Demolition

A meeting was held on the 23rd April 2026 about the school demolition works with Ragu Sittambalam from Homes England (the school site owner) and Ryan Cheetham from Cawarden – the demolition contractor appointed by Homes England to demolish the former school buildings.  Ryan is the site manager who will control all aspects of the demolition works and is present on the site.  We wanted to confirm the programme for the works and to find out what safeguards were being put in place during the demolition works.

We were impressed by the professionalism shown in respect of our concerns about the demolition process by both Ragu and Ryan.

The following are very brief bullet points setting out what we learned in the meeting, set out under the three stages of the demolition works:

Initial Strip Out and Necessary Tree Clearance

• The trees that have to be removed to facilitate demolition have now all been removed.
• The initial strip out of the buildings has been started.  
• This will not involve the removal of any elements of the building which contain asbestos – these asbestos-containing elements have been identified in detail in the asbestos report commissioned by Homes England, which we have seen.
• The strip out therefore includes items such as light fittings, switches and doors. It is also likely to include the removal of visible copper flashing on the roofs of the buildings, as they are attracting theft at present.
• This will be complete by the end of this week.

Asbestos Removal

• This work will commence next week and it will take about 3.5 months to complete. It is a time-consuming process as asbestos removal is a heavily controlled and safety-focussed process, under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
• The Health and Safety Executive has been informed, as required under the Regulations, that the work will begin next week.
• Cawarden is a licensed asbestos removal contractor under the Regulations, it will carry out all removal works.
• The removal work will be monitored by RSK Environmental Limited— the third party company that produced the asbestos report— its remit is to ensure that the asbestos is removed safely in accordance with the Regulations.

Demolition Work

• Once the asbestos is removed, the demolition of the school buildings can begin.
• This process requires Homes England to obtain prior approval of the works from Warwick District Council.
• This approval has been obtained, subject to the agreement of various conditions set out within that prior approval. The primary ones being the agreement of a Demolition Management Plan and Construction and Environmental Management Plan. These plans will set out the agreed demolition works methodology and safeguards and the agreed environmental safeguards. These plans will include issues such as:
  • Working hours
  • Noise limits
  • Noise monitoring methodology and locations
  • Dust suppression methodology
  • Crusher location
• These plans in their final proposed form will be submitted to WDC next week for agreement. 
• Once agreed, all documents will become public documents that will be published on WDC’s planning website.
• Final protected species surveys are being carried out now by environmental consultants, to facilitate the submission for consents to Natural England— which are a statutory requirement.
• The demolition works will not start until Homes England has obtained its outline planning consent for the future development of the school site. This is not expected to be obtained until September this year— subject to how long the planning permission process will take WDC to complete. 
• Demolition is expected to take roughly two months to complete.

Other issues

• Cawarden is aware of a number of trespasses onto the site— by those stealing materials and teenagers for other purposes.
• The site is electronically monitored for intrusions, and its security company is notified as soon as any are detected, leading to site visits. It would be useful if adjacent residents would contact Cawarden or the security company if any intrusions are seen – during normal working hours, Ryan Cheetham, the Site Manager, can be contacted on 07949730967; outside those times, the security company can be contacted on: 0845 388 0348 and at www.kbgsecurity.co.uk.
  Ryan is happy to be contacted during working hours if anyone has concerns about the works.  He can also be contacted by email at  r.cheetham@cawarden.com.