A Lifetime of Demolition
May 17, 2022
By: Monica Roselli
David Sinclair is a name synonymous with demolition. A third generation member of a demolition and recycling industry family, Sinclair’s career spans over 40 years, includes work on multiple continents and has been filled with countless memorable moments.
Earlier this year, Sinclair was named the 2022 NDA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in San Diego at the National Demolition Association (NDA) annual conference. While this honor is just one of many for a man that has demoed it all, it means a tremendous deal.
Working for the Family Business
Sinclair’s family ties to demolition date back to 1917 when his grandfather and two great uncles started a demolition and recycling business in Scotland. As the years went on and the family grew, this business expanded to five companies related to demolition and other construction-associated needs.
While he was born into a family of demolition people, when Sinclair’s father took over as the leader of the family business, he didn’t immediately invite his sons to join him.
“My father insisted that my brother and I should have some other fallback way to earn a living,” Sinclair says. “In other words, he didn’t invite us straight into the business.”
Because of this, Sinclair went to school to become a mechanical engineer and moved to Australia, where he worked for about four years as an air conditioning and refrigeration specialist.
Flash forward to the 1970s, Sinclair’s older brother Jim had taken over the business and David was asked to return from Australia to work for the family company, as their father had become ill. While Sinclair hoped to return to Australia, in 1975 his brother was tragically killed during a demolition job, and Sinclair decided to stay in Scotland, taking over the company.
In the 1990s, Sinclair’s focus shifted and he became more active in demolition efforts taking place in the United States. It was during this time that he retired the old family business and amalgamated with his son William’s business, Safedem Ltd., where they have been working together ever since.
“I really enjoyed being in the United States and letting my son William get on with what he is doing without interference from me,” Sinclair says. “I’ve always been the boss, and now my son is the boss.”
Jobs to Remember
Sinclair has overseen and been a part of his fair share of demolition jobs over the past 40-plus years. While his resume spans across multiple continents and ranges from partial to complete jobs, there are a few that stand out.
“In my early days I did some really amazing jobs,” Sinclair says. “In Europe, we do a lot of façade retention. The façade of the building is of historic volume, so we go along and erect a steel frame and hold up the façade, demolish the building behind it and build a new building onto the old façade so it actually looks like the old building is still there. It’s very satisfying to be involved with a job like that, for the simple reason you’re preserving history.”
These days, the jobs that Sinclair gets the most satisfaction from are the ones he gets to do alongside his son, including the one that earned them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“The one that I have to say was tremendous was the one we did in November of 2020 in Abu Dhabi,” Sinclair says. “We did the Mina Plaza, which was the tallest building in the world to be imploded.”
The job wasn’t an easy feat by any means. It included four buildings, the tallest being over 500 feet tall, on top of a nine-story car park. While William and his crew handled the four buildings, Sinclair was responsible for the implosion of the car park, in which he utilized new explosives from Saudi Arabia.
“My job was to load the big 6-foot-by-6-foot columns with explosives,” Sinclair says. “The explosives we were using we had never worked with before. We did do a test blast and were happy with the result, so we were cautious but comfortable after the test.”
While a job of this magnitude is a nice one to wind down with, Sinclair wouldn’t put it past himself to do another one that is even taller than the Mina Plaza if the opportunity arises.
Involvement With the National Demotion Association
Then known as the National Association of Demolition Contractors (NADC), Sinclair was first introduced to NDA around the time he took over the family business. He meet Bill Baker and Herb Duane at the conventions in the United Kingdom and soon became more and more interested in the United States, both personally and professionally.
In the mid-1970s, Sinclair bought his first property in Orlando. It was at this time that he befriended Buzz Berg, who was the first member of the NADC. Through Berg, Sinclair started to focus his work in the United States, even founding a company with two others in the Baltimore area called Trisource Contracting LLC. He was also able to become more and more involved with NDA.
“I was a past president of the National Federation of Demolition Contactors (NFDC) and the European Demolition Association (EDA),” Sinclair says. “This allowed me, through invitation, to attend NDA board meetings, because when you are invited along as an international member, you are given the title of international director. I was international director for two occasions in the late ’80s and early ’90s.”
After serving as the international director, Sinclair decided to further his involvement in NDA and became a board member.
“If count the terms I was president of the NFDC and EDA, I’ve probably been a board member now for about 12 years,” Sinclair says. “I enjoy it very much and think NDA is a very progressive organization.”
The Importance of Safety
As both a board member and general NDA member, Sinclair is a promoter of education and safety. The bottom line for him is to be professional and safe.
“Everybody has their own ideas but, collectively, if you’re in a group of like-minded people and are all on the same page working to do a really professional job as safely as possible, that is the bottom line,” Sinclair says. “Be professional and be safe.”
With this in mind, he has been working with other members of NDA on the Safety Committee to develop education and trainings for members to make them more aware of what can happen on a job site so that accidents don’t happen.
“As far as my background in safety is concerned, I’m motivated by passion,” Sinclair says. “My brother was killed while standing beside me, and that has always made me feel that I had to do something about making this industry more safe; because you have no idea how easy an accident can happen. An accident is an accident, and I feel we have to work and try to be conscious to make the people in the industry and those planning the jobs and out in the field aware.”
With NDA’s superintendent course now up and running, Sinclair believes the next step, which is a big one, is training and education for the job-site operators.
“That’s a big task,” Sinclair says. “The U.K. is a relatively small country compared to the United States, and because it is relatively small, creating a national demolition training group wasn’t easy, but it certainly wasn’t as difficult as it will be for the United States. From a geographical point of view, it is going to be difficult. For the actual training courses — the content of the training courses — they can be very similar to what we’re doing for the superintendent’s course and expand upon that into more practical situations, more hands-on situations on the job site. If we keep that momentum going, I think within another three years we will be training people on the job site.
The Future of the Industry
Personally, like he has before, Sinclair will continue to wear his kilt at future NDA conventions, flying the flag for Scotland. However, as far as the industry is concerned, the change that he sees being the driving factor is perseverance.
“The change is going to be from perseverance,” Sinclair says. “Creating really good working relationships with statutory authorities like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).”
He also believes that demolition professionals should be looking at jobs from an engineering perspective, as this mindset will help the industry as a whole become more professional.
“Demolition people are quite unique,” Sinclair says. “The requirement for engineering is becoming more and more a requirement in demolition. You should be looking at how to take a building down on an engineering exercise. The sooner we become that way, I feel we will become more professional.”
However, most importantly, those who are coming into the industry should look to advance the profession through education.
“For young people coming into the industry, depending on what level they’re coming in at, they should ask their employer if they can attend whatever training is available,” Sinclair says. “We want them to attend and obtain the certification that is available through these courses. And, at the same time, listen to the people who have had experience on the job site.”