ABOUT US

OVER 40 YEARS in the
demolition industry

Metropolitan Demolition began it's journey in 1966 by brothers, Trevor and Peter Hirst. They first started with truck hire operating around the construction of the Yorkshire stretch of the M1 from Wakefield to Haigh Roundabout. Their demolition work started through contacts made through truck hiring, they initially hired an excavator for clearing local sites but soon realised that this was taking all the profit; and so their first excavator was purchased so that they could carry out their own work.

A lot of their first work began with slum clearance and industrial mills which came through references by the local councils across Yorkshire. During the late 1960's there were opportunities arising to make money from salvage - stone in particular. So the two brothers set about specialising in reclaimed stone and retailing it. Soon, there were 1000 yards of redressed stone being produced on a weekly basis by 70 stone masons who worked across 7 different stone yards. The locations of the stone yards spread across Yorkshire including Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax.

In the later 1960's the brothers made reclamation a priority during their demolition works and ensured 90% of materials were recycled. Materials such as timber, slate, paving slabs and stone work; lots of which were used to produce the hardcore during the construction of the M62 and M1. Their reclaimed materials were used to create a base beneath the roads.

As their contacts and capabilities expanded so did their portfolio, a York company approached the Hirst brothers who acted for the Church Commissioners and they became the preferred contractors for demolishing disused churches.

More in the way of industrial works were the many chimney demolition projects carried out across Yorkshire; a total of 164 chimneys were taken down. The largest of which was the North Yorkshire Brickworks, the demolition of a 240ft chimney, which brought in a larger crowd of spectators than the first day of the Yorkshire Show.

The 1970's saw great investment
in new machinery.

Throughout the 1970's a large investment was made in new machinery and new family members joined the Metropolitan team.

The 70's also saw new family members join the business; Trevor’s two sons, Stephen and Michael. The brothers left school and joined the company and assisted in running the sites.

Further investments were made in property development, they ran this along side the demolition work.

In 1991 Trevor wound up Metropolitan Demolition, it was then restarted in 2008 by his Grandson, Michael Hirst. Trevor has since worked with Michael providing guidance and sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience which has certainly helped the company progress to where it is today. Although times have changed, Metropolitan Demolition’s core values and principles remain the same; to ensure the utmost standard of safety during every project and to reclaim/recycle wherever possible.