A building firm has been fined £8,000 after a botched demolition sent mason smashing into the kitchen of a neighbouring property, narrowly missing a person who had just departed from the room.

Axis Build Ltd in Harrow was sentenced for safety failings following the part collapse of a home it was demolishing in Adelaide Close, Stanmore, on 6 June 2013.

Westminster Magistrates were told that debris, including large slabs of brickwork from an end wall, fell on top of the next door property because the firm had failed to properly plan the demolition job to prevent part of the building collapsing in an uncontrolled manner.

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An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the incident could have easily been avoided had Axis Build Ltd used competent people, such as a structural engineer, in the planning process.

The court heard although there had been no injuries, an occupant of the neighbouring house had been in the kitchen only moments before masonry had crashed through a skylight.

Axis Build Ltd, registered in Chesham, Bucks, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £1,338 in costs after admitting breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations by failing to plan the demolition in such a way as to avoid danger, or reduce it to as low a level as possible.

(CD)