Video – Dairyland stack falls…

October 2, 2018 implosion, Video

Last structure at Wisconsin power station demolished.

The 213 metre (700-foot) stack was taken down yesterday morning. Dairyland Power Cooperative says it closed part of Highway 35 for about 45 minutes as a safety precaution. The group says members of the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office oversaw the road closure.

The retired Alma station came online in 1947 and helped power the region for decades. The first three units of the power plant stopped operations in 2011. The main building was demolished in 2017.

Video – Bahamas beachfront blast…

October 2, 2018 implosion, Video

Fabio Bruno blast precisely mirrors blast design.

The explosive demolition team of Fabio Bruno Construções has strayed from its native Brazil to carry out the controlled implosion of three resort hotels at Crystal Palace in Nassau, Bahamas.

The three towers consisted of 1 15-storey and 2 12-storey reinforced concrete towers.

But as fascinating as the blast itself is the way in which mirrors the blast design animation created prior to the implosion by Applied Science International (ASI).
ASI used its Extreme Loading for Structures (ELS) structural analysis software to simulate the implosion, testing several implosion plans to ensure the structures collapsed as required by the owners.

You can see the blast itself in the first video (below); but check out the second video too, and see just how precisely the planned and the reality match.

Video – Bridging the gap…

October 1, 2018 Bridge, Video

Armac Group hands back M27 a full 16 hours ahead of schedule.

On Saturday, I had the privilege of being on site to watch Armac Group do what Armac Group does best. The company was taking down a bridge over the M27 in Southampton during a weekend possession that would further cement its reputation as the UK’s leading exponent of bridge demolition techniques.

The company often refers to its crew as “the bridge busters” and – on the face of it – that is an apt description for a company that has chalked up almost countless bridge demolition successes. But that nickname belies a level of skill, planning and organisation the likes of which I have very seldom seen on a demolition project of any kind.

At times on Saturday, there were 10 excavators working in close proximity to ensure that the motorway would be open again in time for Monday morning’s rush hour. Each of those excavators was skilfully controlled. Each was fitted with an OilQuick coupler system that allowed the machines to switch seamlessly between breakers, pulverisers and – on occasions – buckets. And while there were ten excavators working on the carriageway itself, there were half a dozen or more on standby in a nearby compound, just in case.

A Pirtek van had travelled down from Armac’s native Birmingham to stand by in case of hydraulic hose failures. There is a Pirtek depot in Southampton but Armac Group wanted to have with them an engineer that already knew the equipment and their own fitter. Oil spill kits were also at the ready, just in case there was a hydraulic oil leak onto the carriageway.

This was a project on which even the contingency plan had a contingency plan.

We will be producing a full article on this project for the next Demolition magazine; and there will be a feature length video within the next episode of Demolition TV too. But, in the meantime, here’s a quick film we cobbled together “on the fly”.

Jobs – Squibb increasing nuclear power…

September 27, 2018 General, Jobs

Your chance to join a recognised UK demolition leader.

Squibb Group, one of the UK’s most respected demolition and dismantling companies, is seeking Demolition and Asbestos operatives for prestigious projects in the nuclear industry, starting at LLWR (Drigg) and then on to Sellafield.

Jobs are scheduled to start in December 2018 and February next year. Squibb Group advises that these are long projects, and successful candidates can expect work to continue after these contracts have ended.

Successful applicants must have BPSS clearance, SC clearance, and also Disclosure Scotland.

Rates of pay to be negotiated based on experience, qualifications and tickets held.

To apply, please mail your CV to roberthonour@squibbgroup.co.uk.

Second stab planned for power plant…

September 27, 2018 General

Alcoa to take another tilt at razing Anglesea power plant.

The owner of the former Anglesea power plant will try again to demolish the massive structure amid calls to compel the company to reveal why its first attempt with explosives failed.

Community fears persist about whether the seaside township was exposed to toxic substances, including asbestos, despite assurances from authorities that the “controlled” implosion was conducted safely.

DemolitionNews understands that the company will take a second attempt at imploding the stubborn structure in the first week of October – weather permitting – after the botched effort in May left much of the structure still standing.

Industrial Demolition Services will carry out the second demolition, with help from a subcontractor.

Read more here

Bracing for a dust-up…

September 26, 2018 General

Health & Safety Executive prepares for dustbuster site blitz.

The Construction Index is reporting that a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) blitz on construction sites during October 2018 will focus on occupational health, and especially the causes of occupational lung disease.

Asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts are commonly found on construction sites but are well known to be slow killers.

The HSE estimates that annually there are around 8,000 work-related cancer deaths every year in the UK and the construction industry accounts for around 3,500 of these, with asbestos and silica the major causes.

The HSE’s ‘dustbuster’ construction inspection initiative will last throughout October 2018. HSE inspectors will be looking to ensure those involved with construction projects know the risks, properly plan their work and use the right controls. Where poor standards are found, enforcement action will be taken, they warn.

Read more here.

Detroit firm faces racism investigation…

September 25, 2018 General

Demolition worker accused of calling city workers N-word.

A prominent company within the Detroit Land Bank Authority demolition programme that is already under investigation is facing new scrutiny after one of its workers allegedly called two black Detroit Building Authority employees the N-word and physically threatened one of them at a job site earlier this month.

The incident has been condemned by members of the Detroit City Council, as well as city leadership, which said this type of behaviour has “no place in our city or on any city work site.” The Detroit Police Department has launched an investigation.

The company, Warren-based Den-Man Contractors, has also decried the incident, saying it “takes these incidents very seriously” and that the employee no longer works at the company.

But the company’s apology may not be enough of a response. City Council members say they’re looking into the incident, with one top leader declaring she’ll vote against future contracts for the company for the time being.

Thomas Fett, the DBA’s assistant director of Field Operations, wrote in a Sept. 17 report obtained by the Free Press, that field supervisor Robert Hewitt was on site monitoring a demolition being performed at 17870 Bradford by Den-Man Contractors, along with field liaisons Robert Hill and Jalen Griglen, Sept. 14 when the incident occurred.

“In my opinion, this incident is not acceptable and is totally reprehensible,” Fett wrote.

Read full details here.

Video – Fabio Bruno’s textbook blast…

September 24, 2018 implosion, Video

Full Brazilian clears five buildings in series of controlled blasts.

Our friends at Fabio Bruno Construcoes in Brazil have underscored their credentials as one of the world’s leading purveyors of the blaster’s art with a textbook implosion this past weeken.

A series of controlled blasts levelled five buildings at Jambalaia, Campo Grande. The entire operation is captured in this drone footage:

Nasty shock for Aussie contractor…

September 24, 2018 Accident

Worker caused $220,000 damage because he didn’t realise a map was only ‘indicative’

A demolition company has been fined almost $220,000 after an excavator operator accidentally unearthed an 11,000V power cable which helped supply electricity to an entire suburb.

Salisbury based D & V Services lost an appeal to the Supreme Court which argued that workers had not realised the map showing the power cable was “indicative” only.

Workers from the demolition company were contracted to remove water pipes from land in Edinburgh in March, 2011, as part of a project to return the area to a “greenfields” state.

Demoition man off the road…

September 24, 2018 People

NFDC parts company with “Demolition Man on the Road” representative.

The National Federation of Demolition Contractors has confirmed that Steven Tempest-Mitchell – who had been appointed with a title of ‘Demolition Man on the Road’ in July 2018 – is no longer employed by the NFDC.

Tempest-Mitchell’s remit was to promote the values of using NFDC demolition contractors in the UK and to spread the word about DemoExpo 2019.

The NFDC engaged the services of Tempest-Mitchell on a trial basis based on his 40 year knowledge and experience in the demolition industry. But the collaboration was not deemed to be a good fit for the long-term.