A packed house at the home of cricket saw the IDE presidency change hands yesterday.

Amidst the usual formalities and matters arising that provide a buffer between the morning networking and the post-lunch banter, outgoing IDE president John Woodward handed the reins of the Institute to his successor Steve Jack.

The regrets and reminiscences of Woodward and the hopes and aspirations of Jack have already been covered in two exclusive videos that you can view here and here.

While the pre-lunch focus was on the changing of the guard at the top of the IDE, post-lunch it was the turn of the members as scrolls were handed out to a huge number of individuals that have variously passed their examinations to progress through the Institute’s ranks.

A photo slideshow of the event – including a slightly disturbing shot of a cloning experiment gone horribly wrong – can be viewed below:

Demolition company equipment used to put out fire – Who foots the bill?

It is a common sight in Hollywood movies. Movie police regularly haul people from their cars and motorcycles and seize the vehicle to give chase to a criminal. But are they allowed to do so legally and who is responsible for any damage subsequently inflicted upon the vehicle?

It’s a question that is facing a US demolition company, although in this instance, the vehicle was a $300,000 excavator and the “perp” was a debris fire.

G&H Construction was doing a job in LeClaire, breaking down an old barn. Afterwards, the homeowner tried to burn the debris from the job in a dug up hole in the ground, but there was a burn ban in place so the fire department came to put it out, taking control of the company’s $300,000 excavator on site to dig up dirt and extinguish the fire, causing $14,000 worth of damage in the process.

“It’s not a fire-fighting piece of equipment, it doesn’t belong to you,” Julie Sundholm, office manager of G&H Construction says, but this excavator was used to fight a fire anyway.

Sundholm, who helps run her family’s construction business, says when they found out what was happening, her brother raced to the scene.

“[We were] absolutely surprised and appalled that someone would actually break into a machine that was locked and start it up and proceed to use it, without knowing anything about the machine,” she says.

Statements from firefighters on scene state they did not see any damage to the excavator after it was used, but the Sundholms’ repair bills say otherwise.

“There were some hydraulic hoses that were blistered, a lot of the seals and things around the connections had been melted,” Sundholm says.

All in all, over $14,000 for repairs and missed work each day the machine was out.

Sundholm says the city cited this part of the state fire code to explain their actions. Section 102.2 of the code addresses authority in a fire, and says, “A fire chief or other authorized officer… may direct an operation as necessary to extinguish or control a fire, or perform a rescue operation.”

“This code allows fire officials to do certain things to extinguish a fire or save life and limb, but I don’t know that that’s a blank check to do anything and everything,” State Fire Marshal Ray Reynolds says.

Read more here.

Dallas Demolition making final preparations ahead of weekend implosion.

The clock is ticking for the 88-year old Thomas Building in downtown Dallas. At 10 am Sunday morning (local time), it will be imploded by Dallas Demolition crews.

Eric Lohden, vice president of Dallas Demolition, guesstimates it will take all of 12 seconds to raze architect Anton Korn‘s building, the last vestige of Dallas’ heyday as a cotton-trading town.

This will be the first downtown implosion since Dallas Demolition razed a big hunk of First Baptist Dallas on October 30, 2010, to make way for the expansion that’s filling St. Paul. Lohden says that one used about 600 pounds of dynamite and other explosives; the much smaller Thomas Building will come down with just 300 pounds. And it will be supervised by Eric’s nephew Bond, son of Dallas Demolition president Tony, who says “it’s a fairly small and easy job — not that big a deal.”

Dallas Demolition is also supervising the razing of the Praetorian Building, which, you may recall, was supposed to go out with a bang till neighbors complained about the potential fallout.

Read more here.

Bord Pleanala blocks demolition of Liberty Hall tower.

Ireland’s first skyscraper, Liberty Hall, will remain a feature on the Dublin skyline after An Bord Pleanala refused permission to demolish the building.

Trade union SIPTU had been granted planning permission by Dublin City Council last year to demolish the 17-storey, 60 metre building and replace it with a 22-storey building of more than 93 metres.

But in its ruling, the board said the site was of “national historic and social significance”, and that it was a protected structure of “primary importance”. The planning appeals board appeared to rule out a further application to develop the site.

In a unanimous decision, it said it did not agree with its planning inspector that the cause for the demolition of Liberty Hall had been “justified”.

One of the capital’s most polarising buildings, Liberty Hall was designed by Desmond Rea O’Kelly and completed in 1965.

Read ore here.

Former home of pharmaceuticals giant faces demolition as part of redevelopment.

The BBC is reporting that the owner of the former Pfizer plant in Kent has applied for permission to demolish a series of obsolete buildings on the site in Sandwich.

Discovery Park Limited said it wanted to knock down buildings from the 1980s which were no longer fit for purpose. It said the unoccupied premises would require significant investment if they were to be maintained and secured.

Discovery Park said the demolition would allow for clearance of the site and enable it to be made ready for investment by the consortium which bought the 220 acre site from Pfizer in August.

Read more here.

DemolitionNews is the first to interview new IDE president Steve Jack

Later today, Steve Jack will take up the reins as president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers. Having worked for some of the biggest names in the UK demolition business, Jack certainly knows his way around the industry. And he inherits from his predecessor a Institute reinvigorated with an upsurge of dynamic, young demolition engineers that will take the Institute forward.

In this exclusive interview – the latest by the DemolitionNews video crew – Jack looks at the challenges ahead and sets out his plans for his two year presidency that starts in London tomorrow:

DemolitionNews looks back over the IDE presidency of John Woodward.

By the time some of you get to read this, the Institute of Demolition Engineers will have a new figurehead as Steve Jack takes up the reins at the IDE’s annual general meeting at Lords Cricket Ground tomorrow.

The Institute and the presidency that Jack inherits are much-changed since this time two years ago when his predecessor received the chains of office from Terry Quarmby.

With his flamboyant dress sense and gregarious nature, John Woodward has moulded the IDE into something new; something for today. Yes, at its heart, the IDE is still focused upon achieving due recognition for demolition as an engineering discipline. But while in the past it might have been perceived as a slightly studious hybrid of academia and engineering with all the least interesting traits of both, the IDE today feels modern, credible and – above all – relevant.

At least two previous IDE presidents had stated their ambition for international recognition and membership. That ambition became a reality under Woodward’s stewardship. Over the years, the ties that bound the IDE to the NFDC and NDTG had grown weather-worn and frayed. Under Woodward, those ties were mended and drawn tighter to the mutual benefit of all.

Woodward – more modest than his wardrobe might suggest – would insist that the changed face of the IDE owes much to the work behind the scenes of its Council of Management. That might be true. But Woodward has been an ever-present figure at just about every major demolition event of the past four or five years. He has been a guest speaker at numerous overseas events and remains a forthright and respected judge for the World Demolition Awards. It is, therefore, no great surprise that the IDE’s international ambitions have been realised with Woodward in the hot seat.

Similarly, having written the NFDC’s Top Down guidance notes and, more recently, the NDTG’s Demolition Manager training course, links between these organisations have grown stronger as a direct result of Woodward’s input.

But Woodward’s legacy lies not in IDE members in far-flung locations, nor in cozy fireside chats with his opposite numbers at the NFDC and NDTG. Instead, his legacy lies in an unflinching and often controversial stance on the IDE members that failed to pursue the examination route to full MIDE accreditation and which led to their dismissal from the Institute. The IDE that Woodward hands over to Steve Jack might be smaller in number, but it has considerably more integrity and credibility as a result. As Woodward himself says: “Sometimes, when you’re growing a rose bush, it needs pruning to make it flourish.”

Under Woodward’s guiding hand, the IDE has indeed flourished and bloomed.

And, on the day that sees Steve Jack installed proudly as the new president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers, he knows that he is stepping into some big – and extremely pointy – shoes.

Video captures implosion of central span on Lithuanian bridge.

We’re currently scanning the news feeds to find out a little more about this project. All we know at present is that the films were shot in Lithuania and that the central span of the Kaunas Panemunes bridge goes out with quite a bang.

Christ Church Cathedral has been granted a stay of execution.

A High Court ruling today ordered the planned demolition of the earthquake-damaged Christ Church cathedral would be stopped until further notice.

The legal challenge was brought by the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust against building owner, the Church Property Trust (CPT).

The trust, co-chaired by former MPs Jim Anderton and Philip Burdon, sought a binding court ruling on whether the Anglican church’s deconstruction plans breached an act of Parliament protecting church buildings.

Its legal advice suggested that, under the act, the church trustees were obliged to repair it.

Read more here.

Advanced Explosive Demolition facing lawsuit over stack blast that went awry.

The reason that the debris from a botched smokestack blast remains in place two years on became clear yesterday as a power generation company launched a lawsuit against three companies involved in an incident that is said to have caused $19 million in damages.

The suit filed in the Clark County Common Pleas Court also details for the first time what might have lead the 275-foot-tall smokestack to fall the wrong way, pointing to a failure to cut a rebar and the way explosives were used.

Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc., Bet-Tech Construction Co. and Independence Excavating Inc. were involved in the project and are named in the suit. The Springfield News-Sun contacted all three contractors, but none of them returned calls Tuesday.

AED is accused in the suit of negligence, as well as other claims. Bet-Tech and Independence are accused in the suit of violating contract and liability claims.
The accident received national and international attention, particularly after a News-Sun video captured the smokestack falling the wrong way and onlooking employees and media members ran for cover.

The smokestack destroyed two Westinghouse turbine generators used by FirstEnergy for peak power demands and transmission lines, according to the lawsuit. FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the company is suing for the cost of replacing and repairing equipment.

“Contrary to established industry practice, (Advanced Explosives Demolition) failed to cut the rebar on the rear of the stack,” according to the complaint. Cutting that material would have weakened the structure in that spot and caused the stack to fall in the right direction, the lawsuit says.

“AED chose to use additional explosives at that location,” the suit says. “This practice had the unintended effect of causing the stack to collapse on itself, and as a result, the direction of the collapse was uncontrolled.”

Read more here.