Planned demolition of two Leicestershire chimneys ended in double disappointment today.

Sod’s Law dictates that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. However, what few people realise is that this well-known law comes with a sub-clause that dictates that if the TV cameras are present, then failure is not just a possibility but a guaranteed certainty.

Sadly, the team at AR Demolition have today become all-too-familiar with this little known clause as BBC Top Gear presenter Richard “The Hamster” Hammond presided over a twin chimney implosion in Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire that failed not once but twice.

With hindsight, the presence of the accident-prone Hamster was never going to bode well. This, after all, is a man who managed to crash a car whilst driving in a straight line on a deserted runway.

At the time of writing, the demolition crew is working to find out exactly what went wrong. We will bring you more news as it happens.

SEC benefits as stimulus money finally reaches demolition sector.

Just a few short weeks after the National Demolition Association’s Mike Taylor bemoaned the fact that stimulus package money had yet to percolate down to the demolition sector, Knoxville-based Safety and Ecology Corp. has been named among the companies receiving stimulus contracts this week for Oak Ridge cleanup projects.

SEC’s contract is valued at about $1.5 million and involves demolition of the east wing of the 2000 Complex, which is a series of old Quonset huts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL spokesman Billy Stair confirmed the award and said another contract for demolition of the west wing would be awarded later. The work is to be performed between now and April.

Read the full story here.

Augusta contractor makes stand against perceived race-based tender bias.

An Augusta demolition company that was the first local business to legally challenge the way the city buys goods and services has sued again, this time over a last-minute bid substitution that substantially changed the city’s approach to seeking demolition services.

The suit by Thompson Building Wrecking Co. seeks a temporary restraining order and asks the judge to find the city in contempt of court. The company’s attorney, Robert Mullins, filed the motions Friday in U.S. District Court. Thompson contends that the city is trying to give minority-owned businesses preference in direct violation of a November 2007 federal court order that prohibits the city from race-based preferential treatment.

Read the full story here.

Lee Demolition implosion brings down 50-year old paper mill towers.

More than 100 former workers and locals came out on a sunny Thursday afternoon to see the towers of the St Regis Sudbrook Paper Mill demolished. The plant employed people from the village and surrounding towns – including three generations of one family.

Lee Demolition owner David Lee’s son Billy, aged three, pressing the button to activate the blast.

Click here to read more, or see below for a (not very good) video:

Environmental Department to examine demolition of former school building.

A Nova Scotia development group and the provincial Environment Department are attempting to bring closure to issues that arose during the recent demolition of this community’s former school building. The Johnstown Community Development Co-op (JCDC) bought the building and surrounding property in 1988, and subsequently set up several small businesses and community spaces within the facility. This arrangement came to an end two weeks ago, when JCDC officials oversaw the building’s demolition following a two-year period of vacancies and vandalism.

However, the September 9 demolition process involved the placement of large chunks of concrete on the nearby Bras d’Or Lakes shoreline, leading to a complaint with environment department officials that resulted in a formal order to remove these materials by September 12 and send samples of the debris to the department no later than today (Wednesday).

Read the full story here.

High reach machine will pick up where explosives left off at Norsk Hydro. But is it big enough?

Details of the machine to be used to spearhead to fell the Norsk Hydro building in Canada that failed to succumb to implosion a few weeks ago have been released: The machine performing the majority of the work will be a Cat 365CL with a Jewell 136′ (41 metre) single stage telescoping boom and LXP 200 shear/cracker attachment. Provided on a few days notice by Kuhn Equipment of Summerville, NC.

Now according to the press reports, the original building stood at 80 metres. Judging by the various YouTube videos of the failed implosion, the structure didn’t fall very far. And a machine with a potential work height of 41 metres is probably best suited to working at the 30 metre mark.

So while we understand the need to get this building down, it is surely our duty to ask if the chosen machine is actually man enough for the potentially hazardous task in hand?

Low bidder Weir Bros has been given the green light to implode the Texas Stadium

Sometimes, it pays to read between the lines. The Dallas News has carried a report on the fact that Irving City Council unanimously approved its budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year on Thursday and also voted 7-1 to pay a Dallas company $5.8 million to implode Texas Stadium early next year.

No great surprise there; we reported on the fact that Weir Bros was the low bidder weeks ago and we knew yesterday that a decision was due.

However, tucked away some seven paragraphs into a comprehensive nine paragraph article is a sentence that reads: “…the council approved a demolition contract for Texas Stadium, even though a competing firm contested Weir Bros.’ bid…”

While this style of reporting is entirely appropriate for the local residents of the Dallas area – they want to know how their tax dollars are going to be spent – here at Demolition News we’re rather more interested in this seemingly innocuous statement.

So were you the the competing contractor that protested, or do you know who they were? And on what grounds was the protest mounted? We’d love to know more, so please use the comments area below.

Irving city officials expected to award Texas Stadium demolition contract tonight.

The Irving city council tonight is expected to award a contract for the demolition of Texas Stadium.
Irving Mayor Herb Gears says it’s a bittersweet feeling sad, but the beginning of a new opportunity for the stadium site. He says demolition crews won’t waste any time and expects everything to be done in less than a year.
The mayor tells KRLD the implosion will be a big event, although the city hasn’t finalized details. There’s been some work going on at the site for a while now, but it’s not related to demolition. The site is a staging area for a TxDot intersection project.

A building famed in US civil rights history is being demolished in North Carolina today

The historic Coffee Cup Solda Grill building in uptown is being demolished today. Opened in 1946, the Coffee Cup was the first in Charlotte where whites and blacks dined together before desegregation.

Beazer Homes USA of Atlanta applied for a permit to demolish the building in June 2008. But the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark Commission voted to recognize the vacant restaurant as a historic landmark, requiring Beazer to wait one year before tearing it down.

Read more here.

NFDC President David Darsey receives Fellowship of the Institute of Demolition Engineers

BREAKING NEWS: Just a few days after celebrating his 40th birthday, the National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ youngest-ever President – David Darsey – will be reaching for the champagne again having just been named as a Fellow of the Institute of Demolition Engineers.

David Darsey FIDE has been a long-time supporter of the Institute and was an active member of the Council of Management. His fellowship recognises this commitment, and Darsey’s pioneering philosophy on site welfare and operative health screening.

We hope to have more information soon.