The human face of demolition…

Short video shows the human side of the demolition business.

In a short video by David Elks showing a Walter Forshaw Ltd contract in Middleport North Staffordshire, the real human side of demolition is beautifully captured, from the care that is taken to recycle roof tiles to the preservation of a door number for a former resident.

Davis Avenue bridge implosion…

A few broken windows are all that is left after bridge implosion.

As we reported via our Twitter feed yesterday, Pittsburgh’s Davis Avenue bridge finally succumbed yesterday in an explosive demolition project that required the evacuation of a number of nearby houses.

“…as secure as a wet paper bag…”

Demolition News takes a timely look at the issue of equipment theft.

Every once in a while as a journalist, the news plays right into your hands. Last week, I had arranged to interview Tim Purbrick of The Equipment Register (TER) to look at the ever-present problem of equipment theft. That interview took place at 10.30 this morning.

Unbeknown to me, as that interview was taking place, the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ president Terry Quarby had the unenviable task of writing out yet another list of equipment lost to the plant thieves over the Bank Holiday weekend (see story below)

The resulting podcast, which you can hear by clicking the blue link below, probably wouldn’t have helped Quarmby and his security-conscious team at Dorton Group. However, in an interview in which Purbrick suggests that some demolition sites are “as secure as a wet paper bag“, it does make for an interesting listen.

TimPurbrickInterview.mp3

Major attachment theft…

UK contractor Dorton Group has been hit by a major attachment theft.

UK demolition contractor Dorton Group has returned from the Bank Holiday long weekend to find that it has fallen victim to a major attachment theft. The following is a copy of an email received from the company’s Terry Quarmby a few moments ago:

On Saturday 2nd May we had a big break in to our Yard premises at Burgess Hill. The thieves caused an extensive amount of damage to plant and equipment to get to the rear of the yard where we had stored the machine attachments in lieu of the coming long weekend.

They brought with them a Hiab lorry, sawed off the tongue to the gate latch, smashed the alarms and lighting standards, ripped out the electric cables and overturned at least 10 pallets and stillages of reclaimed materials to get their lorry through. They smashed a window and door lock on the 7 tonner to move it and broke off all the locks to the storage containers but do not appear to have taken anything from them.

Altogether we lost 4 x selector grabs, 1 x pulverisor and 2 x hammers. Details of which are as follows:

1 x Demco 275 Hydraulic breaker for 35 tonner
1 x Demco 150 Hydraulic breaker for 20 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR2200 Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR 4.5 Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR 3.5 Hydraulic selector grab for 20 tonner
1 x Kinshofer D40H Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne MS20R Hydraulic pulverisor for 20 tonner

Readers are kindly requested to contact Dorton Demolition directly if they are offered any of these items for sale.

Many Thanks
Terry Quarmby
Dorton Group

Smoke stack implosion goes awry…?

Was the explosives engineer REALLY planning this?

A smoke stack was imploded just a few hours ago in North Carolina. While we don’t yet have any reports, I can only guess that the tower was NOT supposed to hit the neighbouring tower, unless the explosives engineer was a total genius.

We can’t embed the video at present, but if you’d like to judge for yourself, please click here.

Demolition & Dismantling Spring edition out now…

Associations sign co-operation agreement…

A unique co-operative agreement sees the CSDA and US’ NDA pool their resources.

The National Demolition Association (NDA) and the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association have announced what they are calling “a reciprocal association agreement that will promote the exchange of information between the groups to enhance the safety and professionalism of their industries.”

Read the full story here.

James A Farley bridge is no more…

New York bridge implosion captured on video.

We reported yesterday that the James A Farley Memorial bridge in New York was to be imploded later in the day (evening if you happen to be in Europe!).

Well, the job apparently went without a hitch, and here’s the video to prove it:

Southport skyline set to change…

Demolition of a gas holder that has dominated the Southport skyline for more than 50 years.

Photo courtesy of CDC Demolition
Photo courtesy of CDC Demolition
Leading UK demolition contractor CDC Demolition has started work on the demolition of a giant gas holder which has dominated the Southport skyline for almost five decades.

The 85 metre-tall structure on Crowland Street is being brought down piece by piece and will be fully removed by the end of June.

Read the full story here.

See bridge implosion live…

A New York bridge is set for implosion later today and you can watch it live!

The 87-year old James A. Farley Memorial Bridge on New York’s Route 9W will be demolished by implosion between 6:30 and 7pm (UK) time (7.30 and 8pm central European time) today the state Department of Transportation announced yesterday.

The 109 metre long bridge, which traverses the Cedar Pond Brook and bisects the community, was built in 1922.

A live feed of the demolition can be viewed here at the appropriate time.