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

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.

The Spring 2009 edition of Demolition & Dismantling is available to read and download now.

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.

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:

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

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.

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.

An interesting article on the benefits of social networking to construction professionals.

The very fact that you are reading this blog post suggests that, contrary to popular belief, demolition people ARE web savvy and DO use the Internet for more than merely watching YouTube videos of implosions.

And yet it is a constant source of frustration to me that so few members of our industry have yet grasped the marketing and educational benefits of online social networking. Take Facebook for example.

Facebook is now the world’s largest online social networking medium, with millions of people using it daily (and even hourly if the stats are to be believed). There are interest groups on Facebook for interests that, frankly, I have never even heard of. And there is also one for demolition.

Estimates suggest that the UK demolition industry employs somewhere in the region of 10,000 people. So how many do you think are a member of the demolition group? 100? 500?

No. The group has just 11 members, a paltry number when you consider that the industry is in recession and that social networking is now considered a key way of finding job opportunities.

Against this background, I would point you to this excellent blog post which, I believe, underlines the current and growing importance of social networking in today’s construction business.

I look forward to seeing you all on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc…

UK demolition contractor fined over fire at shopping centre.

Demolition contractor Keltbray Ltd has been ordered by the courts to pay over £35,000 in fines and prosecutions costs after an incident in August 2006.

Keltbray was principal contractor for the refurbishment of a retail unit within the Queensmere Shopping Centre in Slough and failed to ensure that all services were isolated before the sub-contractor cut through a live gas pipe causing a fire.

Read the full story here.

New video showing a variety of Komatsu excavators in demolition applications.

We have just received a new video showing a variety of Komatsu excavators working in a range of demolition applications. No major sales pitch; just really good footage – Enjoy.