Crews from A&R Demolition working to prepare the West Texas Midland Savings Building for its pending implosion are expected back on scene this morning after a fire sparked in the elevator shaft Monday afternoon causing thick smoke to pour from the 13-story building as flames blazed inside.

The fire started at around 2:15 p.m. Monday at the corner of Colorado Street and Wall Street when hot slag from a cutting torch hit debris inside the elevator shaft, said Fire Marshal David Hickman. The smoke and flames continued flaring up until after 4:30 p.m.

Full story here.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Government is considering performing another tax U-turn, just weeks
after its humiliating climb-down over the 10p tax rate.

Growing evidence of the disastrous side effects of the removal of empty property rates relief on commercial buildings has led members of the Government to reveal privately they are already considering reintroducing the relief.

Full story here.

UK contractor Keltbray has successfully completed works involving the dismantling and removal of concrete pack support structures at the former Willington A Cooling Tower in Derbyshire. One of five remaining towers, the 91 metre high structure measures some 66 metre diameter at the base.

A full report on this impressive contract is scheduled to appear in the Winter edition of Demolition & Dismantling magazine.

Diversified mobile equipment manufacturer Terex has announced job cuts as it reported financial results for the third quarter of 2008. The results showed a US$ 2.2 million charge associated with reducing staff levels with further reductions pending.

Full story here.

Volvo Construction Equipment has seen a steep decline in profit during the third quarter of 2008 despite growing sales by 2%.

Third quarter revenue just topped £1bn but profit dropped to £10.8m from £67.5m in the same period last year. Volvo puts this down to higher steel prices, a £24m cost of moving the motor grader business from the US to Canada and unfavorable currency fluctuations.

Read more here.

The colossal cast-iron rings embedded in the eastern slurry wall at ground zero were — if such a thing can be imagined — the birthmark of the World Trade Center. They were the last visible remnant of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, a commuter line that New Jersey officials insisted in 1962 that the Port Authority take over, before they approved the trade center project in New York. The rings marked the railroad’s route into the old Hudson Terminal, whose location determined where the twin towers would be built, since the trade center was designed to incorporate a new terminal.

Read how these rings, together with the last vestiges of the World Trade Centre, have been dismantled here.

It may be 15 years late but efforts to revitalise Sacramento’s K Street area back on the fast track, as crews started demolishing an abandoned building Saturday to make way for a new hotel development in the Californian city.

More details here.

Brokk Inc. has introduced the Brokk 400, a new demolition robot, which is bigger in size and capacity than any other model in the Brokk range, according to the company. The Brokk 400 will be introduced to the international market at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas in February 2009, the company adds.

Further details here.

Unable ti embed it here, but there’s a nice video of the pier implosion on the College Avenue Bridge in Wisconsin here. Quite why they started filming at the three-minute warning is, however, a mystery.

Seven employees of the contractor Thompson’s of Prudhoe have been made redundant. The men, who worked in demolition, were given the news at the end of last week, after their positions were reviewed in light of the economic climate.

Full story here.