North Dakota plant falls to CDI’s explosive power.

Controlled Demolition, Inc (CDI), acting as explosives subcontractor to main demolition contractor, GSD Companies of Houston, has carried out the explosives handling operations to fell the 255’ tall, brick-lined concrete chimney, the Hung Boiler portions of Unit #1 and Unit #10 and fracturing of Unit #1 turbine pedestal legs in a single explosives sequence in Stanton, North Dakota.

Check out the multi angle action below:

Rail programme could offset protracted Brexit concerns.

At a time when the UK construction industry is starting to demonstrate a severe case of the jitters over the protracted and seemingly endless Brexit negotiations, one major covil engineering project might just provide some welcome respite for those in the UK demolition industry.

Almost 900 homes, 1,000 businesses and around 60 “irreplaceable” ancient woodlands will be destroyed by the construction of the HS2 railway, according to the company behind the project.

The scale of damage was described as “far worse” than expected by campaigners, who accused those behind the project of opting for a more damaging route to keep costs down.

HS2 will provide a high-speed link between London and Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, but it has faced criticism due to its cost and environmental harm.

The company behind the line, government-owned HS2 Ltd, has released a summary of its predicted impact, including effects on livelihoods and health.

Among the figures listed was a projected 1,740 buildings demolished by the end of the project, including 888 homes, 985 businesses and 27 community facilities.

Read more here.

Ferrybridge and Slough power stations set to fall to Keltbray might.

Keltbray Decommissioning has been appointed by the energy company SSE as its principal contractor for two major power station demolition projects at Ferrybridge and Slough.

Ferrybridge is a conventional 2,000 megawatt (MW) coal fired power station where a combination of machine working and controlled explosives will be used to demolish the massive industrial structures, including a number of natural draft cooling towers, two stacks and a boiler house. CDI, the US based world leader in the controlled use of explosives has been retained by Keltbray as explosives engineers for the project. The contract will be completed over a 30 month programmed period, and employ up to 160 skilled site based personnel on the asbestos removal and demolition works.

SSE has already constructed a Waste to Energy plant on part of the Ferrybridge site, known as Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 (FM1). A small amount of suitable waste from the demolition project will be taken off site and pre-processed, before returning to the FM1 to be used as fuel as part of SSE and Keltbray’s initiative for recycling and minimising waste to landfill.

Slough is a 50MW station located on a busy trading estate, with part of the site remaining live during the course of the works. The 12 month contract will employ up to 60 skilled Keltbray site based personnel on asbestos removal and demolition, and has been planned to maximise safety and control given the close proximity of local businesses. The works will include the use of specialist lifting company ALE to strand jack lower the main boilers to ground level.

Bob Johnstone, Managing Director of Keltbray Decommissioning commented “The SSE project team put great emphasis on safety and works control during the tender selection process. Our engineering led approach, safety record and initiatives on workforce health and wellbeing clearly resonated and we now look forward to delivering on these two very different projects – Ferrybridge involving the controlled use of explosives, and Slough controlled dismantling.”

Jim Kerr, SSE Project Manager, commented “Throughout the course of the tender process the synergy between the Keltbray and SSE teams became very clear. We will now work as an integrated team to deliver on these projects.”

The projects, which will start immediately, reflect Keltbray’s focus on the heavy industrial and highly regulated sectors, with the Decommissioning team now actively engaged on power, nuclear, pharmaceutical and petrochemical projects.

Read more here.

If you’re wondering what happened to your weekly newsletter, please read on.

Some of you might have noticed that your Monday morning did not begin the with usual bleep signalling the arrival of your weekly This Week in Demolition email newsletter. And while a good many of you are probably thankful that this constant intrusion did not wake you from you well-earned slumbers, we feel that we owe you an explanation.

Unfortunately, DemolitionNews editor Mark Anthony is once again wrestling with a troublesome appendix which – while greatly reduced in size – remains stubbornly and determinedly painful.

In 2015, the appendix burst putting Mark in hospital for almost three weeks. Within a few months, the damage caused by the implosion caused him to succumb to a dose of septicaemia resulting in another stay in hospital. In 2016, he had most of the remaining appendix removed during a planned surgery. However, later that same year, he contracted peritonitis once again; an outcome so unusual (and this is 100% serious) it was used in a medical case study!

In the middle of last year, he managed to get an abcess on the remaining stump of appendix for another two weeks in hospital hooked up to a drain.

And now, it appears that the problem has reignited yet again. And while he has not been admitted to hospital this time (yet) he is very much out of action at present and has instead dictated this from his sick bed.

He says he hopes to be back in action very soon (although the doctor clearly thinks otherwise) and apologises for the enforced radio silence.

These companies will be there. Will you?

It is almost 10 months away; but already the DemoExpo 2019 is taking shape with some truly awesome companies scheduled to exhibit at what promises to be the industry’s big event of the year.

If you’re in the demolition business, get those dates in your diary. And if you’re an equipment manufacturer or dealer, now is the time to secure your stand space.

Company owner sees van explode outside his home.

The owner of a demolition firm whose work van was set on fire outside his home has said he feels “numb” after the suspected arson.

Kieran Cowley, 24, who runs Cowley Environmental in Oakley, Bedfordshire, believes the attack, at about 23:15 BST on Thursday, was deliberate.

He claimed someone wanted to “tarnish” his two-year-old company, which he said had a million-pound turnover.

Bedfordshire Police is treating the fire, on Church Lane, as suspicious.

This i not the first time that a UK demolition company has fallen victim to an arson attack. AR Demolition, based not a million miles away in Leicestershire, suffered the same fate twice: first in January 2015; then again in March 2017.

Read more here.

Squibb Group wants YOU.

Squibb Group, one of the UK’s most respected demolition and dismantling companies, is seeking an asbestos supervisor to work nationwide.

The ideal candidate will possess an up to date Asbestos Removal Supervisor Certificate, Full and Half Mask face fit certificates, and an up to date lung function medical together with a CSCS Card.

Rates of pay to be negotiated based on experience, qualifications and tickets held.

To apply, please mail your CV to Nigel Pinder at nigelp@squibbgroup.co.uk.

Rail shed removal signals progress on UK’s largest civil engineering project.

Keltbray has demolished old rail sheds near London’s Euston Station to clear the way for HS2 tunnelling works to start next year. HS2 Ltd has released time lapse footage of the sidings project, below, which prepares the site for a tunnel portal.

Euston Station is to be the main London terminus for the High Speed 2 rail line and the 11 new platforms to be built will make it twice the size it is now. Twin 13-mile long tunnels will take trains out of London via a new station at Old Oak Common linked to Crossrail. At the southern end will be a tunnel portal, built on the site of the now-demolished carriage sheds, just south of Mornington Street Bridge.

The demolition, which took nine months to complete, was managed by HS2’s London enabling works contractor, Costain Skanska Joint Venture (CSJV), working with demolition contractor Keltbray. Up to 70 people were employed to bring down the sheds, working alongside the West Coast Main Line.

Read the full story here, or view the time-lapse video below:

This film is 45 years old; yet it feels like it’s been dredged up from the Dark Ages.

The next time you’re tempted complain that your PPE is a bit dirty. The next time you’re tempted to whinge that your hard hat makes you just a tad sweaty. The next time you’re tempted to whine that your safety harness chaffs a bit. The next time you feel like bitching that the hot water in your on-site welfare facility is only warm. Take a look at this video.

Based on this film from 1973, you’ve never had it so good:

Indoor market redevelopment gets New Year green light

Demolition is set to begin on Preston’s Indoor Market in the New Year to make way for a Muse-led £50 million cinema, leisure, and retail development, after local firm Bradley Group secured a £1.5 million contract to clear the site.

Following a competitive tender, Preston Council chose Bradley Group to carry out the works, which will include extensive asbestos removal, drainage works, repairs to some existing structures, and demolition down to the existing ground floor slab of the 1960s Indoor Market. The existing multi-storey car park will also be demolished, although parking will be available at the site until Christmas.

The façade of the existing Lancastria House will be retained as part of the plans. The Indoor Market is gradually becoming vacant with existing traders being decanted into the newly-constructed covered market, completed by Conlon earlier this year.

Read more here.