DemolitionNews’ editor Mark Anthony bemoans the dying art of digger sales.

When was the last time you were sold something? I don’t mean when you bought something; I mean when a salesperson convinced you to buy a product or service they were selling.

If you’re anything like me, you probably can’t remember. The traditional job of the digger salesman – knocking on (or kicking down) doors has seemingly given way to customers doing the donkey work through online research and exhibition attendance. In some instances, this leaves salesmen as little more than order processors.

In this exclusive video produced in conjunction with Diggers and Dozers, DemolitionNews’ editor Mark Anthony bemoans the passing of this lost art:

Crews forced to stop work after concrete falls from New York bridge, damaging cars beneath.

Demolition work on a New York bridge has been halted after falling debris damaged cars on the streets below.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says chunks of concrete fell off the Bayonne Bridge early Monday and damaged three vehicles.

The bridge connects Staten Island with Bayonne, New Jersey. Residents on the Staten Island side say falling debris has gotten worse lately.

Local auto repair shop owner Vaughn Bellocchio says if anyone had been in the area when the concrete fell “they would have been dead.” He says he can’t see any protective measures to catch falling debris.

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman says concrete demolition work has been suspended until a contractor submits a plan aimed at preventing accidents.

Read more here or view the video below:

WIU residence hall set for Saturday implosion.

The countdown is underway until Western Illinois University will formally say good-bye to Higgins Hall by imploding the structure this Saturday.

At approximately 9 am, the 50-year-old building will be demolished in an event that will last an estimated 15 seconds. The demolition is being completed by Spritas Wrecking and Controlled Demolition Inc.

The building, which closed in May 2013, is being taken down after a 2008 Facilities Condition Assessment showed it would cost an estimated $48 million to bring the building to “like new” status. The 20-story building, constructed on the seventh hole of the old golf course, was opened in 1967 as a residence hall for women.

Clean-up of the debris will begin immediately after the implosion and is expected to last until October. An estimated 90 percent of the debris will be diverted from landfills through recycling, and the resulting area will be turned into green space.

Read more here.

Company snookered after machine crashes through floor.

A Nottinghamshire-based demolition company has been left red-faced and blue, a ittle green around the gills and receiving black looks after one of its machines fell through the floor during the demolition of a former Rhyl snooker hall.

The incident has happened at the Breaks Snooker Club – formerly Dixieland and Brunels nightclubs – on West Parade in Rhyl. The machine belongs to Collins Earthworks.

The excavator is currently tilted to an angle after the floor caved in. A local crane hire company has been called to the scene to assess the situation to see if the can be pulled out.

Read more here.

Implosion fells former Detroit wheel manufacturing plant.

A partial structural implosion went off Saturday morning taking down the former Budd Wheel Building on Detroit’s east side.

The private demolition operation on Charlevoix near Conner happened at 6:30 am.

The land is being redeveloped by Crown Enterprises Inc. as part of a multimillion dollar automotive logistics project.

Read more here, or view the video below:

Iain Duncan Smith has called for demolition of tower blocks in wake of Grenfell disaster.

placing them with “proper family friendly housing”.

Iain Duncan Smith said people do not want to live in tower blocks. Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Pierce he said: “I’ve yet to meet a constituent who has ever said to me ‘I want to go and live in a tall tower block’. None of them do and I don’t blame them because they are pretty soulless really. They are safer in houses, they are safer in low rises and I’d much rather have that. It breeds a better kind of community too.”

Speaking in the wake of the fire at Grenfell Tower in which 79 people are now known to have died, Iain Duncan Smith said: “The cost of refurbishing these tower blocks, which were badly designed and planned by socialist planners after the war in the 1960s and 70s without any due regard to what people actually want to do, it’s time really to look at them and say the extent and cost of doing them, and actually it makes them more risky – It’s far better if we bring many of them down and actually replace them with proper family friendly housing.

Read more and listen to the interview here.

DemolitionNews’ editor turns spotlight onto urban exploration craze.

Regular readers will know that I have had a bee in my bonnet for some time over the subject of urban exploration; a craze among young people (mostly male) attempting to achieve Internet fame by breaking into demolition and construction sites to capture a photo or film of themselves stood atop a building with the cityscape stretching away far below.

Well, based on the popularity of our first video “rant” last week, we decided to put our thoughts on urban exploration on film too.

Please share it among your colleagues and friends in the industry. This is a craze that will only be brought to the wider public attention when a young person is seriously injured or – worse – killed in pursuit of Internet fame and notoriety.

City council offers locals chance to demolish car park.

We all love a competition. Look back a few pages here on DemolitionNews, and you will see that we’re not averse to the occasional giveaway ourselves.

But surely Nottingham City Council have stepped beyond the “something for nothing” theme of most contests and entered the realm of stealth slavery.

The council is offering local people the chance to wield a sledgehammer to take down the Broadmarsh Car Park.

Is this a masterstroke of publicity or merely a means of getting local people to demolish a car park for free? Only time will tell.

…I gotta wear shades.

The United Kingdom is currently basking in an unprecedented heatwave. Sweaty folks are roaming the streets desperately seeking shade and hydration while TV weathermen try (and fail) to explain how they didn’t see these end-of-days temperatures coming.

Thankfully, our buddies at Miller GroundBreaking were on the ball. Sensing that (a) the sun was in our eyes and (b) we needed an injection of “cool”, they very kindly sent us a pair of branded sunglasses together with a rather smart baseball cap.

And we were so pleased, we broke out the video camera and created the film below (those of a certain age might recall the song).

A survey has revealed the location of the UK’s finest bacon sandwiches.

Britain’s best bacon butties have been revealed, following a month-long hunt.

As part of the nation-wide competition, tradespeople were asked to nominate the butty establishment they feel makes the country’s best bacon sandwich – whether that’s a café, restaurant, hotel or roadside van.

JoJo’s Breakfast Bar in Gloucester, Burger Dan’s in Norwich, Sparks Will Fry in Widnes, Giltbrook Cob Shop in Nottingham, Straw Kitchen in Warwickshire, The Kitchen Table in West Hamstead, Ockham Bites in Surrey, the Lunch Box in Kent, Hackney City Farm in London and Castle Café in Northwich have been crowned the winners of IronmongeryDirect’s Britain’s Best Bacon Butty competition.

After receiving hundreds of entries for the competition, IronmongeryDirect revealed the top 10 establishments across the country, as voted for by tradespeople.

All 10 winners have been placed on to a dedicated Bacon Butty map, which highlights where in the UK tradespeople can get their hands on the best bacon sandwiches. So, wherever they are on a job, hard working tradespeople can make sure they start their day off in the right way with a hearty breakfast.

The competition was launched following recent research by IronmongeryDirect, which found that the classic bacon sandwich is the breakfast of choice for our nation’s tradespeople. A survey of 2,014 workers found that 72% of tradespeople agree the hearty sandwich is their workplace snack of choice.

Now, if anyone needs me, I will be in Ockham!