Demolition News

Crumbling steeple, collapsed wall and a near-miss mar Canadian church demolition.

Things did not go as planned at the former Methodist Episcopal Church.

The steeple of the church was supposed to have been removed, intact, before any more demolition took place at the 135-year-old brick church. That didn’t happen — it fell to pieces.

Even that procedure, though, was delayed as paperwork had to be retrieved from Belleville before the steeple could be removed.

It was far from intact when it eventually collapsed to the ground over lunch Wednesday after a failed attempt to hook a chain on it.

Moments later, Belleville demolition man Jim Sincalir tore into the back of the church with his high hoe and the back wall and roof then collapsed, even as an employee scrambled to get out of the remains of the tower.

Read more here.

Collapsing wall brings down power lines, snarls traffic.

A demolition project at the former Boyer Printing building in Pennsylvania came to a halt Tuesday afternoon when a portion of the front wall fell onto an electric pole, snapping it in half. No one was injured, said fire Commissioner Duane Trautman.

P.G. Martin Excavators of Lebanon is doing the demolition, which started in earnest on Monday, Trautman said. The building, on the southwest corner of the intersection, will be replaced with landscaping and off-street parking for an existing one-story office building and a 15,000-square-foot Albright Life Center eldercare facility that will open next year.

Tom Cahill watched the demolition from his used-furniture and appliance store on the northeast corner of the intersection. Shortly before 2:45 p.m., Cahill said, it appeared that crews, using a large piece of machinery, were trying to pull the roof toward the back of the three-story building.

But the roof fell forward, crashing into the side of the building and throwing bricks onto the electric line. That caused the pole to crack in half, Cahill said.

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Prosecution says man forged his son’s signature on multiple fraudulent documents.

The 60-year-old general manager of a demolition company was sentenced to five years of formal probation and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution for his guilty plea Tuesday to charges related to a multi-million dollar workers’ compensation and tax fraud scheme.

James Gregory Campbell of Lakewood pleaded guilty to making false or fraudulent statements to reduce insurance premiums, perjury, and making fraudulent statements to obtain or deny compensation, according to court records. Scores of other related charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Debbie Jackson dismissed all charges against Campbell’s son, Robert Scott Campbell, 27, of Bellevue, Wash., because investigators learned that his name was forged on multiple fraudulent documents.

James Campbell paid $100,000 in restitution today and agreed to pay $1,667 a month until he pays the other half, Jackson said. If he fails to do that he can expect to serve time in prison, the prosecutor added.

It will take the elder Campbell five years to pay the remainder of the restitution.

Read the full story here.

UK company wins major decommissioning and demolition project.

EDP, one of Europe’s major energy operators and the largest in Portugal, is set to begin a major decommissioning and demolition project with the help of UK-based specialist consulting engineers RVA Group.

The project will see a full site clearance of the energy group’s 7-hectare power plant in Barreiro, Portugal. The plant, which operated from 1977 to 2009, was EDP’s largest thermal cogeneration power plant and one of the oldest in the group’s extensive portfolio. The old oil-fired station has already been replaced by a modern CHP power plant on the same site, allowing the group to produce cleaner, more environmentally-friendly energy.

RVA, the UK’s leading expert in large scale decommissioning, decontamination, dismantling and demolition projects has helped EDP prepare a detailed project specification and tender documentation, and will play a key role in the contractor selection programme. Following the appointment of a contractor at the end of November, RVA is available to continue to work with EDP, providing specialist project management support and technical advice as required throughout the programme of works.

The project will include the demolition of several large structures compromising a 1,000m oil and steam pipeline, engine room, boiler, steam turbines, pumping station and two on-site reservoir tanks, each measuring 7,500m3.

Stadium demolished as Brazil builds for 2014

The Fonte Nova stadium was demolished on Sunday as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup.

Over 700 kilos of explosives were used to demolish the football stadium in the northeastern city of Salvador, where seven people died in 2007 after stands collapsed during a match. The complex had been closed ever since.

A new $330 million stadium is being built in its place, and will have the capacity to hold nearly 51,000 people.

Middletown demolition company owner gets four years for fraud, tax offences

William C. Holley, age 45, of Middletown, was sentenced Thursday afternoon by United States District Court Judge Sue L. Robinson to 48 months of imprisonment and a three-year term of supervised release.

In March, Holley was convicted after a jury trial, along with his co-defendant, Joseph Funk, of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Holley was separately convicted of 12 counts of tax evasion and 3 counts of willful failure to account for and pay over taxes. Funk was separately convicted of nine counts of retirement fund fraud. Fund did not appear for sentencing and is now considered to be a fugitive.

Holley and Funk were the President and Vice President, respectively, of a Wilmington-based demolition company, Holley Enterprises, Incorporated (“HEI”). From 2004 through May 2007, jurors agreed that Holley engaged in a number of fraud schemes designed to retain monies that were legally owed to the United States government, to his employees and to union benefit plans.

Read the full story here.

Voluntary redundancies cut staff numbers at nuclear power station site.

The company leading the demolition of the Dounreay nuclear site is cutting 102 posts this year and planning to shed a further 80 jobs by 2013.

Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said 93 posts at the Caithness site have been identified so far.

Thirty more jobs are to be cut over 2011-12 and 50 over 2012-13.

DSRL also plans plans to seek a cheaper alternative to a proposed £100m treatment plant and store for most of the complex’s intermediate-level waste.

Read more here.

Zanesville High School demolition contractor deemed in compliance with EPA

The demolition contractor on the Zanesville High School project was deemed in compliance with environmental regulations.

In a letter dated Aug. 18 to Maiher Demolition, Trevor Irwin, an environmental specialist with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management, said it appears Maiher is in compliance with regard to the state’s clean hard fill regulations.

And in regard to another complaint, measures to control air pollution also are in compliance, Irwin said.

Irwin and Chad Winebrenner from the Ohio EPA’s Division of Air Pollution Control met with Brian Maiher of the contractor on Aug. 10. The meeting was in regard to complaints about air emissions during the school demolition and the disposal of fill materials on the Adamsville Road property of Dow Cameron that had come to light the previous week.

Irwin said Maiher told him fill material consisting of concrete from the demolition of footers at the high school site was taken to Cameron’s property. And smaller loads of fill were being taken to a property on the West Pike.

Irwin determined that the materials at both dump sites did not violate state regulations.

Read more here.

Former workers gather to witness plant implosion.

Dozens of former workers turned out to see the demolition of two smokestacks and a boiler building at the Knight-Celotex Plant in Sunbury. The smokestack could be seen from most places in Sunbury. After all, it was the tallest structure in the city, located at the center of the former Knight-Celotex Plant.

The smokestack, an adjacent boiler building and a shorter smokestack were leveled.

“There’s about 160 pounds of dynamite and 42 pounds of shape charges, so it’s going to be a very, very loud bang,” said former employee Bruce Rea.

The plant dates back to around 1900 and throughout the years has employed countless local people. Some of those former employees came out to see the end of an era.

“There was 120 to 130 employees who lost their jobs in June, 2009. Sad to see it come down. It’s been part of the city for 50 plus years, maybe longer,” said former employee Kevin Troup. He added the plant made fiber board for homes and fell on hard times when the housing market slumped. Now, another company plans to buy the property and develop it for the booming natural gas industry. “What are you going to do? People all over the country are doing the same thing we’re doing here.”

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Wrong sections of building destroyed by wrecking companies, suit claims

An investment group has filed suit against the wrecking companies that it claims wrongly destroyed sections of its property.

Green Investment Group claims it owned about 400,000 square feet of buildings and related facilities at 10 Cut St. in Alton when it decided to sell certain portions of its property on July 18, 2008.

Green entered into a sales contract with defendant AGM in which AGM agreed to pay $4 million to acquire some of Green’s property and to demolish certain buildings, according to the complaint filed Aug. 13 in Madison County Circuit Court.

In the contract, Green specified which buildings could be demolished, the suit states.

Later, AGM sold 100 percent of the property it acquired from Green to defendant Alton Recovery, the complaint says. In the sale, the terms of AGM’s original sales contract should have been included, Green claims.

Alton Recovery decided to demolish buildings at the site and hired defendants RMR Group, Titan Wrecking and Environmental and Acme Refining Group to perform the work, according to the complaint.

However, the demolition groups destroyed property not listed in the contract, the suit states.

Read more here.