On Saturday this week, an eight building prison complex in Rio, Brazil will be imploded. The contract will be carried out by our friends at Fabio Bruno Construcoes and a simulation of the implosion has already been created by another friend of Demolition News, Applied Science International.

We will, of course, bring you further coverage of this contract when it is carried out. But if the simulation is anything to go by, this promises to be a truly impressive series of blasts:

This industry of ours has a lot with which to contend. For all the skill that goes into the safe deconstruction of any building, our business is seen as destructive, noisy, dusty and somehow uncontrolled. This is an image that is not helped by the frightful safety record in some countries around the world where, sadly, site deaths are still perceived as “par for the course”.

However, the enforced demolition of homes and properties in China has placed upon our global industry a lasting stain that may never be erased.

We have already seen one person die having set themselves on fire in protest against unlawful demolition. We have received reports of intimidation, threats and beatings at the hands of Chinese demolition contractors that are refusing to let a few local residents stand between them and their next pay cheque. And now comes news that an elderly woman has died having been beaten and then buried alive for daring to stand in the way of what the Chinese government would have us believe is progress.

Of course, the words that you are currently reading will make little impact upon the people of China. This website is, sadly, not published in any Chinese language or dialect and, given my comments above, it would be censored immediately by a Chinese government that still picks and chooses what its citizens can and cannot read.

But let me make one thing absolutely clear. In the future, whenever I mention the term “global demolition industry”, I am excluding the kind of work currently being undertaken against the wishes of the Chinese people.

This is not the demolition industry I recognise or know, nor is it one with which I would want to be associated.

On the face of it, the contract to demolish a pair of isolated three-storey buildings in Easterhouse, Scotland was not the most photogenic location for a time-lapse video. But as this footage beautifully illustrates, looks can be deceiving.

This video captures the entire project from the arrival of men and machines on the site to the final stages of the clean-up operations. And anyone that has spent any time in Scotland will certainly appreciate the fact that the video ends with an all-too-familiar snow flurry.

If I had a pound for every time I could have started a story with the phrase “only in America”, I’d have, well, a few pounds by now. But the latest turn in the Texas Stadium implosion sponsorship saga really does belong in the file marked “Uniquely US”.

It is unusual enough for a major food manufacturer to sponsor an implosion in the first place and, let’s face it, Kraft’s cheese products are not the first thing you’d normally associate with an impending demolition contract. But now even that pales with the news that a counter offer has been made to sponsor the implosion; one that highlights the potential hazards of consuming the Kraft product.

A national group of physicians is offering the city of Irving $75,000 to drop Kraft as its sponsor for the upcoming Texas Stadium implosion. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine claims the maker’s boxed dinners and cheese products is using the spectacle to market high-fat products to children.

“We’re concerned because of the childhood obesity epidemic,” PCRM spokesman Patrick Sullivan told The 33 News. “Unfortunately, Kraft makes a lot of high-fat food products.” Sullivan added that Kraft’s flagship item, Velveeta, is more than 60 percent fat.

Kraft has not responded to a call for comment this afternoon.

The city of Irving solicited sponsorships for the April 11 implosion of the stadium. Kraft won the bid and agreed to pay Irving a $75,000 sponsorship fee for charities selected by the city. The physicians committee will says it will match the $75,000 sponsorship fee — as long as Irving drops Kraft, and the city hangs a banner reading: “Cheese Really Blows You Up.”

Read the full story here.

Our thanks again to our friends at DemolishDismantle for bringing this excellent video to our attention.

Crews began the demolition of the old Gravois Road Bridge in St Louis earlier today, sending the span into the Meramec river below. The bridge, which linked Fenton and Sunset Hills, will be replaced with a new one by next spring.

The old bridge was more than 80 years old. It was closed for safety reasons in August 2007. After the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, inspectors here in Missouri said the Gravois Road Bridge was unsafe.

While we’re awaiting a video in embeddable format, please click here to see the bridge’s last moments.

Demolition work on the former Jaya Supermarket is scheduled to resume by the first week of March. This comes almost a year after the the 35-year-old building partially collapsed on May 28, 2008 during preliminary demolition work, killing seven workers.

Demolition work ground to a halt as investigations were launched, leaving residents and business owners to suffer the eyesore of the abandoned structure and the inconvenience of road closures.

The Petaling Jaya City Council finally lifted the stop-work order last November. Work was expected to resume in early December but until today there has been no activity at the site. However, Andy Yap, the chief operating officer of Pembinaan C.W.Yap, the contractor for the demolition job told FMT that work has in fact already begun.

“We’ve spent the last few months going over the plans in painstaking detail with our team of consultants and professionals to decide on the best and safest way of moving forward,” he explained.

Read more here.

Two men and a woman, believed to be asylum seekers, have jumped from the 15th floor of 63 Petershill Drive, Red Road, in what is thought to have been a suicide pact.

A demolition programme is scheduled to commence this Spring that will see all eight high rises – once Europe’s tallest – demolished.

Read more here.

Do you have a project that could influence the future of the waste management in your sector?

Have you gone beyond good practice and are helping to shape the sustainability agenda in your sphere of operations?

Have you taken action that has had a significant impact on your organisation’s environmental performance?

If so, edie.net wants to hear about it.

The Waste & Recycling Award seeks to recognise projects that set new standards in this area and can act as examples for others to follow.

Enter your project online at edie.net/awards or contact Carl Myers on 020 8651 7134 or e-mail envawards@edie.net

Entries must be received by 26 May 2010

The 50 metre (164 ft) chimney stack and 30 metre (98 ft) water tower on the former Courtaulds factory in Little Heath were demolished by a Lee Demolition implosion on Sunday.

Our thanks to our friends at DemolishDismantle for sharing this video with us.