MSU dorm to fall to implosion in late June.

After serving as a landmark for about 50 years on the campus of Minnesota State University, the end is near for Gage Complex.

The residence hall’s implosion is set for the morning hours of either Saturday, June 29, or Sunday, June 30, with weather conditions determining the safest time for the event. (If weather conditions prevent a June 29 or 30 implosion, the event will occur at a similar time on the following weekend.)

On the date of implosion, a 1,000-foot radius “safe zone” is required around the site for 12 hours prior to and eight hours after the implosion. All buildings and grounds within that 1,000-foot radius will be “off limits” during those hours.

Read more here.

Owner/Operator goes solo with new Northerntrack Selector Grapple.

It takes a brave man to start his own business. And it takes an even braver one to do so in the midst of the worst recession in living memory.

So hats off to owner/operator Austin Wilkinson who has just taken the plunge and gone solo armed with a Komatsu PC290 and a new NTSG20-HD selector grapple from Northerntrack decked out in a rather fetching purple livery.

Wilkinson says he put a lot of thought into his choice of attachment before opting for the versatile 2.5 tonne unit that, he says, offered the best combination of affordability and durability.

Austin Wilkinson (along with his new grapple) will be featured in the next edition of the Demolition magazine. But, in the meantime, check out this brand new video courtesy of Northerntrack and our video partners Django.

Deconstruct UK makes it three in a row with latest safety award.

For the third consecutive year, Deconstruct UK has had its approach to the prevention of accidents and ill health recognised in the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2013.

The Gold Award will be officially presented at the 2013 RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards Ceremonies which will take place on May 14, 15 and 16, 2013 in the Kings Suite of the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), a safety charity, launched its awards programme 57 years ago. The scheme looks not only at accident records, but also entrants’ overarching health and safety management systems, including important practices such as strong leadership and workforce involvement.

The RoSPA Awards 2013 are sponsored by NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. This is the eighth year that NEBOSH has sponsored the Awards.

Group Chairman, Paul Ford said: “To win the Gold award for the third year in a row is a huge honour for the Deconstruct team, especially when it has been awarded in only our fourth year of trading. The achievement of this award clearly demonstrates our commitment to towards the continual development of our people, our processes and above all our ability to deliver projects safely”

Three 240 metre tall chimneys felled in simultaneous implosion.

Sadly, our Mandarin is just a little rusty so it’s difficult to tell exatly what is being said on this video.

But there is o question that these three smokestacks are pretty huge and the YouTube caption that suggests they were 240 metres tall is credible.

Regardless, for lovers of smokestack implosions, this last film from China is impressive:

Falling tower takes out entire neighbouring block.

Assuming that the contractor involved wasn’t utilising the “domino-effect” style of demolition, this is a demolition fail of near Biblical proportions.

We have been able to ascertain very few details aside from the fact that (a) it was uploaded to YouTube yesterday and (b) was reportedly shot in Saudi Arabia.

However, the pictures largely speak for themselves:

No-one hurt in light night collapse, but investigation underway.

The wise readers of DemolitionNews have come to our rescue yet again, informing us that the building collapse in Brussels – while significant – did not cause any injury as it actually happened at approximately 10 pm in the evening.

The site was unmanned and the majority of the debris was contained within the site’s confines.

Although a precise explanation of the cause of the collapse has not yet been established, it is thought that the collapse occurred ont he top two or three floors.

An investigation is underway.

Read more here.

40-year old chimney above psychiatric centre succumbs to blast.

It took only 11 seconds for the 220-foot-tall smokestack on the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center property to crumble to the ground on Wednesday. The smoke stack was more than 40 years old.

The implosion of the stack, which is next to the center’s old power plant, or Building 29, drew large crowds throughout the KPPC that is now known as Nissequogue River State Park. The center closed in 1996, and 10 years later Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) secured $29 million in state funds to improve the park.

In early 2012, Gov. Andrew Cuomo budgeted $22.5 million for the park with $15 million set aside for a demolition project and last March, the state Parks Department awarded an Indiana-based company a contract to demolish 19 structures on the property.

Read more here, or view the video below:

Can readers shed any light on this catastrophic collapse.

Our good friend and World Highways editor Mike Woof has just sent us this deeply disturbing photograph from a demolition site in the heart of Brussels.

At first glance, aside from the general untidiness of the site, it looks like any workaday inner city demolition site. But a perimeter of police tape suggests that all is not well. And it’s only when you look more closely, you can see just why the police tape is there.

For there, buried under hundreds of tonnes of rubble, is a Caterpillar skid steer loader (circled).

“I also saw a Gehl mini excavator that had been crushed flat. I don’t know if anyone was killed but if there was someone in the cab of the Gehl, they wouldn’t have a chance as the ROPS was completely flattened,” Woof says. “[It was] harder to tell with the Cat skidsteer as it was flattened down to the level of the boom but it didn’t look like they’d tried to dig anyone out of the machine so I’m guessing there wasn’t. There was some police tape around the site so I presume the emergency services were there just after it happened. I don’t know when this incident occurred though or how long work has been stopped. I think it’s possible the collapse happened when no one was on site.”

Woof reports that the debris from the collapse had also damaged a neighbouring building. “Debris has hit the building next to it as well and one of its walls has been buckled with the impact.”

If anyone knows any more about this catastrophic collapse, please let us know.

UK contractor requires risk assessment of likely shark attack in centre of London.

A UK contractor working on the preparatory demolition ahead of the construction of the Amity Tower on the banks of London’s River Thames has been forced to call in the assistance of shark attack experts over fears that its work might release man-eating Tiger sharks into the river.

The anonymous contractor reports that the client raised concerns that vibration from the demolition works could result in the escape of the deadly Tiger sharks from the neighbouring London Aquarium.

“We were aware of the location of the aquarium and the various forms of marine life contained there. But the client took one look at our initial risk assessment – particularly the part relating to the provision of an emergency escape vessel – and insisted that we would ‘need a bigger boat’,” a spokesman says. “As a result, we had to buy a purpose-built boat called The Orca.”

Despite protestations from the contractor that a Tiger shark could not survive in the River Thames, the client also recommended a consultation with world-renowned shark attack experts Brody, Hooper & Quint. “It is true that Tiger sharks would not live for very long in freshwater. But sharks are deeply unpredictable. You just never know what they’re going to do next,” explains consultant Martin Brody. “I saw one eat a rocking chair once.”

The unnamed contractor reports that work is scheduled to commence at Amity Tower within the next few weeks with the demolition portion expected to be completed by 4 July.

ECY Haulmark hails potential revolution in hydraulic hammer business.

The replacement of hydraulic breaker steels may soon be a thing of the past thanks to pioneering research between Loughborough University and UK Furukawa Rock Drill importer ECY Haulmark. Using advanced nanotechnology, scientists have successfully demonstrated the ability to “regrow” steel that has been damaged or broken entirely.

“Nanotechnology effectively allows us to ‘pre-programme’ materials to make them ‘aware’ of their desired strength, weight and length,” explains Dr Alf Pirolo, one of the team behind the advances. “If those parameters are impacted in any way – through a steel breakage, for example – the steel is triggered to rebuild itself to its former strength and weight.”

According to ECY Haulmark’s Rick Yarwood, the technology has delivered some remarkable results although he readily admits some initial scepticism. “We were dubious when we were first approached and the initial trials did little to dispel our concerns. The scientists were originally unable to stop the steel growing when it reached the desired length,” he says. “They claimed that the operator would control the length by constant use but we quickly disproved that with a demolition customer who parked their hammer for three weeks. When we went back to it, the steel had grown out of the yard and was halfway across their car park, which obviously has health and safety implications. But since then, the research team have fine tuned the programming and that issue has been addressed.”

Yarwood says that the new nanotechnology steel is roughly six times the cost of a standard steel, but anticipates that demolition customers would achieve payback within two years. With that in mind, the team is now turning its attention to other demolition applications, starting with shear blades.

“Once again there have been a few teething problems,” Yarwood explains. “The first set of blades grew so big that we weren’t able to close the jaws. A few days later and the blades had effectively crossed over making the attachment look like a camel chewing a toffee. But the potential for this product is enormous, and we are delighted to be at the cutting edge of this exciting technology.”

Customers wishing to be among the first to try nanotechnology breaker steels should contact ECY Haulmark via the company’s website.