The dust has settled on a collapse that killed six. Now the blame game begins.

For weeks, people working nearby had watched with growing concern as a crew took down the vacant four-story building next to a Salvation Army thrift store.

A roofer atop another building didn’t think the operation looked safe. A pair of window washers across the street spotted an unbraced, 30-foot section of wall and predicted among themselves the whole building would simply fall down.

On Wednesday, that’s what happened. The unstable shell of a building collapsed into a massive heap of bricks and splintered wood, taking part of the thrift store with it.

Witnesses said they heard a loud rumbling sound immediately before the collapse.

Officials said the demolition contractor was Griffin Campbell Construction in Philadelphia. A woman who answered the door Thursday afternoon at Campbell’s home in North Philadelphia said he was not there but added he was “devastated” by what happened.

As a bulldozer began to clear away the debris of a collapsed building that killed six people, city officials said a search for the dead and injured was nearly complete and an investigation had already begun to determine how a relatively commonplace demolition job could have gone so wrong.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said crews still needed to search about 20 percent of the site of the collapse, including the back of a thrift store onto which the vacant four-story building collapsed while being demolished. The search effort was expected to last through the afternoon.

Officials from the US Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the scene.

“Buildings get demolished all the time in the city of Philadelphia with active buildings right next to them … they’re done safely in this city all the time,” Mayor Michael Nutter said at a news conference.

“Something obviously went wrong here yesterday, and possibly in the days leading up to it. That’s what the investigation is for.”

Read more here, or view the video below:

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

JCB plays Secret Squirrel with a look behind the scenes.

I have been visiting the ever-expanding JCB World Headquarters for almost a quarter of a Century now, and – due to a mix of professional curiosity and unspoken patriotism – it remains one of my favourite working destinations. So when I received an invitation to the company’s newly-opened Innovation Centre, I actually got to experience the Golden Ticket moment from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

But, rather than an opportunity to gaze upon the great wonders that lie within JCB’s inner sanctum, it was a carefully stage-managed, clock and dagger operation in which cameras and mobile phones were confiscated lest we reveal the army of Oompah-Loompahs beavering away behind the scenes. In fact, the glimpse of the Innovation Centre was akin to the glimpse of a Victorian lady’s well-turned ankle – impressive in its own way but with the good stuff kept firmly under wraps.

In truth, of course, JCB does not need an international press conference to proclaim its innovation credentials. This, after all, was the company that invented the backhoe loader and the telescopic handler; the company that in a few short years evolved from engine manufacturing rookie to holder of the diesel powered land speed record. What’s more, in 2012, the company introduced an unprecedented 70 new models, a momentum that is set to continue in 2013 with a further 50 new additions to its comprehensive range.

Of course, anyone playing presentation bingo could have quickly crossed off phrases such as “solutions provider”, “the JCB family”, and “innovation is our lifeblood”. But that adherence to the “saying much while saying nothing at all” press conference protocol is strangely at odds with the real story lurking beneath. The company has invested heavily to develop new engines that are not simply cleaner tweaks of existing models but totally new, lean, clean and green diesel power packs that are at the cutting edge of technology. The company is embracing new technology such as 3D printing to design, produce and tests parts and components, allowing it to bring better machines to market faster than ever before.

So what goes on behind the locked doors of the Innovation Centre remains a closely guarded secret; the fact that JCB is a national treasure and a jewel in Great Britain’s sadly tarnished manufacturing crown is thankfully common knowledge.

Our friends over at the Diggers and Dozers website captured video footage of just some of the new machines – including a dedicated new high reach excavator – joining the JCB stable in the coming months. Be sure to call by for a sneak preview.

Degree student video charts college demolition and reconstruction.

Computing Foundation degree student Emma Platt has tweaked the space/time continuum to capture the complete demolition process for the whole of the old South Cheshire College main campus, the removal of debris, and completion of new access roads and car parking.

Tower block demolition from South Cheshire College on Vimeo.

When you’re tyred of factory, you’re tyred of life.

Work is now under way to turn disused buildings which were owned by a tyre giant in Burton into a massive new housing and retail development. A demolition team is currently removing the buildings that used to be owned by Pirelli.

This will be followed by the removal of the unused high bay warehouse in Derby Road.

The demolition work is due to be completed by November and then the next stage will see up to 300 homes built alongside a commercial development including offices, a pub, hotel and restaurants.

Ian Romano, senior development surveyor at St Modwen, which is undertaking the work, said: “We are pleased to start work on this new regeneration project which is the result of many years of planning and consultation.

“The scheme will deliver good-quality homes, leisure facilities and generate several hundred jobs through the construction and completed development.”

Read more here.

High-speed boat demolition.

A combination of time-lapse videography, an unusual application and a nice Johnny Cash soundtrack makes this ideal viewing for this fine and sunny morning:

Final few hydraulic hammer blows before stack falls.

When a giant stack is listing and about to fall, the last place that I would want to be would be directly underneath it.

But the operator of this excavator doesn’t appear to share my fear of hundreds of tonnes of falling debris and instead keeps hammering away until the stack falls.

Atlas Copco attachments tackle sensitive bridge removal.

Brazilian demolition specialist Comprex Ltda has used a range of Atlas Copco attachments to tackle an environmentally-sensitive bridge demolition contract in the city of Vitória, in the state of Espirito Santo.

As demolition debris was not permitted to fall into the waterway beneath, special arrangements had to be made for the removal of the demolition waste.

At the jobsite, three new bridges have been built over the old bridge, which was no longer able to support the increasing volume of traffic crossing between the city districts. The old bridge, comprising 1,300 m3 of reinforced concrete, needed to be removed.

The demolition sequence started by removing the light structures, such as the parapet, and concrete surfacing. This was done using an Atlas Copco SB 452 hydraulic breaker.

This process was followed by the heavier task of removing the concrete layer from the beams and finally the 10 beams themselves. Two Atlas Copco MB 1700 hydraulic breakers and two CC 1700 CombiCutters, mounted on Volvo EC 210 and CAT 416E carriers, made light work of the heavier tasks. The demolition debris was received in a special boat and transported to a recycling plant.

“The MB 1700 and SB 452 hydraulic breakers gave impressive performance on the very hard concrete,” says Comprex owner Ronaldo Zucchi. “The efficient combination of Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers and CombiCutters gave us the confidence to accept the challenge and was a decisive factor for us in winning the contract from the City of Vitória.”

Barge-mounted excavator tackles demolition of bridge that plunged into Skagit River.

It’s just over a week since the Interstate 5 Bridge over the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed, dumping cars and people into the water below.

But now a crew from the Washington State Department of Transport has set to work demolishing the fallen structure.

A long reach hydraulic excavator mounted on a floating barge and equipped with a steel shear is being used to cut the steel into sections for removal.

Operator suffering from incurable disease appeals for help in legal battle.

Leading UK construction new outlet The Construction Index is reporting that a former plant operator suffering from an incurable asbestos-related disease is appealing for former colleagues to help in his legal battle.

Kenneth Kell, from Allerton in Bradford, was diagnosed with pleural thickening, which is linked to asbestos exposure and causes the lining of the lungs to thicken resulting in serious breathing difficulties, in 2011.

The 52-year-old regularly worked as a machine operator and driver for Gomersall Demolition between 1979 and 1982. He recalls regularly coming into contact with asbestos dust while working for the company, knocking down various mills, garages and factories throughout West Yorkshire, including a Harvesters restaurant in Bradford.

Kell has now instructed specialist industrial disease lawyers at Irwin Mitchell and together they are appealing for former colleagues to come forward with information about the working conditions at Gomersall Demolition and key information about the firm’s insurance company.

Nicola Handley, an industrial disease expert from Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office, said: “Pleural thickening is a serious illness which can be very distressing for victims like Kenny and their families. More than 2,000 people die from asbestos-related illnesses every year despite the fact employers knew how dangerous it was.

“Kenny wasn’t given any protective clothing or warned about the dangers of working with asbestos during his career. It is awful that he is now ill simply because he went to work every day. Kenny was aware of the fact that demolition work could be dangerous, particularly as two of his former colleagues have died following crushing accidents on site. However, he was never made aware of the dangers of the deadly asbestos dust.

Read more here.

Watch as this Doosan excavator folds a 40-foot container like paper.

Old shipping containers never die, apparently. Instead, they are beaten all to Hell and folded into a small ball by an excavator with a bad attitude.