Equipment giant to become exclusive agent for Spanish attachment in certain locations.

Japanese news agencies are reporting that construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu has has acquired the exclusive rights to sell the Spanish-manufactured Xcentric Ripper attachment in a number of unnamed countries and regions around the world.

The company has struck a deal with Grado Cerro, the Spanish manufacturer behind an attachment designed as an alternative to a hydraulic breaker in certain key applications.

The deal will not, however, effect the distribution channel here in the UK where ECY Haulmark will retain the exclusive import rights.

For a look at the Xcentric Ripper in action, check out the video here.

Flint’s tallest building expected to fall in July implosion.

The tallest building in Flint, Michigan is expected to be imploded this July.

Tim Herman, president of Uptown Reinvestment Corp., said plans are for Genesee Towers to be imploded either Sunday, July 21, or Sunday, July 28.

Herman said he wants to have Genesee Towers brought down before The Crim Festival of Races in August.

“We’re shooting for some time third fourth week in July and at this point we think it will be on a Sunday afternoon,” said Herman, who also serves as the CEO of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce. “People won’t be in the office buildings and church will have been let out in the downtown area. The debris won’t be hauled away, but it will be contained.”

Read more here.

AR Demolition tackles tricky removal of 20 tonne print presses in Stoke on Trent.

For someone that produces a magazine about demolition, the recent AR Demolition contract to dismantle the former Sentinel press hall in Stoke on Trent is pretty much a perfect storm, combining our twin passions of demolition and publishing.

For the AR Demolition team, however, the contract was rather more complex, requiring 20 tonne print press sections to be removed from a raised floor within the building.

As you will see from this superb new video from Django Ltd, AR Demolition called upon all its experience and expertise to bring a tricky contract to fruition safely and on time.

Chinese demolition crew to the rescue as boulder blocks bridge after quake.

Demolition crews swung into action in the immediate aftermath of the serious earth tremors that hit China’s Sichuan province on 23 April.

The quake loosened rocks from the mountains of Sichuan, blocking the narrow road connecting Longmentong and Baosheng Township.

Two days after the quake, the bulldozers were out, along with a demolition team. Uniformed young men, looking like China’s version of the national guard, ushered villagers from the area. Experts drilled a series of holes into the boulder, then packed it with explosives.

Fast forward to the 2.40 mark for the outcome.

Your chance to see the company’s crushing and screening equipment in action.

Worsley Plant, the Middlewich-based company that pioneered the crusher bucket attachment in the UK under the Dig A Crusher brand name, is taking its show on the road.

The company will be holding two demonstration days in North London on Tuesday 30 April and Wednesday 1 May from 9.30 to 5pm. The company will be showing a variety of screening and crushing buckets and demolition attachments and demonstrating how they can help you save time, money and the environment by re-use of materials.

Visitors are invited to pop along at any time during those days to find out more.

Further details are available on this flyer.

The location is: J O Doherty Haulage, Pegamoid Site, Nobel Road, Edmonton, London, N18 3BH

To find out more or register your attendance please give us a call on 01606 835544 or email us at info@worsleyplant.co.uk or call Joe on 07989 565675.

BBC TV programme looks behind the scene of iconic blocks that await demolition.

It has been a few months since Safedem expertly felled the first of the iconic Red Road blocks in Glasgow and another is scheduled to fall in the not too distant future.

Ahead of that, the BBC’s One Show has released its look behind the scenes film shot before and during the implosion of the first block.

The One Show Demolition from editguy2 on Vimeo.

Body of woman found inside burned-out restaurant.

Demolition of a vacant former restaurant on Greenville Avenue in Dallas was stopped Monday morning after investigators found a woman’s body inside the burned building.

Heavy machinery began demolishing the vacant former Uncle Julio’s location around 7 a.m. Monday, but work was halted when investigators found a body in the rubble around 7:50 a.m.

“She was nice. I feel sorry for her,” said nearby convenience store worker Almaez Fshayed. She believed she knew the homeless woman and wonders if the woman’s boyfriend may have been trapped in the fire as well.

After finding the woman’s remains, and after learning she may not have been alone, rescuers searched but found no evidence of anyone else having been trapped inside.

The medical examiner removed the woman’s body and her cause of death, and that of the fire, are both under investigation.

Firefighters said they were aware homeless people often stayed in the building but insist the flames were too intense for crews to search inside while battling the fire.

Read more here.

Italian manufacturer steps up the pressure with new processors.

When they’re not attempting to bribe otherwise incorruptible journalists with delicious chocolate, the team at Northerntrack are beavering away as the UK agents for the Trevi Benne range of demolition attachments.

So they will, no doubt, be delighted by the addition of several new models to the range at last week’s Bauma exhibition.

According to the blurb, the new ‘P’ Series equipment is fitted with the all-new pressure intensifier system which increases cylinder force and crushing power to the attachment. The all new jaw profile offers greater penetration and the intensifier system allows the P Series equipment to generate crushing forces up to 750 bar, potentially increasing the power up to three times over a standard machine hydraulic pressure output.

Check out the new models for yourself.

Former Aberdeen City Council HQ stripped to shell ahead of demolition.

A former council headquarters has been stripped back to a concrete shell as experts prepare to demolish the building.

The site of St Nicholas House, the former home of the Aberdeen City Council, is being cleared to make way for a new development which will pave the way for the regeneration of the east end of the city centre. The local authority says it will “bring significant economic benefits to the area”.

Demolition firm Safedem has been appointed to carry out the work which takes in the tower block, three storey extension, basement, sub-basement accommodation and podium building.

Scaffolding is being erected around the 14-storey tower block which housed the local authority from 1968 to 2011, ahead of demolition work.

Read more here.

NOLA faces demolish or renovate debate.

Two largely out-of-town development teams would like to renovate the vacant World Trade Center office tower at the foot of Canal Street for use as a hotel and other purposes. On the other hand, a broad-based coalition of New Orleans tourism leaders wants to demolish the 33-story building built in the 1960s and replace it with a new “iconic” structure as part of a sweeping redevelopment of much of the city’s east bank riverfront — but what that new structure might be remains a question.

Details of the three proposals, submitted last week in response to a request for proposals for redeveloping the WTC site that was issued in January by the New Orleans Building Corp., were released Monday by the city. The RFP said proposals could involve either demolishing or renovating the outmoded building. Previous proposals for reusing the building as a hotel all have come to naught.

The proposal, from the Tricentennial Consortium, calls for demolishing the WTC and erecting a Tricentennial Tower that would serve as a civic signature for New Orleans, similar to the Gateway Arch n St. Louis or the Sydney Opera House. What that tower would look like is uncertain, however. Architect Allen Eskew offered an image of a 400-foot tower that would have an observation deck at the top, but he cautioned that it was just “the first of hundreds if not thousands” of design studies for what could be built.

Read more here.