Breakdown in communications sees wrong building felled.

Residents of a sleepy French village in Bordeaux have been left dumbfounded after discovering their local 18th-century chateau was completely bulldozed “by mistake.”

The mayor’s office in Yvrac said Wednesday that workers who were hired to renovate the grand 13,000-square-metre (140,000-square-foot) manor and raze a small building on the same estate in southwest France mixed them up.

“The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac’s pride and joy,” said former owner Juliette Marmie. “The whole village is in shock. How can this construction firm make such a mistake?”

Local media reported that the construction company misunderstood the renovation plans of the current owner, Russian businessman Dmitry Stroskin, to clean up the manor and restore it to its former baroque glory.

Read more here.

Implosion fells another chunk of the Blanchette Bridge.

Missouri’s Blanchette Bridge is getting smaller.

Just a few weeks after explosives took out the West Struss Span, the remaining steel truss on the bridge’s westbound lanes was blown up by demolition crews shortly before 11 a.m Tuesday.

More than 4.5 million pounds and a thousand feet of steel dropped into the Missouri River.

A 350-foot section of the Blanchette Bridge was brought down last month.

The Blanchette Bridge blasting is part of a $63 million, year-long project to replace the westbound span.

Contractor deploys crane-mounted curtain to contain glass-fibre debris.

So here is what an object lesson in understatement sounds like.

Last Friday, Demolition News Towers received a call from Richard Comley at Comley Demolition. He said that he had “a little video” that he wanted to share with us. “It’s nothing particularly exciting; just a little job we did at RAF Oakhanger,” he said. “But we did use a crane-mounted curtain to prevent glass-fibre contamination becoming airborne.”

Well, that “little video” arrived in the post today and…well, take a look for yourselves:

Permission to demolish fault-ridden Las Vegas tower withdrawn.

Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez formally withdrew her order allowing the demolition of the CityCenter’s unfinished Harmon Hotel.

CityCenter, operated and half-owned by MGM Resorts International, decided that it wanted to conduct additional testing on the building to gather evidence of what it says are defects created by former general contractor Perini Building Co. Perini, contends many of the problems stemmed from faulty designs supplied by CityCenter.

However, Gonzalez’s ruling on Oct. 29 pulled back the demolition approval as a condition for more testing.

The Nevada Supreme Court issued an order on Nov. 30 that CityCenter could not move forward with an appeal of the Oct. 29 order because it had not formally made its choice. This prompted CityCenter to submit a one-paragraph paper opting for more testing.

CityCenter claims the defects make it unsafe to remain standing. Perini says that CityCenter wants to eradicate evidence, before a jury trial concerning the defects, that it could be fixed.

1,872 photos over a four hour period make for stunning video.

We just stumbled across this video during our daily trawl of the Internet. We can tell yo very little about it, aside from the fact that it shows the demolition of a former dorm building at Dieburg, and that it comprises almost 2,000 photos shot over a four hour period to produce a visually stunning time-lapse video.

Demolition Timelaps – …and it’s gone. from Philipp on Vimeo.

Submitted plans suggest removal and replacement of famous grandstand.

The 53-year-old grandstands, restrooms and other fan areas of Daytona International Speedway appear destined for demolition as the Speedway moves forward on a planned major renovation and expansion of its entertainment complex.

The frontstretch grandstands — built when the Speedway opened in 1959 – would be “removed and reconstructed,” according to documents provided to the St. Johns River Water Management District as part of an application for a new stormwater management system. Consultants for the Speedway filed the application last Wednesday, along with a $1,410 filing fee.

The plans spell out a reconstruction project for 108 acres along International Speedway Boulevard to revamp the way rainfall is managed and improve the treatment of stormwater. The documents also note new fan entrance areas, parking spaces along the grandstands, and other changes, including the grandstand demolition and replacement, which would be spaced over several years.

Read more here.

Double blast fells Virginia mill chimneys.

Dozens gathered to watch as the two iconic smokestacks that stood above the Danville’s Long Mill Dye House in Virginia were dropped in an impressive simultaneous blast.

Read more here, or view the video below.

Scrap sector goes cashless from today.

“Cashless Day” arrived in the scrap metal industry at the start of business today. But what does it mean for the customers of the scrap metal industry?

Quite simply, no scrap metal merchant or yard can buy scrap metal from you and pay with cash. This is now illegal and punishable with fines up to £5,000 for the owner, the manager and the person who pays you within the scrap metal company.

The scrap metal merchant can now only pay via cashless systems which are simply by cheque or an electronic method.

At the same time, you the customer will be expected to provide identification in line with National Police action Operation Tornado. All participating scrap metal dealers require a UK photocard driving licence or passport/identity card supported by a utility bill (under three months old). The majority of scrap metal yards/dealers are said to be co-operating with Operation Tordnado – its measures are expected to become law in Spring 2013 when the 1964 Scrap Metal Dealers act is reformed.

West Midland metal recyclers Mason Metals Ltd has invested heavily in a new building and computer system to cope with the new requirements. “This is the biggest change the industry has seen since the 1964 scrap metal dealers act. We have responded by moving our accounts nearer to the scale and weighing process to provide a more efficient system. A computer system designed to take and store the revised record keeping requirements and provide cashless payments has been installed,” says Mason Metals MD, Andrew Jones. “We’re certain the new system will be quicker than the cash one and once the customers experience the convenience they will see the benefits. Times change and this is how we’ve chosen to meet the new legislation head on.”

Former officer turns lifelong passion into demolition book for children.

Cabot Dodge never outgrew his childhood fascination with knocking things over, and now he’s turned that passion into his first children’s book.

The retired cop asaid the idea for the book, “Building Wrecking for Kids: With Steve and the Razing Gang,” came from a hobby of photographing old North Shore buildings that were being torn down.

“I always had a passion for old architecture and construction when I was a kid,” Dodge said. “When they started taking down Danvers State Hospital, I thought it’d be a neat photograph.”

Dodge continued to take photos of other landmarks in the area, like an old mill in Lowell and the old Moose Lodge on Highland Avenue in Salem, now a gas station. He created a website, www.wreckedphotography.com, to document the demolition of old buildings, if only for himself.

While photographing the demolition at the General Electric gear plant in Lynn last year, Dodge met Steve Guerette from RSG Contracting Corporation, who had dreamed of owning his own demolition business since he was 16 and built his first crane in his backyard in Lynn.

“I thought it might be a good theme for a book … a book about if you want to be something you can be it. Just work hard,” he said. “Building Wrecking for Kids: With Steve and the Razing Gang” follows Guerette and his RSG wrecking crew while they take down the gear plant. The 40-page book features Dodge’s photographs on every page, with descriptions of each part of the wrecking process and the tools used.

Read more here.

Blast marks latest stage in International Paper Mill demolition programme.

One of the last structures of the former International Paper mill was demolished Saturday morning.

Former paper mill employees, along with curious onlookers, stood just behind the 1,000 foot safety line to watch the implosion of what was once the IP boiler.

The coal dust within the boiler ignited briefly but, according to engineers from Dykon which carried out the implosion, this was predicted and allowed for in its plans.

Read more here, or view the video below (apologies for the poor sound quality).