Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission stops demolition at former radium dial painting factory.

Fears that radioactive dust could shower the crowds at Yonge-Dundas Square have prompted Canada’s nuclear watchdog to stop the scheduled demolition of a contaminated building.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ordered HNR Properties to cease all demolition activities at 258 Victoria St., which was once a radium dial painting factory, because the residual radioactive contamination in the building would be released if the building is torn down.

Since “demolition work is imminent,” the order was “deemed necessary to ensure the health and safety of workers and the public and protections of the environment,” inspector Dana Pandolfi wrote in a letter to the developer last week.

A 39-storey mixed residential-commercial development, which would preserve the historical buildings facing Dundas Square and add a new tower behind them, has been in the works for at least five years.

The development was recommended for approval in a 2009 city staff report, as it met the official plan for intensification and reflects the city’s design principles.

There was no mention of radioactive material in the city’s report. The city issued a demolition permit in August 2012 and can revoke the permit if work hasn’t started in six months.

It is unclear exactly when the demolition was scheduled to start.

Read more here.

Fire crews called to Coleman and Company recycling facility.

An employee at a concrete recycling company in Meriden had to be airlifted to hospital after his arm became trapped in machinery last week.

Fire crews were called to Coleman and Company in Cornets End Lane at 11.30am on November 8 to free the man whose arm was caught between a conveyor belt and metal roller at the concrete recycling site.

Paramedics treated the worker’s multiple fractures before he was airlifted to a hospital in Coventry.

A West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said: “The concrete crusher was isolated and, in conjunction with paramedics at the scene, we administered first aid and used small tools to safely release the man’s arm from the machine. It was safely completed within half an hour.”

Read more here.

GoPro cameras capture Sun Hotel blast in stunning detail.

Back on 6 November, we brought you the initial footage of the implosion of the Sun Hotel in Israel.

Little did we realise, however, that GoPro Israel was filming the blast as part of a marketing exercise for its new Hero2 camera.

The resulting footage has just been released and is truly spectacular:

Sun Hotel Demolition from Snow R. Shai on Vimeo.

AR Demolition sets about uncovering iconic architecture concealed for a century.

Demolition work is underway at one of London’s busiest railways stations as part of an upgrading process that will uncover part of a Victorian Grade 1 listed facade that has lain hidden for 140 years.

AR Demolition is in the early stages of the removal of the canopy outside London’s King’s Cross station as part of a four-phase regeneration project that will see the dismantling of the current concourse and the creation of a new passenger square.

CCTV captures moment Old Trafford stand collapsed onto excavator driver.

Earlier this week, we brought you details of the accident at the Old Trafford cricket ground that left a 33-year old demolition worker with serious injuries after a two tonne slab of concrete fell onto the machine he was operating.

Now, our friends over at SHP Online have directed us to a video of the CCTV footage of the accident as it happened.

Thankfully, the camera is a long way away and the footage, while harrowing, is not graphic. However, it does also highlight the fast repsonse of the man’s colleagues when the accident occurs.

Overnight possession for demolition of disused footbridge.

Earlier this year, MJ Finnigan Demolition completed the demolition and dismantling of a disused reinforced concrete footbridge in Altrincham City Centre in Manchester. And the company has now kindly sent us a high quality video of that bridge dismantling.

The bridge, which had been closed to the public since 1988, spanned from the train station platform all the way to Stamford Retail Quarter. This meant there were restrictive boundaries faced by the live train lines, a live bus station, taxi ranks, the public footpath and highway, and also the Stamford Quarter, a large retail outlet.

The structure was taken down and removed over a period of two consecutive weekends by demolition contractors, MJ Finnigan Ltd, who were awarded the contract by the client TFGM (Transport For Greater Manchester), following an extremely competitive tendering process.

A specific traffic management plan was put in place ahead of the works in line with Trafford Council Highways giving members of the public plenty of notice of the alternative routes and travel arrangements.

This also included for a letter drop to 450 local residents who were invited to a demolition open day at MJ Finnigan Ltd Head Office to discuss any concerns they may have with the project.

The programme of works included for the removal of street railings and furniture to facilitate the rigging of a 500 tonne Liebherr Crane which was berthed in the bus station and on the footpath in line with a stringent planning process and agreement from Network Rail.

The works included for the dismantling of an overhead steel tower which was lowered to the ground by a 40 tonne crane which then provided the access to remove the bridge spans.

Each span had previously had its weight calculated by MJ Finnigan Demolition Engineers. Operatives also separated each bridge span and freed the structure from any ties or fixings to ensure the lift was carried out as smoothly as possible.

There was a second 26-hour possession the following weekend where the final bridge span was removed under full Network Rail supervision and Isolation due to the close proximity to live rail line.

The works will involve close liaison and planning with a number of parties; Metrolink, The Bus Station, Trafford Highways (for road and footpath closures), Trafford Taxis and a number of retail units in the Stamford Quarter.

Each bridge section was removed off site for crushing and recycling of all demolition debris at MJ Finnigans dedicated recycling depot.

The works were successfully completed without any accidents or incidents, ahead of programme in roughly half of the total possession period time.

“It’s an honour to be involved in such a high profile job and to work on a project of this scale,” concludes co director Michael Finnigan. “We have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.”

$10M gift buys St. John Arena date with wrecking ball.

It has been a fixture on the Ohio State University campus for more than half a century, but soon its days will come to an end.

St. John Arena’s date with the wrecking ball hasn’t been set, but university leaders say that it’s too expensive to maintain. The arena opened in the 1950s and needs $30 million to $40 million in repairs.

It is all part of a master plan to create what the university calls an “athletics district” funded partially by a $10 million gift from Sam Covelli, the country’s largest owner of Panera restaurants.

The iconic St. John Arena will be replaced by The Covelli Center, which will house all sports currently played at St. John Arena.

The proposed site for the new 4,000-seat arena is off Ackerman Road and Fred Taylor Drive, just east of 315. Ohio State University officials hope to break ground in late 2014 or early 2015.

Read more here, or view the video below.

West London exhibition centre to make way for 7,500 new homes.

The BBC is reporting that Earls Court Exhibition Centre in west London is to be demolished to make way for thousands of new homes.

Developers want to create four “villages” and a “high street” on a 77-acre site.

The scheme, straddling the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, is expected to take 20 years to complete.

Developers Capital and Counties said the plans will create 7,500 homes and thousands of permanent jobs.

But campaigners from Save Earl’s Court West Kensington & Gibbs Green estates said the “greedy scheme” will lead to thousands of job losses.

Read more here.

One big bang, and the boom comes down.

There is generally considered just one time-consuming and labour-intensive way to dismantle a crawler crane job.

But the team at Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI) have no truck with slow and laborious; theirs is a much more instant and spectacular approach, as this vieo proves:

Your chance to see the future of hooklift demount container movement.

On 29 November, Ladybird Cranes will host a ‘hands-on’ demonstration day that will cover two complimentary aspects of waste, recycling and demolition: the need to move and transfer hooklift demount containers around a site; and the advantages to axle loading and general transport efficiency resulting from crushing brick, stone and concrete on-site before loading the material into skips and containers for onward dispatch.

The demonstration day will feature a range of Red Rhino compact crushers in action processing demolition waste and at least one example of the innovative ‘Gapo‘ remote controlled container mover/spotter.

The Gapo has the ability to cut down on wasted truck ‘tacho-time’ by speeding up the swapping of empty and full containers either at a CA site, or construction site. the Gapo has the added advantages of not requiring a banksman, not requiring an HGV driver or even requiring a hooklift truck to be present when a full container needs moving.

The event takes place from 10.30 am to 2.30 pm on Thursday 29th November, at the HQ of Ladybird Cranes, Ladybird Barn, Old Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove, B601PH.

The event is open to all professionals and entry is free. Refreshments will be provided but CIWM Business Club co-ordinator Malcolm Bates has requested that if possible, interested parties log on to the CIWM website and register to help the catering department assess numbers.

Malcolm can be contacted on Tel: 07831 798042.