Going, going….Russian mill building doesn’t quite go all the way.

Implosions that don’t quite go according to plan are big favourites among readers of DemolitionNews, most likely because of that “there but for the grace of God” feeling fellow demolition engineers get when a building decides to misbehave at someone else’s expense.

And so this one – from a chilly part of the former Soviet Union, is bound to be popular. Not only does the building refuse to fall as expected, it also chooses to cling on at an angle that seemingly defies gravity.

Chimney set to fall early in 2013.

Greenwood City Council voted in September the demolition of the towering – but leaning – smokestack on the old mill site would be a part of the massive debris efforts removal there.

Late last week, Greenwood City manager Charlie Barrineau said overall work at the site is moving along as scheduled and the smokestack is slated to come down in early 2013.

“We are still targeting the first part of (2013) for the smokestack,” Barrineau said.

Barrineau said there has been sampling done on the smokestack and the city has been going through the steps to get all the proper demolition and environmental permitting done for the stack.

Read more here.

Mechanical issues push blast back by 24 hours.

The demolition of a 300-foot stack and coal boiler at the Pampa Energy Center, the former Celanese plant site near Pampa, has been postponed because of a mechanical problem, said Clay Rice of the Pampa Economic Development Corp.

The implosion, which had been scheduled for Saturday, now will take place on Sunday between 12 and 3 p.m., he said.

Universal Wrecking Co. will be performing the demolition, and plans to pay PEDC more than $2 million for recyclable materials that will be scrapped after the implosion.

The Celanese plant, which produced industrial chemicals, opened in 1952.

A 1987 explosion killed three people at the plant, and a $575 million rebuilding followed.

Read more here.

Kansas State University says goodbye to stadium press box.

More than 1,500 fans watched from either inside the East Suite Level of Bill Snyder Family Stadium or across the street as the press box was demolished to pave way for the new West Stadium Center.

Mortensen Construction and GE Johnson Construction Company, the construction managers for the $75 million West Stadium Center project, said that 172 rounds and more than 27 pounds of explosives were used to demolish the existing structure.

“This was a monumental day in the history of K-State Athletics,” said Athletics Director John Currie. “So many people have been instrumental in the development of our athletics program, and we are excited about the continued progress we have made towards our goal of a model intercollegiate athletics program.”

Controlled explosion fells Huntsman Tioxide building.

Lincolnshire-based GBM demolition Ltd has overseen the latest stage of demolition of the former Huntsman Tioxide works in Grimsby with a controlled explosion that felled one of the old industrial buildings.

GBM has an ongoing contract at the site, one of the largest producers of titanium dioxide pigment in Europe before it closed in 2009.

One man and one sledgehammer against a 100 metre chimney.

Kind of makes you wonder what this guy did to deserve this job. One Chinese man (no great surprise there) armed with a sledgehammer and what looks like a length of string in place of a harness stood atop a 100 metre chimney that he is demolishing single-handedly.

Even setting aside the safety implications, in a country blessed with more than a billion people you would think that they could at least find someone to help the guy.

Wacker Neuson teaser video looks and sounds oddly familiar.

It is a cliche to say that Hollywood movies have become tediously derivative; any industry that can be in production of not one but TWO movies about the life and times of Steve Jobs has quite clearly run out of ideas.

But it seems that this disease has spread to the world of corporate videos. Case in point, the new 2013 Demolition “teaser” from Wacker Neuson. At first glance, it is a high production value and epic sounding mini movie in its own right. But when you’ve watched it (below), take a moment to compare and contrast it with this movie from Rammer.

Dykon implosion goes according to plan as 90-year old hotel falls smoothly.

It’s a project we have been following with interest for some time now; the explosive demolition of the nearly 90-year old Ben Milam Hotel in downtown Houston.

And that project culminated yesterday in yet another textbook implosion by the Dykon Explosives team that dropped the 10-storey structure in its own footprint to the delight of hundreds of onlookers.

We are hoping to bring you some video footage from inside the hotel when the blast occured. But, for now, this exclusive view makes for great viewing.

Charges follow dual demolition deaths.

Chinese state media say 17 officials and workers have been punished after two people died during the forced demolition of a building.

The official Xinhua News Agency says a cement board fell from the illegally constructed building as it was being demolished Friday in Renhuai city in southwest China’s Guizhou province, killing two workers and injuring three others.

Xinhua said Saturday that local residents carried the bodies to the city government building, causing a disturbance.

It said three officials were criminally detained for dereliction of duty, five others were suspended, and nine workers involved in the demolition were detained.

Read more here.

Luzhniki, Russia’s biggest stadium, slated for demolition

Russia’s biggest and most famous arena, the Luzhniki in Moscow, will likely be demolished after hosting the 2013 World Athletics Championships, with a new stadium to be built in its place, the Russian sports minster has said.

“There are two options: The first one is how it happened with the Brazilian stadium of Maracana when the walls remained, but everything inside was cleared. This is expensive and not perfect because we’d have to go underground, but, actually, there’s nowhere to go there,” Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko told Interfax news agency. “So the concept, according to which the stadium will be demolished and a new modern arena built in its place, is about to be accepted,” he said. “We’d like to do it how the British did it with Wembley – that the new stadium would also become a concert area, business center and a place for entertainment. But the final decision is to be made by the government and the mayor of the capital city of Moscow. ”

According to the minister, drastic measures will need to be taken to bring Luzhniki up to FIFA’s high standards, as the arena will be the main venue for the Russian-hosted 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Read more here.