Cooling towers get the SlowMoGuys treatment in epic video.

Anyone that has spent any time on YouTube will surely have come across the SlowMoGuys; a team of young film-makers who specialise in high-definition, slow motion films of things being destroyed (we highly recommend their six foot water balloon film).

Well, they have now turned their attention to the demolition busines and, more specifically, the destruction of five cooling towers. Shot at 350 frames per second, the slow motion film captures the balletic nature of the stacks’ collapse and gives a real insight into the mechanics and physics of an implosion. Recommended viewing!

High def’ footage captures German bridge dismantling.

We have very few details to accompany this video; but what is there to know? It was shot by professional photographer Benjamin Beytekin, it features a Caterpillar 365B HRD high reach excavator, and the footage is awesome.

Crews worked alongside firefighters to tear down the structure and douse remaining flames.

Demolition began Friday morning of the abandoned Bridgeport warehouse that caught fire this week and became the largest blaze Chicago has seen in years. The fire resulted in the response of more than 200 firefighters in freezing temperatures and remains covered in thick sheets of ice.

Photos of the crystallized warehouse buzzed online this week as Chicago experienced its coldest nights of the year with temperatures plunging to -20 degrees.

Read more here, or view the video below:

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

Project delays seal fate of BBC demolition contractor

A Cheshire demolition company which worked on the former BBC studios site in Manchester city centre collapsed owing unsecured creditors nearly £2m, it has emerged.

Knutsford-based Encia enjoyed rapid growth following its incorporation three years ago but projects last year were beset by delays which contributed to its collapse, according to a new report.

The company was placed under the control of administrators from Begbies Traynor in Manchester before Christmas who are now working to secure a return for creditors.

Encia began trading as a demolition and remediation contractor in November 2009 and was launched by a team with many years of experience in the sector.

The report by Begbies Traynor said that, despite the general market being in decline at the time, Encia was successful and soon began submitting tenders with developers and local authorities.

It ended 2010 with a number of projects in the pipeline and turnover of £1.9m which required further recruitment as more work came in during 2011.

Turnover grew to £2.9m by the end of that year but the marketplace became more competitive and gross margins were squeezed, the report said.

Read more here.

Demolition workers battle extreme cold to avoid overrun penalties.

With 16 days left to complete a demolition and cleanup project, workers braved the frigid temperatures at the Atlantc Highlands harbor this week.

On Jan. 14, the J.H. Reid Construction Co. of South Plainfield began its $1.3 million demolition and cleanup project to rid the harbor waters of its damaged docks, pilings and other debris that were sunk by superstorm Sandy.

The contract with the company stipulates a penalty of $13,000 a day beyond the 25-day completion date.

“He, Mr. Reid, said his crew would work in the cold, snow, rain to get the job done on time,” said Jane Frotton, chairwoman for the borough’s Harbor Commission. She continued, shaking her head, saying: “They are amazing bunch of men working in this … freezing cold.”

In nine days, the company has completely dismantled most of the piers. On Wednesday, crane operators were pulling pilings out of the water, disposing them onto barges.

Read more here, or view the video below:

Call for return to terraced streets could be music to demolition ears.

The housing crisis, crime and social alienation could all be tackled with the demolition of high-rise social housing blocks, a think tank report says.

They should then be replaced them with real streets made up of low rise flats and terraced homes, Policy Exchange said.

There are 140,000 households – 100,000 of which are social tenants – in England with children who live on the second floor or above, according to its report.

Some 260,000 new and better quality homes could be built in London alone over the next seven years by knocking down the unpopular, ugly, high-rise tower blocks and estates of the ’50s and ’60s that
encourage crime and social alienation, says the Create Streets report.

Multiple studies show terraced streets can exceed the housing densities (between 75 and 200 units/hectare) of most existing high-rise housing developments, it states.

The existing planning system means major cities have built high density and high rise, box sized flats, the smallest in Europe and smaller than ever before in the UK.

The report’s author Nicholas Boys Smith said: “Between 2003 and 2007, there was a seven-fold increase in high-rise building even though social housing tower blocks are extremely expensive to build and maintain. It’s time we ripped down the mistakes of the past and started building proper streets where people want to live,” said Mr Boys Smith.

Read more here.

Tripoli home and seat of power falls to excavator.

I’ve got to be honest; I was almost certain that former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi lived in a tent.

But three months, almost to the day, since he was overthrown and killed, his former Tripoli home and official seat of power is being demolished.

Building Research Establishment needs your help with insulation research.

The UK’s Building Research Establishment (BRE) needs your help. It is looking for demolition projects beginning in February that will involve the handling and disposal of insulation foams including panels.

This is part of a wider research programme that will eventually result in the production of a new set of guidance notes to aid the wider demolition community.

“We need to fully understand the way that these materials are managed on site to assess potential routes for recovery,” says principal consultant, Katherine Adams. “We can do a case study as part of the work which will feed into the new guidance.”

If you are willing and able to participate in this important study, please contact Katherine Adams direct via email: adamsk@bre.co.uk

Demolition nears end at former holder of world’s largest building record.

The skeletal structure of K-25’s North Tower came tumbling down with a boom Wednesday morning, marking another milestone in the decades-long, billion-dollar effort to stabilize, tear down and clean up one of the oversized nuclear legacies of the World War II Manhattan Project.

The government’s cleanup manager, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), invited members of the news media and others to witness the occasion at the former uranium-processing site now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park.

At the time of its construction in the early 1940s, K-25’s mile-long, four-story structure in the shape of a “U” was considered the largest building in the world under one roof.

Read more here, or view the video below:

High reach excavator helping to change the Heathrow skyline.

As part of Heathrow’s transformation and to make way for roads which will serve the new Terminal 2, one of the last iconic remnants of ‘old’ Heathrow, the Old Control Tower, is being demolished this week.

With its distinctive red brick construction, glazed Air Traffic Control Room and white radar dome, the distinctive nine-floor silhouette of the Old Control Tower has gazed out over an ever-evolving airport since 1955.

It was constructed in the same era as the now-demolished Queens Building and Europa Building (the former T2) and replaced the RAF Control Tower, shortly after the first modern runway and terminal building were opened by The Queen.

Up to that point, the early passenger terminals were ex-military marquees which formed a tented village along Bath Road. The Old Control Tower was designed by architect Sir Frederick Gibberd, who was also responsible for the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and Didcot Power Station. It closed last year after almost 60 years’ service.

Read more here.