Horse racing gives way to demolition at fifth NFDC Demolition Day

The fifth National Federation of Demolition Contractors‘ Demolition Day took place at Sandown Park race course earlier this week and, as expected, it was the biggest and best-attended event of its kind yet.

More than 250 delegates – a mix of members, clients and industry influencers – crammed into Sandown’s conference facility to hear presentations from some of the leading organistions in the industry including the NDTG, HSE, Environment Agency and the Institute of Demolition Engineers.

Meanwhile, in the outside area, a large collection of some of the most sought-after plant and equipment on offer to the modern demolition contractor made for a spectacular and sun-drenched backdrop.

A detailed report on the event will be in the next edition of Demolition & Dismantling, and high definition videos of each of the key presentations will be avaialble shortly.

But, in the meantime, enjoy our video crew’s highlight reel below:

World Demolition Contractor of the Year gets technical with iPad app.

A few weeks back, we raised a question about why, when there’s an iPhone or iPad app for just about everything, there’s virtually nothing (aside from a few games) for demolition folk.

Within seconds, we received a recommendation on an app that has been developed for the explosive fraternity; and within minutes, the team that developed the Blaster’s App had sent us a copy to review.

But in the same way that a demolition contractor would probably be a poor test candidate for a new typewriter, we didn’t feel equipped to fully test the capabilities of the Blaster’s App.

Instead, we gave it to William Sinclair of Safedem, former World Explosive Demolition Contractor of the Year and current (and two-time) World Demolition Contractor of the Year. And, having put the app through its paces in a demolition environment, we put Sinclair in front of our video crew to share his findings in this exclusive film:

Demolition comes 29 years after toxic spill at defunct E.C.Electroplating plant in Garfield

A long awaited demolition in New Jersey is kicking up concerns about toxic dust among those who live or send their kids to schools nearby.

The demolition by the Environmental Protection Agency comes 29 years after a toxic spill at the now defunct E.C.Electroplating plant in Garfield. Neil Norrell, the agency’s on-site coordinator said the structure posed no air-borne threat.

“The contamination is below ground level and that’s why the building needs to come down because I need to be able to get at that,” Norrell said.

In 1983, three tons of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen used in electroplating, leaked from a tank at the now defunct business. Within two years, the clean-up was stopped with only a third of the toxic material removed.

The chromium leached into the ground water and 15 homes were eventually found to be contaminated. To complete the clean up, the agency needs to dig up the dirt beneath the plant’s foundation.

Read more here, or view the video below:

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

DemolitionNews makes a guest appearance on Construction Industry Podcast.

Here at Demolition News Towers, we are generally far more comfortable behind the camera or just out of earshot when audio is being recorded. But when we were approached by the Canadian-based Construction Industry Podcast to talk about demolition, we set aside our usual reticence and agreed to take part.

The discussions range from the writing of the NFDC’s Seven Decades of Strength book, through the evolution of modern demolition, and the role of mechanisation in making the industry safer.

Thankfully, award-winning podcaster Cesar Abeid treated us gently and the results of last week’s interview are now online AND on iTunes.

To listen to the podcast AND for a chance to win a copy of the NFDC book, please click here.

Contractor pioneers dismantling methods on first-of-a-kind project.

Grangemouth-based decommissioning specialist Masterton has been awarded a £4 million contract by international electricity and gas giant, National Grid. The contractor is dismantling four liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks and associated process plant at National Grid’s Heath Farm Lane storage facility at Partington, Manchester. This is the first LNG demolition project of its kind in Europe and will call upon a number of pioneering techniques.

Work commenced on the 195,000m² site with extensive testing and preparation required to ensure the site was fully purged of any residual risks. Masterton’s team of 12 used hot cutting techniques and demolition excavators with shears to remove low level pipe work and vessels from the vaporisation and liquefaction plant. It then turned its attention to the site’s four skyline- dominating LNG gas tanks.

The 45 metre high and 135 metre circumference double-skinned tanks had each been used to store over 21,000 tonnes of LNG at temperatures of minus 160 degrees. Very different in construction to traditional gas holders, these tall steel tank-within-a-tank structures were designed in the 1970s to safely store the highly volatile natural resource in its liquid state. With solid sides, the tanks have steeply sloping arched roofs supported by a series of arch beams and the roof alone weighs some 150 tonnes.

Masterton project manager Matt Harvey explains: “By liquefying the natural gas here at Partington, National Grid was able to store far larger quantities. The liquefaction process refrigerates the gas at extremely low temperatures and therefore the tanks were designed to effectively act as giant thermos flasks. They are double-skinned with perlite insulation between the inner and outer skin.

“Dismantling the steep roofs of the tanks was initially a concern; the safety of our men would have been compromised by working at such heights as the very heavy structure became unstable. However, using our extensive industrial demolition and structural engineering expertise, we designed a method that would use explosive charges to cut through the outer steel roof and ensure it dropped safely to the ground within the body of the gas holder whilst all our operatives were safely beyond the exclusion zone.”

Following rigorous testing, the 60 steel supporting roof beams of the first holder were exposed before being pre-weakened with sit cuts and 45 explosives charges were inserted. The first tank roof was successfully blasted at 12noon on Thursday 4th October.

Commenting on the explosive demolition, National Grid Projects Commissioning Manager, Frank Harries said: “Thanks to the professionalism of everyone in the highly qualified Masterton team, all went according to plan. Their pioneering approach has been very successful indeed with the tank roof collapsing in on the structure perfectly. We have now established a very safe and effective way of tackling these difficult and unusual structures.”

Masterton will continue with the demolition of the remaining three tanks and will also fell a 30m Solexol absorber column. The contract is due to be completed by the end of January 2013.

It might look like an implosion but don’t be fooled.

Five 165-foot-tall reinforced concrete smokestacks were toppled yesterday morning in the River Ridge Commerce Center in Charlestown, Indiana. It was brought down as part of the demolition of two massive power plants that were built in 1941.

At first glance, we assumed this was an explosive demolition. But having delved a little deeper here, it seems that the demolition method was somewhat less drastic.

Are you prepared to be a snitch?

As a journalist, words are my business and I am endlessly fascinated about how words evolve, fall out of fashion and take on new meanings.

Take, for example, the word “intelligence” that seems to be on the lips of just about every Government-backed agency with the ability to make life more difficult for the average UK demolition contractor.

Not so long ago, the word “intelligence” had two basic meanings: the first relating to someone with an above-average degree of knowledge; the second relating to the secret world of spies and spooks. Indeed, the term “military intelligence” is the average person’s favourite oxymoron.

Today, however, it seems to have acquired a new and not-altogether pleasant definition; one that seemingly requires demolition contractors to turn stool pigeon and inform upon their fellow demolition professionals.

In the space of just two weeks, I have heard both the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency refer to the need for “intelligence” to help their depleted inspection workforces to maintain or even increase prosecutions against the UK demolition sector. Digging through what is best described as politician-speak, what they apparently mean is “we would really like you to keep an eye on your rivals in the business and to grass them up at every available opportunity”.

This feels wrong to me on just about every conceivable level and leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth.

The National Federation of Demolition Contractors – among others – has worked tirelessly to unite its membership since the recession first took hold in a “together we are stronger”, Dunkirk spirit of unity. Asking demolition contractors to effectively spy upon each other surely flies in the face of that much-needed and laudable camaraderie. Shouldn’t individual contractors’ concentration be focused upon improving their own house rather than undermining that of a competitor?

Furthermore, since both the HSE and the Environment Agency are funded from the public coffers, should we really be expected to do part of the work that our hard-earned tax pounds are already paying for?

And while I myself sit at the non-believing end of the Atheist spectrum, isn’t there something spiritually and morally corrupt about all of this; surely in the Karmic what-goes-around-comes-around circle of life, today’s snitch is tomorrow’s snitched?

As a rather popular book once said: “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

One man, one excavator, one big heap of demolition.

Hydraulic breaker manufacturers will tell you that it’s bad practice to continually break in the same position as it will cause premature wear and damage to the breaker. That may be so, but, based on the following video, it can also deliver some pretty spectacular results.

It may be unconventional but you have to admit; it gets the job done.

Latest edition of NDTG magazine available to read online.

The third edition of the National Demolition Training Group’s regular On Course magazine was unveiled at yesterday’s well-attended NFDC Demolition Day. If you weren’t there or haven’t received your paper copy yet, you can read the electronic version below:

Energy Solutions restructures amid funding concerns over contract.

The company dismantling the Zion nuclear power plant said Tuesday that it will restructure, reducing its annual costs by $35 million and resulting in the layoffs of 265 people.

Utah-based EnergySolutions Inc. has said its expects to spend a decade taking apart the plant, which sits on the shores of Lake Michigan and has been closed since 1998. Plant owner Chicago-based Exelon Corp. handed over the plant keys to EnergySolutions, along with an approximately $800 million trust fund paid into by ratepayers, to handle the decommissioning.

Mark Walker, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, said the job cuts are not expected to affect the Zion project or the removal and shipment of low-level radioactive materials from the site to Clive, Utah. “What we’re doing with other portions of the company will not have an impact on the work we are doing at Zion,” Walker said.

The Zion project had come under scrutiny over concerns about a dwindling cushion between the costs of decommissioning and the money available in the trust fund. The project is protected by a $200 million letter of credit, which rolls over to Exelon if EnergySolutions is unable to pay for any budget overruns with cash or debt.

Read more here.