Big bang marks last ride for popular amusement park ride.

The Texas Chute Out is officially no more.

The iconic parachute ride at Six Flags Over Texas, which had its last hurrah on Labor Day weekend, was imploded today to make way for the world’s tallest swing ride, the Texas SkyScreamer.

The Chute Out was toppled by the Dallas Demolition Company. The 200-foot-tall ride, which opened in 1976, has seen more than 29 million riders through the years.

The new SkyScreamer will be twice the height of the Chute Out, towering 400 feet above the ground, and will hold 24 riders at a time. Riders will be able to see downtown Dallas on a clear day, Six Flags executives told reporters in August.

Contractor bounces back from Ford Auditorium incident.

Adamo Group has been awarded contracts for the demolition of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) guest services tower in Detroit, MI and the former Riverwalk Plaza Hotel in Jackson, MI.

The demolition of DMC’s 90,000 square foot guest services building, at the corner of Mack and Beaubien, began Tuesday October 9th and is part of the DMC expansion program. A new parking structure will be built in its place.

The 120,000 square foot, nine story former Riverwalk Plaza Hotel demolition is slated to begin later this year for Jackson County.

Adamo will utilize the CAT 385CL Ultra High Demolition (UHD) Excavator on both projects. The implementation of this machine with a specialized Multi Processor attachment allows 360 degree hydraulic rotations letting you position the attachment for more precise, quick and cost effective demolition of heavily reinforced multi-story structures. The MP30 attachment with an over 90’ reach will be used for the DMC project and the MP20 attachment with an over 140’ reach will be used for the Riverwalk project. Adamo was the first contractor to premier the CAT 385CL as an owner/operator in the United States.

First Volvo D series Ultra High Reach goes to Wooldridge Demolition

A brand new Volvo EC480D Ultra High Reach machine has been delivered to Wooldridge Demolition of Bagshot, Surrey along with an EC360C equipped for secondary demolition which celebrate a ten year association owning and operating Volvo Construction Equipment products.

The EC480D has been supplied to Wooldridge Demolition with a bespoke three piece demolition rig designed and manufactured by Messrs Kocurek of Ispwich and replaces an older EC460B model. With a maximum pin height of 26 metres and forward reach of 14 metres the EC480D is capable of handling a tool weight of 2500kgs.

At the heart of the machine a Stage IIIB V-Act 13 litre engine develops 348 hp and is ideally matched to its automatic sensing mode hydraulic system. The equipment features a hydraulic modular joint which enables the machine to be fitted with either ultra hi reach demolition equipment, a straight boom arrangement or as a standard backacter for digging duties.

Look out for the full story in the next edition of Demolition & Dismantling.

High reach excavator gets to grips with former ICI headquarters.

A contract that seems to have been years in the making finally got underway this week. And, somewhat appropriately, the demolition of the former home of ICI was halted almost immediately by “technical issues”.

But with those issues seemingly addressed, work in now finally underway at the long-abandoned Billingham House.

Read more here, or view the video below:

Excavator with grab performs impressive slam dunk.

Never mind public scrutiny, time is money attitudes and pride in a job well done. Give the average demolition excavator operator a grab, basketball and a basketball net, and he’s going to try this.

The one thing that impresses me most about this though is not the fine control demonstrated by the operator; it’s the fact that the guy holding the ball insists on wearing safety gloves even when arsing about.

Luminant says goodbye to final tower.

The third tower of the old Luminant power plant was imploded just after 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning in Coppell.

City officials did not publicize the event because they did not want to attract a crowd. But a small number of people still managed to learn about the implosion, and found a spot to watch the 48-year-old building come down.

Luminant stopped operating the power plant in 2008 and retired it in 2009. When operational, the facility generated enough power for more than 350,000 average Texas homes.

This is the old power plant’s final tower to be imploded. The first tower came down in April.

Complaints from local residents lead to prosecution.

A self-employed demolition contractor has been fined after members of the public reported workers operating unsafely at roof height during the demolition of a Derbyshire pub.

Colin Rogers, 59, of Andrews Drive, Langley Mill, trading as Central Demolition & Salvage Specialists, was the principal contractor at the former Jolly Colliers pub on Jessop Street, Ripley, in May 2011.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court was told that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) received complaints from three different members of the public, one of whom took photographs of some of the unsafe work taking place at the site. They showed workers on the roof of the two-storey building without any measures to prevent them from falling.

As a result, HSE gave Mr Rogers advice on safe working at height. However, during a follow-up visit to the site on 19 May, Inspectors saw unsafe practices still taking place, including one worker throwing timber from the edge of the building at roof level with no safety measures to stop a fall.

Two Prohibition Notices were served by HSE preventing any further work until a suitable demolition plan was adopted and adequate fall prevention measures introduced.

The court fined Mr Rogers £2,500 and ordered him to pay costs of £2,500 after he admitted breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Lee Greatorex said:

“The dangers that the workers faced were so great and so obvious that no fewer than three members of the public took the trouble to contact HSE with their concerns, one of them with photographs.

“Colin Rogers blatantly ignored HSE’s advice leaving a worker at the site exposed to an unnecessary risk of a serious or even fatal injury. Demolition and work at height are high risk activities. There is a need to adequately plan for such work and ensure those plans are fully implemented and monitored effectively to ensure the safety of those involved.”

Time called on torched school that has lain empty for two decades.

The “haunted” former Lambertville High School has a date with the wrecking ball. Officials hope it happens soon; Halloween is just weeks away and the elements have taken their toll. It’s dangerous and they want the building demolished before someone trespassing in search of ghosts is really hurt.

City construction officials Ken Rogers issued the latest in a string of demolition orders a year ago, almost 20 years after then-construction official Gene Venettone had issued a notice of imminent hazard, ordering owner Merrick Wilson to demolish or repair the building.

Progress has been made over the past year and officials think a long-awaited demolition is impending. Rogers said on Oct. 1 that pressure is being put on Wilson by the courts — a $4,000 fine is accruing each week until the building is removed.

Built in 1854, the stately brick school housed elementary and high school students from as far south as Ewing Township and as far north as Milford. The last high school class graduated there in 1959, replaced by South Hunterdon Regional High School in neighboring West Amwell Township.

It was vacant by the time an arsonist torched the building in 1992, a fire that devastated what had been a structurally sound building.

Read more here.

Falling bucket severely injured demolition worker on his first day.

A Nottinghamshire demolition company and one of its employees have appeared in court after a worker suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a falling excavator bucket on his first day on site.

Labourer James Wilson, of Misterton, was working for Bloom Plant Ltd on a demolition site on Kilton Road, Worksop, on 10 January 2011.

Excavator driver Paul Batty, who was also employed by Bloom Plant Ltd, was re-attaching the four tonne excavator bucket to the boom of his machine when it fell and slid down a pile of rubble, landing on Mr Wilson and leaving him with major crush injuries.

Mr Wilson, who was 46 when the incident happened lost his left eye and part of his scalp. He also broke his eye socket, cheekbone, jaw, nose, left collarbone, several ribs and his left leg He also punctured a lung and severed the nerves on his bottom lip.

Mr Wilson was in a coma for two weeks and had to have a tracheotomy to help him breathe. He also needed extensive reconstructive surgery. He is still undergoing surgery, has not been able to return to work and is unlikely to for the foreseeable future.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Bloom Plant Ltd had no safe systems of work in place and had not given Mr Wilson adequate information, instruction, training or supervision including adequate warnings of the hazards involved when working around plant.

Read more here.

EDS man wins DemolitionNews.com trophy at IDE fishing day.

On a stunningly beautiful autumnal day, eight demolition-related anglers went head-to-head for their chance to get their hands on the first-ever DemolitionNews.com Tight Lines trophy organised by incumbent IDE President and renowned maggot-drowner John Woodward.

And it was clear from the outset that certain fishermen were operating at a distinct disadvantage. The National Demolition Training Group’s Ian Kirk was required to carry out a full risk assessment before dipping a line into the water and then had to consult his notes on working in confined spaces when he discovered that his peg was tucked into a tight little corner of the Furnace Pond.

John Woodward himself was struck down by an untimely bout of narcolepsy, dozing off in the mid morning sunshine just an hour into the five and a half hour contest.
EDS’s Neville Pantin took full advantage swinging a pole lone enough to require a high reach license and stealing fish after fish from under the sleeping IDE President’s nose.

As the sunshine gave way to rain and then switched back to sunshine again, the contest turned into a three-horse race with Pantin, Craig Wilkinson and a partially-sighted mystery OAP in peg 26 going fish for fish and leaving the others in their wake.

Ultimately, Pantin emerged victorious to claim the coveted trophy with a bag of mainly carp tipping the scales at an impressive 47 pounds and six ounces. Craig Wilkinson bagged 22 pounds and eleven ounces of fish to steal third.

But what of the mystery man in peg 26 I hear you ask? Hampered by poor vision, extreme old age and a 4.30 am start, this angling Methuselah performed manfully to weigh in an impressive 29 pounds exactly to take the number two slot and retain his position as legend to those closest to him.

The name of the heroic mystery man? Mark Anthony Senior, father of DemolitionNews.com Mark Anthony Jnr.

Impartiality be damned!