Large drop in empty UK homes put down to demolition write-offs, says charity.

A dramatic fall in the number of empty homes may have been caused by councils writing off properties previously earmarked for demolition under the housing market renewal programme.

The charity Empty Homes says a 4 per cent drop in the number of vacant dwellings in England between 2009 and 2010 is too good to be true and that some of the biggest reductions occurred in areas with large numbers of homes due for demolition under the HMR programme. In reality, many of these properties may remain standing for years because the coalition government ended the programme early, suggests the charity.

Figures based on the council tax register in each authority show there were 738,414 homes standing empty last year – down 32,247 on the previous year. This follows a fall of 12,458 between 2008 and 2009.

The largest single fall was in Manchester, where the council tax register shows the number of vacant homes down by 2,188 to 12,300. A council spokesperson said the reduction was due to a combination of homes being demolished and previously vacant properties being reoccupied.

Read more here.

Former world explosive contractor of the year confirms date for Glasgow blast.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the city of Glasgow will briefly witness a sound only slightly louder than a crowd at an “Old Firm” derby as Safedem tackles its 16th tower block demolition for the Glasgow Housing Association.

Following a successful test blast at the end of March, Coll Place is rigged and ready to drop, according to a dedicated website that Safedem set up to keep local residents informed of progress throughout the various stages of the contract.

Interestingly, the website currently features an exclusion zone plan.

DemolitionNews will, of course, be bringing you footage from the implosion as quickly as possible after the event.

Anti-encroachment drive gets off to shaky start with partially-successful implosion.

It took two attempts to shoot it but, with the assistance of some heavy equipment, Bhopal’s Minal Mall was eventually razed, kick-starting an anti-encroachment demolition drive designed to remove illegally-erected structures from the Indian city.

Read more here or view the video (complete with the funky soundtrack) below:

Moscow’s cultural heritage agency takes action after illegal destruction of listed building facade.

Moscow authorities canceled all previously issued permits for demolition or partial dismantling of structures in areas containing historic buildings, in response to the illegal demolition of the Kolbe house on Bolshaya Yakimanka Ulitsa by Capital Group developers.

Moskomnaslediye, the city department responsible for protecting cultural heritage, said in a statement late last week: “All approvals, permits, approved projects, including the complete or partial dismantling of any buildings — including those having and not having any historical-cultural status — in combined protected zones or zones of strict construction regulation by the city of Moscow are now considered null and void without re-approval of the department of cultural heritage.”

The city committee cited decrees from December 1995 and December 2004 as the legal basis for its decision.

“The developer of the project [on Yakimanka], Capital Group, knew about these rules, since the question of removing the building was submitted to the commission March 15, 2005, after which the company’s demolition request was denied. Letters allegedly received from some former employees of Moskomnaslediye authorizing the demolition of these buildings have no legal force,” the agency said.

Statements by the developer that the facade wall of the building fell on its own due to its natural lack of structural integrity do not hold water, Moskomnaslediye said.

Read more here.

September 17 will mark the start of dam dismantling operations.

The shabby edifice of the Elwha Dam is showing its age. It towers over the lower Elwha River valley as it has for nearly a century. It still generates electricity for the regional grid.

But the days for this North Olympic Peninsula landmark are numbered.

Generators inside the powerhouse of the 33 metre (108-foot) dam west of Port Angeles will be turned off June 1, Olympic National Park spokesman Dave Reynolds said.

Three-and-a-half months later, a National Park Service contractor will begin to tear it down.

“Everything is on schedule for Sept. 17 for the first concrete removed from the dam,” said Reynolds, during a tour of the Elwha Dam and powerhouse on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of site preparation that will go on before that as well.”

Read more here.

County coroner confirms that woman was killed by demolition.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta says a woman found dead in an Atlanta house after it was demolished was killed by falling debris.

Investigator Mary Beth Hauptle says an autopsy conducted Sunday shows the woman died of blunt force trauma, caused when the house was demolished Saturday.

Capt. J.L. Bundrige with the Atlanta Fire Department says the body was discovered as contractors removed debris from the site.

Hauptle says the woman wasn’t carrying identification, and fingerprints are being used to try to establish her identity.

Read more on this latest update here, or look back at how this story has come together here.

Atlanta firefighters recover body from demolished Atlanta home.

Firefighters have confirmed that a body has been recovered from a house demolition project in Atlanta, the Firefighter Nation website has reported.

Firefighters confirm it was the body of a woman. “We do not know if this was due to the demolition, or if it happened the night before,” said Atlanta Fire Battalion Chief Todd Edwards.

Contractors say they walked through the home before the demolition to make sure no one was inside.

Read more and view the video here .

UK housing minister’s financial lifeline addresses syptoms but is no cure for stalled demolition

Here at Demolition News Towers, we have long believed that politicians operate in a vacuum, basking in expense account, secretary humping luxury, isolated from the needs and challenges of people forced to live in the real world. But the latest news to emerge from UK housing minister Grant Shapps is so far removed from any semblance of reality that it’s akin to apologising for the mess while continuing to beat someone over the head with a baseball bat.

Shapps today announced a £30 million lifeline to families trapped in streets abandoned due to stalled large scale housing demolition schemes.

The Housing Market Renewal programme, launched in 2002, created large scale targets for demolition clearance and new build homes. Over time many of these schemes did not secure the public or private investment necessary, which Ministers argue resulted in blighted areas where large scale demolition and clearance projects were stopped in their tracks, often leaving isolated residents living in just a few homes in otherwise derelict areas.

The previous Government’s Housing Market Renewal programme created large scale targets for demolition clearance and new build homes. Over time many of these schemes did not secure the public or private investment necessary resulting in blighted areas where large scale demolition and clearance projects have been stopped in their tracks often leaving isolated residents living in just a few homes in otherwise derelict areas.

So, rather than addressing the planning problems that have pushed these demolition and construction initiatives onto the back-burner or, better still, freeing up some money to see these projects through to completion, the eminently wise Mr Shapps has instead gathered together £30 million of taxpayers money to help bail out families that find themselves living in ghost towns caused by failed demolition programmes.

This is a drum that we’ve beaten so long that it’s in danger of breaking. But, just in case Mr Shapps does visit the real world, here’s a quick reminder of UK construction economics for him.

For every £1.00 spent on construction in the UK, £2.84 is generated for the UK economy.

So rather than taking taxpayers’ money to bail out taxpayers trapped by the failure of government to plan, instigate and deliver a stalled demolition programme, how about investing that £30 million in actually bringing that programme to fruition, creating work for demolition and construction companies, creating jobs, and topping up UK PLC’s depleted coffers.

A South-East of England company is seeking an estimator/surveyor.

Our sister website Demolition-Jobs.co.uk has seen another telling upsurge in activity in the past few days; surely another sign that the demolition industry’s fortunes have turned a corner.

One of the key reasons for this increase in traffic is the addition of a new “position vacant” advertisement from a rapidly-expanding south east of England company that is looking to recruit a qualified estimator/surveyor.

To find out more about this and other UK demolition job opportunities, please click here.

As news of Osama bin Laden’s death was hitting the airwaves, a US demolition crew makes timely discovery.

Two weeks ago, a crew from O’Brien Wrecking was working in the Berks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) building on a renovation project. An office was being converted to a mechanical room and they were told to remove the drywall in the room.

The wrecking crew was surprised by what they uncovered; a “time-capsule” wall of inspirational messages created in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Stan Kita, BCIU assistant director, said that almost 10 years ago workers were putting up a three-story addition on the rear of their building and had bricked over a large picture window.

Dr. Kevin Andreyo, BCIU innovation and fund development administrator, said he and some colleagues were in a funk over the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. When they saw the new block wall, they used it as a blank slate.

“It was going to be covered with drywall in a couple of days so we started writing on it,” Andreyo said.

Andreyo drew an American flag. Others wrote inspirational quotes and other messages with ink markers. Soon other employees and construction workers started adding to what became an impromptu memorial to the almost 3,000 who died in the terror attacks.

Read more here.