Belltown residents furious over deafening McGuire demolition project

Demolition is under way on the McGuire Building, and the noise is deafening – even on the weekends – despite promises that local residents would not disturbed by the project.

The city of Seattle condemned the 26-story apartment building last year after finding serious construction problems that threatened its structural integrity and endangered residents.

Although the structure is only nine years old, inspectors said it needs to be dismantled because it has too many structural problems to fix – including corroding and rusting support cables.

But, taking it down is loud, and neighbors can’t stand the ear-splitting noise in Belltown anymore.

“I’ve been up since 7:30 today, 7:30 yesterday,” says Dr. Ed Kane, who lives nearby.

Read more here or view the video below:

Crew faces investigation after house is demolished while resident was still inside.

A woman was killed Saturday afternoon in southeast Atlanta as a demolition team tore down a house. Witnesses said the woman was inside the home when the building began crumbling around her.

Residents in the area said the demolition crew began working from the back toward the front. Neighbors said they had wanted the house torn down for years. Then they said they heard the cry for help. Through the afternoon, Atlanta firefighters combed through the debris, making sure there is no one else trapped underneath the rubble. They would find no one else.

Elliott was the first to arrive at the demolished house. “Me and some other people cleared right here,” Elliot said. “I was watching the backhoe turn and as he turned I heard a woman moan.”

Channel 2 Actions News’ camera spotted the demolition team sitting nearby talking with Atlanta homicide detectives and firefighters.
“All the reports that we are receiving is that the building was checked out by the contractors prior to the demolition starting,” Battalion Chief Todd Edwards with the Atlanta Fire Department said.

Read more here or view video here.

Amateur video of twin tower implosion in Birmingham.

Less than an hour ago, a pair of high rise towers at Birmingham’s Aston University were felled in a simultaneous implosion conducted by DSM Demolition and Professional Demolition Consultancy (PDC) that, judging by this amateur footage, went exactly to plan.

We hope to bring you some high quality video early next week but, in the meantime, here’s a nice piece of citizen journalism:

Federal government to sell off or demolish buildings to cut costs.

Hundreds of industrial buildings in Maryland owned by the federal government — from warehouses at the Antietam National Battlefield to a machine shop in Curtis Bay — would be sold or demolished under a White House initiative to dispose of excess government property.

In an effort to save billions of dollars annually in upkeep and energy costs on the often-vacant buildings, the Obama administration proposed last year ditching 14,000 properties the government no longer needs. A list of those properties released on Wednesday includes 320 in Maryland.

Read more here.

Work scheduled to commence Monday to raze deteriorating chimney.

Demolition of the old MSC smokestack on the Michigan State University campus is scheduled to begin Monday, May 9, with completion scheduled for mid-August.

The smokestack, part of the long-closed Shaw Lane Power Plant, is located at Red Cedar and Shaw Lane. The power plant was built in 1948 but has not been in use since 1975.

A recent inspection indicated that the smokestack was deteriorating and would either need to be repaired or removed to avoid safety concerns. Inspections found that within the top 35 feet of the stack all of the mortar joints had deteriorated. Nearly half of the mortar joints in the top 70 feet were deteriorated. A wire cage is helping keep the loose bricks at the top in place. In addition, fencing has been placed 150 feet out around the smokestack as a safety precaution.

Read more here.

Night-time silent movie gets up close and personal on bridge demolition.

We can tell you very little about the following video aside from the fact that it comes courtesy of Erke Group, features leading Italian contractor Baraldi using Matovanibenne attachments and that at the 1 minute 20 second mark, the bridge surrenders.

ERKEGroup, Mantovanibenne CR35 Bridge Demolition by erkegroup

Crews begin dismantling derelict barge in Columbia River

With the derelict barge Davy Crockett walled off from the Columbia River, salvage crews have begun the tedious task of cutting the ship apart at its mooring.

The Davy Crockett, once visibly broken in half in the river, is now barely visible behind a cofferdam built around it and the cluster of vessels assisting in the cleanup. The stern has been separated from the barge’s midsection and brought to the surface of the water.

The cofferdam, a steel wall lined with a water- and oil-proof membrane, was finished last month and so far has contained oil and other contaminants.

“This was not our preference, to be actually cutting this up in the river,” said Capt. Daniel LeBlanc, the Coast Guard incident commander. “But in hindsight, you look at it and say it’s probably the best thing for the environment.”

Read more here.

Car maker shows off the power of its latest model with demolition feat.

To promote the launch of its new Amarok pickup in the United Kingdom, Volkswagen used four of them to bring down a 140 tonne steel chimney in Reading.

To accomplish this impressive feat, structural engineers cut into the base of the chimney and attached cables to the towbars of the pickups. Once everything was setup, the trucks accelerated simultaneously and the chimney came crashing down.

According to Simon Elliott, the director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK, ‘The new Amarok is packed with power and intelligence, and we wanted to achieve something extraordinary to demonstrate this for its launch. Working with the right experts and taking a scientific approach, by demolishing a 67 meter steel chimney we’ve shown the maximum strength and power of the Amarok.”

If you’re reading this in the US and thinking that the Amarok might be a nifty replacement for your 40 tonne excavator, think again. Volkswagen reports that it has no plans to sell the model Stateside.

Pakistani hideaway of world’s most wanted man to be razed.

Here’s one contract that most demolition contractors would willingly undertake free of charge. The compound in which Osama bin Laden had been hiding for the past five years is to be demolished in a few weeks time, according to news agency sources.

“Like we have done in the past we will also raze to the ground this building so that it should not become sacred building for the jihadis”, said the source, adding that the security agencies had demolished Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad in 2007.

The source also confided that it has not been decided so far that whether media would be allowed to enter the compound however there was nothing left in the compound for the security agencies and a decision to demolish it will be taken soon.

Read more here.

Retired demolition worker uncovers long-lost secret recipes

Retired demolition worker John Senior could never understand why younger demolition colleagues ignored the history at their feet and, in some cases, took a hammer to old objects.

Senior’s desire to preserve the past served him well when he discovered a hoard of secret papers hidden in the roof space of an old factory at Apperley Bridge, near Bradford, once occupied by Hammonds sauce company. Carefully concealed by straw and stones, he found a metal box containing more than 100 documents relating to the history of the once-famous Leeds firm Goodall, Backhouse & Company.

There were hand-written recipes for company top sellers, including Yorkshire Relish, which once sold several million bottles a year across the British Empire and beyond.

The papers are now in the hands of Leeds auctioneer Gary Don, who says the historical value is great, although the monetary value may be more modest. “The most important things here are the recipes,” he says. “They were well hidden and would have been top secret documents. I would imagine lots of companies would have wanted to get their hands on them.”

Read more and view the video here.