Video captures the moment an overhanging building falls onto an excavator.

This is one of those edge-of-the-seat videos where the outcome is obvious long before it actually happens. A high reach excavator is busily working on the deconstruction of a tower block but when the camera pans up about 20 seconds in, a large overhang at the top of the building is revealed.

There is then an agonising wait before the inevitable finally happens, a large section of concrete falling onto the boom of the machine below.

Thankfully, judging by the subsequent wrestling the operator attempts to free the partially buried machine, he was uninjured.

Christchurch quake set to claim more structural victims.

Twenty-nine more buildings, including heritage buildings, have been added to the list for demolition in Christchurch.

Civil Defence has announced a further 14 of the city’s heritage buildings will be destroyed following February’s devastating earthquake.

In total, a further 55 buildings were added to the list of those requiring either structural work or demolition, with the overall number of buildings needing work at 348.

Read more here.

Company that owns housing estate applies for permission to demolish 600 homes.

The CPI firm, owner of 600 units at the Janov housing estate and part of billionaire Radovan Vítek’s business empire, has already negotiated with the Litvínov town hall about its plan to demolish the housing estate. The town leadership would prefer the real estate firm repair the units it owns, news server iHNed.cz reports.

Forty years ago, the state razed villages near Litvínov in order to mine brown coal there and moved the residents into the Janov housing estate. Untapped coal reserves also exist beneath the housing estate, and it is now possible that bulldozers will soon be tearing it down.

CPI head Zdeněk Havelka has already presented the firm’s plan to representatives of the Litvínov town hall. “I can imagine a rather heretical idea, which is that the existing tenants would be moved into one block on the housing estate and the rest of the buildings would be demolished,” Havelka told Czech Daily Hospodářské noviny (news server iHNed.cz).

Read more here.

Kocurek in advanced stages of production on UK’s largest high reach excavator.

A new high reach machine that will rewrite the UK high reach record books is currently taking shape in the Kocurek Excavators factory in Ipswich.

Based on a Liebherr 984 excavator, the new machine is being built for Technical Demolition Services (TDS) and will reportedly have a maximum reach of 67 metres, outstripping the current UK record holder by two metres.

DemolitionNews managed to get a sneak peak at the machine which is currently under construction and, although this photo doesn’t do it justice, the machine looks every bit as impressive as its specification.

Word is that the machine is scheduled to leave the Kocurek factory within the next few months – We’ll be watching this one closely and hope to bring you further news as it happens.

Contract to demolish Pittsburgh Civic Arena attracts interest from 27 demolition companies.

Twenty-seven companies have expressed a desire to tear down the 49-year-old silver-domed landmark, fondly known as the Igloo, through a request for qualifications issued by the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority.

Some of the firms that responded do demolition and abatement. Others specialized in either demolition or abatement and still others in excavation, said Scott Pollock, vice president of development for Oxford Development Co., which is helping the SEA with preparations for the arena’s razing.

He added it’s not unusual to get interest from such a range of companies for demolition-related work.

“I think that’s about what we expected,” he said. “I think that’s good coverage.”

With Oxford’s help, the SEA now will sort through the responses to determine which firms are qualified to take down the old building and then invite them to bid. It hopes to seek bids around May 1 and award a contract by the end of the month.

Read more here.

Is Save Britain’s Heritage undermining a much-needed resurgence in demolition activity?

As a proud Brit and Londoner, I am every bit as keen on conserving our historic buildings, monuments and architecture as the next man. And, despite the fact that I draw my living (indirectly) from this business, I would be the first to agree that demolition should never be carried out “willy-nilly” or on a whim.

But the recent landmark court case ruling in favour of Save Britain’s Heritage and the organisation’s subsequent victory – albeit temporary – in its campaign to safeguard a number of Liverpool houses, including Ringo Starr’s childhood home, really could not have come at a worse time for the UK demolition business.

In truth, the appeal court ruling requiring property developers to seek planning consent before undertaking demolition on certain buildings does not directly impact upon the demolition business. The new rules could, however, impact upon the time it takes for demolition permission to be granted and, in some cases, could prevent demolition altogether.

For the past three years, the UK demolition business has been forced to contend with declining workloads and thinning profit margins. It has seen some long-established businesses go out of business and others simply throw in the towel in the face of a seemingly bottomless trough coupled with escalating costs and ever-more stringent regulation.

And now, just as the market starts to show signs of life and recovery, along comes a no doubt well-intentioned organisation armed with a large bag of throwing spanners aimed squarely at the inner workings of an already beleaguered industry sector.

Yes, we need to protect our historic buildings and monuments and we would not dare to suggest otherwise. But when lawmakers and government departments are considering applications for demolition, there is a useful statistic to bear in mind in these times of fragile recovery.

According to the much-respected UK construction magazine Building, construction remains the country’s largest employer; and each pound invested in construction delivers a £2.84 return to the UK economy.

Demolition might still be regarded by many as construction’s poor relation. But in an island nation with increasingly limited space, very little construction now takes place that did not begin with some form of demolition or enabling works.

So every time Save Britain’s Heritage stands in the way of a proposed demolition, it is blockading an economic recovery for demolition, for construction and for the country as a whole.

A look back at the demolition of Colne’s Waterside waterwheel.

Today’s demolition professionals are well-equipped to deal with structures of increasingly huge heights constructed from concrete and steel. But imagine tackling the demolition of a seven metre diameter water wheel constructed from English oak with little more than the brute strength and ingenuity of the demolition workers at your disposal.

Well that was precisely the challenge facing demolition workers when the Colne Waterside Waterwheel – that had powered the St Helen’s Cotton Mill for 100 years – was razed back in 1935.

The story (and, more specifically, the photo) capturing this historic demolition project are well worth a read.

Click here for more.

Ringo Starr’s childhood home granted temporary reprieve.

In the latest example of its growing influence, Save Britain’s Heritage has scored another major victory by keeping the Pathfinder bulldozers out of Liverpool after communities secretary Eric Pickles issued a stop notice

The dramatic move – which forbids demolition without his express permission – came hours before the city’s planning committee was due to meet.

Defiant councillors went ahead this morning (Tuesday) and voted unanimously to approve the plans to raze the six streets of Victorian terrace houses known as the Welsh Streets.

But work, planned to start on May 17, will have to wait until Pickles has decided whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required prior to demolition.

Liverpool Council previously ruled that an assessment was not necessary but, after lobbying by Save, Pickles is now questioning this decision.

In a separate development, Save has also bought a house in one of the threatened streets. Number 21 Madryn Street, a few doors from the childhood home of Ringo Starr, will become the centre of the preservation campaign.

Read more here.

Demolition of derelict eyesore that has been magnet for vandalism finally begins.

Workers from AR Demolition today started tearing out the inside of the former Tresham College building in St Mary’s Road, Kettering, yesterday.

Asbestos, plastic, wood and carpets will be removed from the building over the next two months before the empty shell is demolished in June to make way for new homes.

Andy Seeds, AR Demolition’s site manager, said: “Today is the first day we are starting work. It’s just an initial soft strip – the wood, the plastics and the carpeting is coming out. We are trying to get it down to a bare shell before the machine starts.

AR Demolition reports that around 20 workers are stripping the building and a specialist licensed contractor is removing the asbestos.

Read more here.

Demolition crews imploded the last remaining steel trusses of the old Highway 75 bridge.