Exclusive video of speech by outgoing NFDC president, David Darsey.

Just over a week ago, David Darsey’s two-year tenure as president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors came to an end as he handed the reins over to the incoming president, Gary Bishop.

In this exclusive video, DemolitionNews brings you David Darsey’s final speech in his role as president.

In this second video from the same event, Darsey hands the chains of office to his successor Gary Bishop while William Sinclair becomes vice president and Marton Wilson is elected 2nd vice president:

Concern as old bridge tumbles and hits its new replacement.

Engineers in Seattle are evaluating damage to the new N.E. 12th Street bridge over Interstate 405 after a section of the old overpass, being demolished this weekend, unexpectedly shifted and fell into the new bridge.

Damage isn’t considered major, but further analysis will determine whether the south portion of the new bridge, which for now carries one lane of traffic in each direction, can reopen Monday at 5 a.m. as originally planned.

Analysis of today’s damage by engineers from the Washington State Department of Transportation and the contractor, Guy F. Atkinson Construction, LLC, is expected to be available Sunday.

Read more here.

Locals and former miners gather for dual headstock implosion.

Hundreds of people have watched the demolition of two Nottinghamshire headstocks.

They were part of Welbeck Colliery, which dates back to 1912 and only ended coal production last year.

Contractors incensed as city wins competitive bid with price 30% below break even.

Private demolition contractors say the city of Rock Hill is taking their business. Competition from the city, and a bad economy, are forcing them to sell equipment, lay off workers, and in one case, likely go out of business, contractors said.

They are upset the city won a $64,165 contract from Comporium to tear down the former King funeral home, the Hiers-Clarkson building and small garage. The demolition is the first step in developing Downtown East, a park and mixed-use development.

If contractors had submitted a no-profit bid for the project, it would have been between $98,000 and $100,000 to break even, they said.

City officials said their bid was based on years of estimating experience and using machines to tear down the buildings. Several contractors said they had budgeted for some manual demolition because of the proximity of the Hiers-Clarkson building to the historic Barnes home. The distance between the buildings was about four feet.

Comporium, which is partnering with the city to develop the park, owned the buildings. The company solicited bids and paid for the demolition.

Read more here.

At least 128 buildings to be demolished in post-quake Christchurch clean-up.

The face of Christchurch is about to change, with Civil Defence confirming at least 128 buildings in the city centre will have to be demolished and more may follow.

At yesterday’s media briefing, the director of planning and transition for Civil Defence, Warwick Isaacs, said 128 buildings will be demolished, 37 require partial demolition and 12 will have to be made safe.

Another seven “critical buildings” would probably have to come down.

These are: the Rolleston Court apartments, New Zealand College of Early Childhood Education, Community House, BDO Spicer Christchurch, the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Harcourts Grenadier and Kenton Chambers.

Isaacs said the critical buildings were “generally” over five storeys tall, on an important thoroughfare, and posed a danger to other buildings.

Other buildings, including high-rise towers, may end up joining the critical list.

Some work on critical buildings was imminent, while further planning would be needed for the high-rise buildings such as the Hotel Grand Chancellor.

Isaacs had no update on how the leaning hotel building would be handled.

Some of the high-profile buildings on the list for demolition are: The Press building, part of Christ’s College, the Caledonian Hall, and St Paul’s Church.

Read more here.

Police detain a demolition manager in connection with the death of a holdout evictee.

Authorities in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun have detained the manager of a demolition company after a 50-year-old protester was crushed during demolitions at a film studio renowned for its revolutionary movies.

Liu Shuxian, 50, died at the weekend during the demolition of the No.4 accommodation block at the Changchun Film Studios, which began at around 11 p.m. on Saturday when more than 20 earth-movers manned by more than 100 demolition crew arrived at the building.

The demolition gang removed a group of holdout evictees from the site before continuing to demolish the building, leaving Liu trapped inside.

“I cannot get out,” she told a friend in a phone call made shortly before her death. Liu’s body was dug out on Monday after her family called the police.

Wang Haibin, manager of the Changchun Donglin Demolition Co., was formally detained by police on suspicion of “illegal demolitions” leading to the death of evictee Liu Shuxiang, official media reported on Thursday.

Read more here.

Norwegian demolition man stands accused of stealing entire tower block

DemolitionNews has been granted exclusive access to leaked court documents relating to a case pending in Norway in which a contractor stands accused of stealing a tower block he had been employed to demolish. The local authority claims that the contractor dismantled the block and has subsequently reassembled it at the rear of his own house.

According to the local authority, contractor Olaf Ropli was chosen specifically for the high levels of recycling he had promised as part of his tender submission. “The contract to demolish the block attracted a total of seven bids, and there was very little to choose between them in terms of price,” says Morten Pedersen of the Molby prefecture. “But Ropli assured us that he could achieve a recycling rate of 100 percent.”

Pedersen says that the local authority’s concerns were first raised when the demolition of the six-storey block took several months longer than anticipated. “One of our building inspectors visited the site and was surprised to see the building being cut into pieces. Admittedly, we are not demolition experts but we had never seen a method quite like it,” Pedersen continues. “But when we challenged him, he said it was all part of his recycling process. It was only when one of our waste management employees reported that Ropli was dumping a large number of empty industrial adhesive containers on an almost daily basis that we began to realise just what his recycling method entailed.”

In what could be a landmark case, Ropli claims he was well within his rights to recycle the arisings from the site as he saw fit. “The local authority made no stipulation on how the materials could or should be recycled, nor did they place any time restrictions on the contract. I have a large family and plenty of land so this seemed like an ideal solution for everyone.”

The relocation of the tower block was not without its problems however. “The first issue was one of storage,” Ropli says. “For obvious reasons, we had to dismantle the building from the top down but we couldn’t start to reassemble it until we had the ground floor sections delivered. You would be surprised just how much room a tower block takes up.”

And the problems didn’t end there. “It soon became clear that our expertise lies in deconstruction and not construction. Taking the building to pieces was easy; putting it back together again was a nightmare, particularly matching the wallpaper,” he says. “At one point, we had an elevator shaft and an interior stairwell on the outside of the building. With hindsight, we probably should have numbered the sections.”

Ropli says he plans to fight the case and believes that, in addition to the shortcomings and loopholes in the local authority’s tender process, he holds a humanitarian trump card. “My children and some of their friends have already moved into the tower block so the local authority is effectively fighting to render people homeless. If there is any justice in this country, that will simply not be allowed,” Ropli concludes. “This is a test case and one that could impact upon European law. I am fighting this case not just for me but for the entire demolition industry.”

Industry veteran David Sinclair faces biggest challenge to date; rebuilding Haiti.

As a former president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors and the European Demolition Association, board member of the National Demolition Association and a fellow of the Institute of Demolition Engineers, David Sinclair is one of the best-known and most-respected figures in the global demolition industry.

But after 45 years at the cutting edge of the demolition business during which he has worked successfully on three continents, Sinclair is about to face his biggest-ever challenge; drawing up a demolition master plan to help the United Nations tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

In this exclusive interview, David Sinclair looks back over his formative years in the demolition business; and ahead to his new role as the UN’s new demolition engineer and consultant. Click play below:

Local historians and preservationists plan to fight proposed demolition.

A week after a local historic group labelled the Colwyn Bat Pier “a tawdry apparition from the past”, the National Pier Society has vowed to fight any attempts to demolish the structure.

Historian Graham Roberts is president of the Civic Society and has this week been criticised by the National Piers Society. Roberts, who has had several books published on his home town, claimed the pier was detrimental to the regeneration effort and that spending millions on its restoration was not justifiable.

Chris Wyatt from the National Piers Society claimed Mr Roberts’ comments were galling. “I found the whole tone of Graham Roberts’ statements completely at odds with the philosophy of the Civic Society movement,” he said.

“His statements – such as ‘You can’t live on nostalgia’ – might be expected from someone with no interest in Wales’ heritage, but coming from the president of a civic society, the majority of whose members we are led to believe are of a similar opinion regarding the pier, leads one to question whether they might be more comfortable in a different organisation altogether.”

He added: “This must be particularly galling for the people of Colwyn Bay who have been fighting very hard to rescue their pier in the face of the extremely difficult situation surrounding its ownership.

Read more here.

Older structures to be razed as efforts continue to sell Welland site

John Deere – world famous tractor manufacturer and supplier of hats to blues guitarists – has applied to the city for demolition permits for its Canal Bank St. property.

Mayor Barry Sharpe said older buildings are to be razed, although permits have yet to be issued. “They want to clean up the site to make it more attractive for a purchase,” said Sharpe.

John Deere continues to wind up operations at its Welland Works site. The removal of buildings will ultimately depend upon the needs of prospective purchasers, said economic development manager Dan Degazio.

As various buildings are removed, John Deere will continue to perform its due diligence and commitment to remediating and improving the site, he said.

John Deere and the city are continuing a dialogue about the site.

Read more here