Construction firm fined for demolition site asbestos failings

A construction company has been fined for its role in exposing workers to asbestos in Derby.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd was preparing the former Allens Printers building in Webster Street for demolition in October 2009 and had employed a contractor to remove asbestos-containing materials.

The company provided the contractor with a survey detailing the work to be done, but did not check his suitability to carry out the work, or that he held a licence to remove asbestos, as required by law.

Once work was underway, Quarnmill informed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that they thought the site had become contaminated with asbestos as a result of the work the contractor had carried out.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd, of Derby Road, Aston on Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for allowing such failings at a site it controlled. The company was today fined £13,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,700 by Derby magistrates.

Read more here

Lofty German restaurant provides test for Atlas Copco attachment

The panoramic restaurant on the Drachenfels, or Dragon’s Rock, above Königswinter in the Siebengebirge Natural Park on the River Rhine is being replaced by a modern glass cube. The whole plateau at the summit is being conditioned to accommodate growth in tourism. An Atlas Copco CombiCutter CC 2500 U has managed to demolish the old restaurant under difficult conditions.

To begin with, the access road to the restaurant was iced over for weeks, making it impossible to drive along. Once the road was clear again, the retaining wall along the road needed to be reinforced in parts to take the weight of the 25-ton CAT 323 D excavator and the CombiCutter. No rubble was permitted to fall down the hillside under any circumstances. As a result, the outside walls needed to be torn down inwards towards the excavator.

As if that wasn’t enough, time was also pressure on foreman Olaf Goldschmidt and his team from Dortmund-based Stricker GmbH & Co. KG. Demolition work had to be completed by the end of February due to strict requirements regarding the protection of nature and species.

Residents, visitors and the media also showed great interest in the progress of demolition work. “I have never had so many curious onlookers and representatives of the press on a building site,” exclaims Goldschmidt. “The work attracted enormous interest.”

ConExpo throws spotlight on campaign to rebuild America.

Demolition and construction professionals have traveled from far and wide to attend the ConExpo show and to see first-hand the equipment that will be shaping their businesses in the months and years to come. And there is certainly plenty to see.

But aside from impressive equipment displays by usual suspects Caterpillar, Volvo, JCB and Komatsu, together with some equally impressive harnessing of communications technology from, among others, Verizon, the overwhelming theme on the opening day of the Las Vegas extravaganza is of an industry uniting behind a single cause.

The I Make America campaign may have seen very little exposure across the Atlantic, but here in the spiritual home of the US equipment manufacturing sector, it’s presence is permeating every aspect of the show and the displays it comprises. Even in a country as famously patriotic as the US, the Stars and Stripes is, perhaps, more evident than ever before.

Unlike the well-intentioned but ultimately flawed Buy British campaign of yesteryear, I Make America is putting the manufacture of demolition and construction equipment at the very heart of the country’s post-recession recovery.

It would, of course, be easy to dismiss this campaign as an example of American protectionism; a knee-jerk if belated reaction to the erosion of it’s market share in the face of competition from – primarily – the Far East.

But while Europe’s economy languishes in the doldrums, appointing blame – the banks, governments, economists – the Americans have rallied. Through a mix of stimulus funding and now this latest campaign, the US is striving to lead the construction industry out of recession with a united front.

It is a shame that a supposedly unified Europe cannot claim likewise.

The sun shines on opening day of the ConExpo extravaganza

It is often said that construction equipment exhibitions are the barometer of the industry. If that’s the case, the ailing co struction equipment industry is clearly on the mend. And while it may not have returned to the rude health it enjoyed just a few short years ago, early indications are that things a looking up.

Certainly, first day exhibitor numbers must have taken the organizers by surprise as the registration process – the stumbling block for all conventions of this kind – was clearly creaking under the strain early on.

But the show ground and inside halls are busy, and while we have yet to see a cheque book being waved in anger, there certainly is activity taking place.

We will be reporting back more fully on individual machines, companies and launches. But if you are coming to Vegas, you’re in for a treat.

It was our intention to use the power of the Apple iPad to broadcast live (well, almost) from the ConExpo show in Las Vegas.

Sadly, the iPad is missing, presumed stolen so we’re currently making do with an iphone.

This will, of course, greatly limit our ability to report live, but bear with us. We’re hoping that normal service will be restored shortly.

Demolition crews frustrated by pizza-eating attorney.

Demolition work on the Kalet’s building in downtown Auburn was put on hold Friday while an attorney representing Joseph Camardo Jr. sat directly next to the work site.

And an attorney with the city of Auburn said that — for safety’s sake — it’s unlikely that demolition work can continue if the same thing continues to happen.

Carl DePalma sat in a chair eating pizza early Friday afternoon facing an area where a crew with contractor American DND was planning to take down a brick chimney at the back end of the Kalet’s building. A lift was parked next to the chimney, and workers had placed caution tape around the site to keep people from entering.

DePalma is representing Camardo, who is also an attorney, in a lawsuit against the city over the Kalet’s building demolition project. Camardo’s law firm is one of multiple properties next to the vacant Kalet’s building, which is owned by the city.

DePalma said he wanted to watch the contractor work, claiming the city has not been forthcoming or honest with him or Camardo about demolition plans.

“We just don’t feel they’re complying with anything they’ve told us they’re going to do,” DePalma said.
The city plans to tear down the building and then transfer the property to Cayuga County for use by Cayuga Community College. The college would then build a performing arts venue with a mix of state and private funds.

Read more here.

The latest edition of our regular online radio show about and for the demolition business.

As the DemolitionNews team is currently packing its toothbrush and desperately raiding closets to locate its passport before heading for Las Vegas and the ConExpo exhibition, we thought we’d leave you with our latest edition of Demo Talk Radio, our regular online radio show about and for the global demolition industry.

It’s another varied show with contributions from as far afield as the UK, Canada and Bolivia, so please hit the play button below and give it a listen.

In addition, we are planning to record a huge amount of audio and video content from our trip to the US and while our ability to upload it while we’re in the US will rest upon our ability to overcome bandwidth issues at the Luxor, watch this space.

Oh, and if you want to follow what we’re up to in Vegas, please follow us on Twitter either by clicking here and hitting the follow button, or by watching the Twitter feed just to the left of this post.

Demolition work to pave way for new homes at UK’s ‘most haunted’ hospital site

Demolition work is paving the way for new homes to be built at what was once described as the UK’s ‘most haunted’ hospital.

Derelict buildings at Sunderland’s Cherry Knowle hospital, a former asylum in Ryhope, are being cleared to make way for more than 750 homes.

In recent years, the site had become a magnet for ghost hunters, with police issuing repeated warnings that people were putting their lives at risk by breaking into the buildings.

The 43-week development programme is being undertaken by North East demolition specialists Thompson’s of Prudhoe on behalf of site owners the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), with work expected to complete on site around the end of the year.

Read more here.

Smoke stacks’ implosion signals beginning of demolition project…eventually

The skyline in the town of Wabamun, Edmonton has drastically changed. The demolition of three smoke stacks at the old TransAlta Wabamun power plant got underway Friday morning, with the first stack coming down around 10 am. But delays saw the second and third stacks remain defiantly upright further several hours longer.

Area residents were excited to witness their landmark crash to the ground, but the demolition didn’t initially go as planned.

After the first stack came down, it took a couple more hours before the other two stacks fell. While the crowd eagerly waited, the second stack refused to fall for two hours.

Number three soon followed, signaling the end of an era- and stirring strong emotions in Derouin.

Read more here or view the video below.

Chinese businessman employs wrecking crew to demolish $450,000 Lamborghini.

We’ve all heard the expression “a sledgehammer to crack a nut” to describe the use of disproportionate force or expense to overcome a minor problem. But a sledgehammer to crack a car engine fault?

Apparently, they do things differently in China, a fact highlighted by one Han Nan, owner of a wholesale lighting company. Nan spent $450,000 on a new Lamborghini Gallardo L140 last October but took it back to the dealer in November to have an engine malfunction fixed.

But the car was returned still faulty and with a damaged bumper and chassis.

So Nan did what any right-minded lunatic would do – He hired a gang of sledgehammer-wielding demolition men to publicly smash the supercar to pieces….on World Consumer Rights Day.

Read more here.