Demolition imminent on vast Scottish factory that was never commissioned.

The vacant factory at Halbeath was taken over by the Shepherd Offshore Group in November last year and on Monday night the English renewables company confirmed it will be brought down in a matter of weeks.

The group, fronted by former Newcastle United FC chairman Freddie Shepherd, said they have to demolish the million-square-foot site as it was “never commissioned” and they have been in talks with a view to a company taking over the running of the site.

Hyundai had intended to build a semiconductor plant but this never materialised, despite it spending around £80 million installing utilities at the Dunfermline site. Motorola took it over, promising around 1,350 jobs, but again this fell by the wayside. Then US high-tech firm Zoom Diversified expressed interest, with the prospect of bringing around 1000 jobs, but it dropped its proposals for a solar cell operation. The Scottish Government had offered £10 million to Zoom through Regional Selective Assistance.

The Shepherd Offshore Group bought the site last year and is progressing its plans. A spokesman said plant and machinery had now been auctioned and the way is clear for the site to be demolished.

“Hopefully this will give us a good indication of what lies in store,” he said. “It is basically the pain before the gain. We will be taking the building down. It is a bit strange, as the building was never commissioned. We’ll basically be knocking it down and rebuilding it. People will look at it and see that as a bit unusual but it’s not a warehouse.”

Read more here.

A follow-up on the Danny Shields appeal.

Just over a month ago, we carried a story on the fact that we were backing an appeal to raise funds for a demolition man, Danny Shields. The campaign was started by the team at Armac Group, the company that employed Danny, and has received a considerable amount of backing from the demolition sector as a whole.

Yesterday, we received a lovely letter from Danny’s mother and father, thanking DemolitionNews and its readers for their support and to update the situation with Danny’s treatment. We have reproduced the letter below:

On the 21st of February you featured an article in your weekly news regarding our son Danny Shields, who had been involved in nasty car accident whislt working for Armac Group. The article was forwarded to you via Armac. The story explained that Danny had suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, and you also posted the heartfelt letter I wrote explaining the story so far.

Kind Regards
Derek & Georgia Shields

Pomp, pageantry and procrastination mark beginning of military hospital demolition.

Before a wrecking ball was ceremoniously dropped atop a five-story military hospital at March Air Reserve Base to eventually make way for the 58 hectare (144-acre) March LifeCare medical campus, former state Assembly speaker and San Francisco mayor Willie Brown told a few hundred people gathered to watch that he wants to see President Barack Obama at the campus when the first building is complete. He described the project, being developed by Don Ecker’s March Healthcare Development group, as “something extraordinarily unique.”

Following 17 speeches – with the singing of the national anthem and a flyover formation of three small military planes providing breaks in between – the wrecking ball punched at the roof four times, raining bits of the ceiling down in one room on the fifth floor, before finally breaking through.

All the while, a live band played John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Crumblin’ Down” with the refrain, “And the walls, come tumblin’ down.”

Read more or watch a video of the interminable speeches here.

Police investigate after demolition worker is killed by falling roof beam.

One man was killed while dismantling a large vacant industrial building in the 1500 block of Webster Street in Dayton on Monday afternoon.

A four-man crew was working inside the building shortly after 2 p.m. when a steel roof support beam fell on the man, killing him instantly, Dayton Police Sgt. Chris Weber said. The men were using an acetylene torch to cut the beam when it gave way, he added.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Kevin L. Hughes, 40.

The building has no roof and police are investigating whether the crew had permission to be in the building. It appears the crew was hired as a subcontractor, Weber said, although the exact details are not clear.

Read more here.

Partially demolished and scuppered vessel dictates extreme measures.

The Coast Guard and environmental regulators have moved to Plan B for getting the derelict barge Davy Crockett out of the Columbia River: building a temporary $1.4 million coffer dam around the rusting wreck and removing it piece by piece.

Coast Guard officials had hoped to tow the barge in two big sections for out-of-river dismantling in a shipyard. But with bunker fuel and other contaminants on board, shipyards balked at the potential environmental liability, said Capt. Daniel LeBlanc, commander of the Coast Guard’s Portland-based marine safety unit.

Environmental regulators and river watchdogs favored a shipyard approach — the 431-foot converted Liberty ship from World War II has already leaked lubricating oil, fuel oil and some diesel at unknown volumes into the river, including small amounts of toxic PCBs.

But Oregon and Washington have signed off on the coffer dam, essentially sheet metal pilings lined with silt barriers to keep contamination contained. The dam will take four weeks to build, the Coast Guard predicts, with work starting as early as Friday.

Read more here.

Court ruling means planning permission required for major building demolition

UK developers will need to get planning permission before demolishing some buildings following a landmark judgment in the Court of Appeal, reports Property Week.

The court ruled in a case involving heritage body Save Britain’s Heritage and the secretary of state for Communities and Local Government. The verdict introduces new controls over demolitions of buildings and structures under UK planning law.

The case involved a decision by Lancaster City Council to authorise the demolition of the historic Mitchell’s Brewery building without prior approval. The building has since been listed but the case has remained live as Save Britain’s Heritage sought a landmark ruling, following an initial defeat in the High Court last year.

The judgment brings all demolitions within the scope of a European directive – the environmental impact assessment directive – and any proposed demolition that is considered to have significant effects on the environment will be subject to the environmental impact assessment process.

This invalidates more of the secretary of state’s ‘demolition direction’, which exempts demolition from planning control.

William Palin, secretary of Save Britain’s Heritage said: “This is a crucial judgment which will have far reaching effects on the way that local councils deal with demolitions of all types of building. It confirms that the government’s interpretation of this important European Directive has hitherto been too narrow and has wrongly excluded demolition from its scope.

We have been arguing for years that it is absurd that a developer can escape the directive by separating demolition from development when it is clear that demolition can and does have serious impacts on the environment.”

read more here.

Contractor stripped of accreditation during crackdown on demolition crime in wake of quake.

Civil Defence has warned it will crack down on criminal activity by demolition companies in Christchurch after two men were arrested in the red zone on Friday.

Police said a 54-year-old demolition worker and a 41-year-old company director were arrested. They were alleged to have breached the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act.

“Civil Defence has withdrawn access and or accreditation for one individual and for one company,” national controller Steve Brazier said. Neither police nor Civil Defence would reveal which company was involved.

Last week, Canterbury police district commander Superintendent Dave Cliff said there had been complaints of demolition companies taking goods from demolished buildings.

Read more here.

AM Environmental stands accused of falsifying pre-demolition asbestos test results.

A Lower Mainland asbestos removal and demolition contractor is facing a possible jail term after being charged by WorkSafeBC with allegedly putting employees’ lives at risk by letting them work unwittingly on homes that contained asbestos.

Earlier this month, the Workers’ Compensation Board asked the B.C. Supreme Court to jail Arthur Moore of AM Environmental for 120 days for contempt of court in an action which began in July last year.

At that time, the board received an injunction from the B.C. Supreme Court ordering Moore to cease his activities in the asbestos abatement business.

The injunction was sought following an investigation of Moore’s activities by WorkSafeBC inspectors that allegedly revealed he was forging laboratory certificates showing homes waiting demolition were clear of asbestos contamination.

However, a number of the homes were shown to contain asbestos when samples were submitted to laboratory tests, according to court documents.

Read more here.

Town halts demolition of collapsed factory over permit issues.

The demolition of a collapsed factory building on Plymouth’s South Main Street that began on Friday was short lived after town officials got word of the project.

Employees of Waterbury Wrecking had been picking away at the twisted steel beams and siding of the building, owned by Structus LLC, for a few hours, when Mayor Vincent Festa Jr. drove over from Town Hall and told them to stop because the building owners had failed to pay a permit fee.

“Until the demo fee is paid it can’t come down,” said Clarence B. Atkinson, building official.

Read more here.

DemolitionNews brings you an exclusive interview with new NFDC president Gary Bishop.

On Friday 25 March, Bromley Demolition’s Gary Bishop was named as the new president of the UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors.

In an exclusive audio interview, DemolitionNews was the first publication to interview Bishop about his aims and ambition for the Federation during his coming two-year presidency, and the challenges he faces.

Just hit the play button below to hear what Bishop had to say.