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.
Business owners demand right to reclaim possessions prior to post-quake demolition.
Angry Christchurch business owners yesterday marched on the Civil Defence base and demanded a senior Government minister speak to them. The protest comes in a week when a senior New Zealand contractor described the post-quake demolition process as “a train wreck”.
The protesters were led by photographer Kurt Langer, who said the group were afraid their buildings would be demolished before they were allowed back in to salvage anything.
“We want to tell the people in that art gallery what they’re doing to our city.” Civil Defence headquarters is based at Christchurch Art Gallery. Mr Langer led a group of about 30 there.
When they saw Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee through the windows, they held their placards to the glass and asked him to come out.
Mr Langer has a studio in Cashel Mall that was damaged in the February 22 earthquake. He is furious he may not be allowed back in before it is possibly demolished in coming days.
“I reckon there could be $500,000 in there – artworks, sculptures, negatives and slides.”
Read more here.
Hotel demolition halted by “undisclosed issues”.
Demolition crews made small progress this week in the destruction of the Evansville Executive Inn and parking garage.
A small abandoned home at Southeast Seventh and Chestnut streets was razed and preparations demolition of the parking structure was made. But undisclosed issues extended the fate of the parking structure indefinitely, said Martin Woodruff, of Woodruff Hospitality.
On Friday, Woodruff said the structure would come down Wednesday so workers could start building a 220-room Hyatt Place hotel. The $30 million new facility will replace the Executive Inn, which was closed after the property went into foreclosure. The Executive would be destroyed in coordination with the completion of the neighboring Downtown arena. Woodruff declined to discuss why the demolition of the Executive parking structure was delayed.
Read more here.
Mayor Bing claims another victory in his fight against city blight.
The Detroit City Council has voted to demolish the 5,000-seat Ford Auditorium, the 55-year-old former home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
The council approved the move unanimously Wednesday, clearing the way for the building’s removal as early as this spring.
Ford Auditorium opened in 1956 and has hosted speeches by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, but has been vacant since the symphony left in 1989.
Mayor Dave Bing tells the Detroit Free Press it’s a key victory for his efforts to revitalize the Detroit riverfront.
Lucky escape for excavator operator as machine falls into basement.
One of the key instructions issued to excavator operators on any construction or demolition site is “beware of unseen basements and underground voids”. But, as this video courtesy of our friends at The Construction Index proves, it is an instruction that isn’t always heeded, even after the operator has tried unsuccessfully to smash the entrance to the basement.
