Locals gather to see high rise implosion.

Hundreds of people watched as the Roosevelt House, a public housing high-rise, came tumbling down on Sunday morning as part of a planned implosion.

The demolition was part of an ongoing effort by the Atlanta Housing Authority to replace run-down, outdated projects with new communities for low-income families.

“When it’s down, it’s wonderful,” said Barry Roberts of Atlanta Demolition. “You never get used to the countdown. But it went down right where we wanted it to fall.”

Atlanta Demolition crews have been prepping the site for the past five months.

This is one of the last two Atlanta public housing high-rises slated for demolition. The final one is the Palmer House. Because it sits so close to other buildings, it will not be imploded. Demolition work inside has already started.

Another day, another UK demolition contractor calls it a day.

An established Hull demolition firm has fallen into administration – with the loss of 39 jobs.

Management at DJ Broady, based at Foster Street in the east of the city, told workers last week they were to be made redundant. They had already been working reduced hours since December.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “While we were working reduced hours and knew it had been a bit quiet, the news came out of the blue.

Read more here.

DemolitionNews.com announced as affiliate member of Institute of Demolition Engineers.

DemolitionNews founder Mark Anthony was in attendance and was welcomed into the IDE fold by new president John Woodward.

“From the moment we started DemolitionNews, we made it very clear that we had no allegiance with any trade body or association and there was always a concern that those trade bodies would, therefore, keep us at arms’ length. The fact that the IDE has reached out in this way, despite our sworn independence, speaks volume for the transparency and media savvy of the modern IDE,” Anthony says. “And the fact that we heard about it from John Woodward – the man who effectively inspired us to start DemolitionNews in the first place – just makes it all the more special.”

DemolitionNews is heading for the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ spring seminar.

Later today, DemolitionNews will be boarding a North-bound train, armed with video camera, stills camera, voice recorder, notepad and toothbrush, heading for Leeds.

Together with around 160 of the UK’s finest demolition engineers and professionals, DemolitionNews is attending the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Spring Seminar at the Royal Armouries, an event hosted by IDE President John Woodward, and organised (at least in part) by Wring Group’s nominated unexploded ordnance expert, Duncan Rudall.

We will, of course, be capturing as much of the action as we can for broadcast early next week. But to follow the action live, please keep a close watch on our Twitter feed (just to the left of this article) for live updates and photos as they happen.

Normal service will be resumed over the weekend.

More news emerging on WWII bomb discovered on Plymouth site.

Late last night, we brought you the news that Bristol-based Wring Group had achieved an unenviable double, uncovering the second unexploded World War II bomb in just three months. Today, as work continues on the site, local newspapers are providing more information.

Within minutes of the bomb being discovered, police threw a cordon around Notte Street, cleared the Holiday Inn and other nearby buildings with some being taken to the Duke of Cornwall hotel, according to This is Devon. Once again, Plymouth Pavilions was used as the main evacuation centre during the major emergency operation.

Sgt Andy Smith said: “On the advice of the bomb disposal team we set up an exclusion zone of 150 to 200 metres. Initially it was quite difficult at rush hour and unfortunately there was a bit of traffic chaos. Things were brought under control quite quickly and an emergency plan was put into action. Experience from previous events like this have helped us to cope with incident.”

Duncan Rudall, regional operation manger for Wring said the team were on the “final run of the job” and were working on “additional foundations” when the device was discovered. He said: “Basically, there was something there before the Naafi building and the team were having to going down a little deeper into foundations. The 40 tonne machine was excavating and it came out of the bucket. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same driver, but the bomb looks very, very similar.”

Tim Sharp, site supervisor who was at the scene when the bomb was dug up. He said: “I was on the other side of the site and the guys were working away. The next minute they called me over and one of them was on the phone to let police know they’d found what was believed to be a bomb. We quickly got into the van and as we were leaving the police were closing off Notte Street. It was eerie with no traffic and lots of officers. The bomb actually appears to be a little bigger in diameter than the last one. My father was the person who found that, but he’s working at another site today – I’ve already phoned him to let him know we found another one.”

Read the full story here.

Delta Group lands historic deal to fell part of asbestos-contaminated museum.

The state government has appointed demolition firm Delta Group to take down the Western Australian Museum’s Francis Street building.

The multi-storey 1970s building has been closed since 2003 due to asbestos contamination and other occupational health and safety hazards, Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said.

“The Francis Street building – which does not contain any of the museum’s public exhibits – will be demolished floor by floor inside a dust-proof canopy as a protective measure for the public and museum staff,” Day says.
“Internal demolition works are due to begin in March, while the external demolition work is scheduled to begin mid-year and be completed in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October.

Day said Delta Group was chosen over a shortlist of three other demolition firms because of its industry skills and experience.

Read more here.

St Lucia police investigate after single gunshot kills worker.

St Lucia police report that a 48-year-old man was shot and killed over the weekend while he was demolishing a private unoccupied house in La Clery, just on the outskirts of the capital.

They said that Marius Polidore was part of a group of men who were hired to demolish the house when he was shot on Saturday night.

The police said that Polidore was killed by a single gunshot to his upper torso. They said that no one has been arrested in connection with the 16th murder so far for this year.

Read more here.

UK contractor uncovers second unexploded WWII in three months.

The team at Wring Group must be experiencing a severe dose of deja vu this afternoon, after uncovering an unexploded World War II bomb on the same site that threw up a similar bomb back in November.

The company unearthed the latest bomb while working at a building in Notte Street, in Plymouth city centre.
A 100m cordon has been set up around the street and city’s Holiday Inn has been evacuated. The Holiday Inn was almost at capacity with most of its 190 rooms booked.

Officers have established a command centre in the Guildhall car park nearby. Police on the scene have told the BBC that the device found on Wednesday was the same size and from the same era as the previous ordnance.

An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team has been notified, and it is thought that the bomb may be exploded at sea as soon as tomorrow.

Read more here.

Centre span falls to explosives in advance of second blast on Friday.

The bridge, which connected N.D. Highway 66 with Minnesota Highway 11 over the Red River east of Drayton, N.D., was imploded shortly after 8 a.m.

The old bridge, which often was threatened by flooding, was replaced last fall with a 4,090-foot-long bridge that is considered the second longest in North Dakota. The Four Bears Bridge over Lake Sakakawea near Fort Berthold, N.D., is about 400 feet longer.

“There were no problems. It went off without a hitch,” said Richard Sampson, project engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Spectators were kept more than a quarter-mile away, as a demolition crew blew up the center portion of the steel-truss cantilever bridge, each end falling to the ice and shoreline.

Most of the charges were placed in the center portion of the bridge, to keep the ends of the bridge from breaking through the ice, according to Joel Myers, project engineer with Lunda Construction, the Wisconsin company that built the new bridge.

The two piers will be imploded Friday. The remaining steel girders will be dismantled and hauled away to be recycled.

To read more and to view a video of the implosion, please click here.

Worker pinned under falling debris “doing fine”.

A little under a week ago, we reported on a demolition worker being critically injured on the Technical High School project in Springfield. Thankfully, this demolition worker is made of pretty tough stuff as he’s back home and says he’s “doing fine” according to local newspaper reports.

Considering that just four days earlier the 51-year-old construction worker fell 12 feet and was pinned under a 7-foot by 4-foot slab of concrete during the demolition of the former Springfield Technical High School on Elliot Street, the most remarkable thing is that he is still around to feel anything.

McMurray was in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center and for a time was in medically induced coma in the hospital’s intensive care unit. He was released Saturday and is now resting at his home in Wallingford, Conn. He suffered several cracked ribs and a broken right wrist.

Read more here.