Demolition drive for first phase of Haram expansion coming to a close

The demolition of over 2,000 properties as part of the first phase of the expansion of the northern courtyard of the Grand Mosque at Makkah – currently the world’s largest demolition contract – has nearly finished, said Assam Al-Turaimi, deputy chairman of the committee overlooking the expansion.

The expansion, which will change the face of Grand Mosque area once complete, was ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in January 2008 and will facilitate the accommodation of an additional 500,000 worshippers in the massive prayer complex by creating space in the northern and northwestern parts of the mosque.

The new expansion will cover an area of 370,000 square meters, and includes the building of new hotels, residential facilities, commercial centers and public utilities.

Read more here.

Liquidator applies for permission to demolish Fritzl home.

The house where an Austrian man locked up his daughter for 24 years and secretly fathered seven children with her could soon be torn down.

Josef Fritzl‘s court appointed liquidator, Walter Anzboeck, told The Associated Press by e-mail Wednesday that he’s submitted a request to local authorities to demolish the boarded-up gray concrete building in the town of Amstetten.

Read more here.

Further delays on stadium demolition contract

What started as the controversial demolition of a city landmark has developed into a never ending headache for the city.

Pete Anaya, Director of Engineering Services for Corpus Christi says, “We’re constantly contacting them on a daily basis to see what their status is, see how much equipment is out on the site. We’re doing everything we can to make sure they complete the project timely.”

A&R Demolition has fallen even further behind schedule, citing financial restrictions as the cause. This time they say they need an extra thirty to forty five days, and with a fee of $500 for each extra day, they’ll likely be facing even more financial woes.

“When the contract is finished up, we’ll go back and figure all the rain delays and other delays that the contractor is entitled to and adjust that number but currently as it stands it’s 30,000 dollars,” explained Anaya.

Read more here.

National Federation of Demolition Contractors seeking assistant to CEO.

It is surely a sign of the times and the increasing workload of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ CEO Howard Button that the UK federation has laid plans to find Button a much needed assistant.

Based at the Federation’s Resurgam House headquarters in Hemel Hempstead, the position offers the potential for both national and international travel whilst dealing with the organisation’s commitment in its native UK and overseas.

Full details of the position are available here, and an application form is available on request.

Family of cyclist files wrongful death suit against demolition company

The family of a 47-year-old Los Altos Hills woman killed when her bicycle collided with a big rig last month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the truck’s driver and his employer. The driver has reportedly been involved in fatal collisions previously.

The latest complaint was filed Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court on Monday, the same day the California Highway Patrol released a report that concludes trucker Gabriel Manzur Vera was not at fault in the crash that killed Lauren Perdriau Ward.

The suit names Vera and the Castroville-based demolition company he works for, Randazzo Enterprises, as defendants. It alleges that the fatal Nov. 4 crash on Alpine Road near Portola Valley was a result of Vera’s negligence in driving directly into the path of Ward’s bike.

Earlier this year, Vera and Randazzo Enterprises paid $1.5 million to settle a separate wrongful death suit stemming from a 2007 collision that involved the trucker and a bicyclist in Santa Cruz.

Vera has been involved in three fatal collisions while on the job, according to CHP records, but investigators have never found him to be at fault.

Read more here.

Contractor at odds with city over Holly Street Power Plant.

If, like us, you have grown weary of reading about how city officials have nailed yet another demolition contractor to the floor with a mix of rock-bottom pricing and unsustainable payment terms, then this story is for you.

The Austin City Council has been looking for a contractor to dismantle the Holly Street Power Plant. The power plant was built in an East Austin neighborhood in 1960. Over the past 50 years, the neighborhood has grown rapidly and residents say they’ve witnessed noise, pollution and even fires. In 1995, the city council passed a resolution to close the plant, and in 2007, it shut down permanently. The structure still remains, but now city officials hope to find a contractor to deconstruct the building and clean up the land.

The city’s estimated budget for the project is set at $10 million, with the exception of value taken from any of the materials that are salvaged. But the recommended bid has come in at around $25 million, leaving city officials facing something of a dilemma as well as threats of legal action.

CST Environmental, one of the six firms that submitted a bid, has filed a protest with the city. Attorney Tom Nesbitt said the city is spending more taxpayer money than it needs to. “We had a city council that had to make a tough decision to cut the Trail of Lights because of concerns over the budget,” Nesbitt said. “And now the city staff is recommending that the city council spend $11 million more than it needs to in order to take down Holly Street.”

Read more and view a video here.

You’ve seen the raw video; now see the official movie.

Earlier this week, we brought you a raw video of the implosion of the University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro and promised that we would bring you the official video just as soon as it landed.

Well, thanks to our Brazilian compadre Fabio Bruno Pinto, that movie just landed:

Reports suggest financial difficulties for company behind Texas Stadium implosion.

It is just nine months since A&R Demolition was headline news for its role in the implosion of the Texas Stadium. But with work halted on its contract to demolish another major sporting stadium, the company is back in the media spotlight; and this time it’s for very different wrong reasons.

Work has apparently ground to a halt on Corpus Christi’s Memorial Coliseum as city officials undertake investigations into why the contract is running behind schedule and, more worryingly, into the financial viability of the Del Valle company.

The city is reportedly working with A&R to work out the more than $30,000 it owes in fines for not getting this project done on time. There were other periods of work stoppage where city officials told us that A&R was having a tough time meeting its payroll.

The city says that A&R Demolition and its bonding company are working to hire a subcontractor to finish the work here.

Read more here.

Highest bid is four times higher than lowest as low bids spiral.

The Warren County Commissioners were baffled Monday afternoon when the high bid for the demolition of a Youngsville property was fours times higher than the lowest bid.

During their work session, Commissioners John Eggleston and John Bortz opened bids for the demolition of the commercial property. Four bids were received, each with a base bid and a less expensive alternative. Each bid was to include a base bid for demolishing the building and backfilling the void to ground level as well as an alternative bid for demolition, backfilling only 24 inches and installing a security fence.

The bids were:

Keith White Excavating, Warren, with $34,947 for the base bid and $29,974 for the alternative.
Whalen Contractors Inc., Franklin, with $81,407 for the base bid and $73,370 for the alternative.
Earthmovers Unlimited, Kylertown, Pa., with $49,423 for the base bid and $41,873 for the alternative.
6v Excavation, Bradford, with $19,747 for the base bid and $19,372 for the alternative.

“Wow. There’s a big gap between those bids. I don’t understand it,” Eggleston said.

Since 6v Excavating had the lowest bid, county grants administrator Lorri Dunlap said she would review the bid to make sure it meets the requirements for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding.

Read more here.

Old Hardin sugar factory set to fall.

With the dust barely settled and the recriminations over this weekend’s failed attempt to shoot a pair of refinery buildings at Sugarland, another sugar factory is set to fall.

The old Holly Sugar factory in Hardin, a landmark since it opened in 1937, is being torn down to provide new equipment storage for a Billings demolition and salvage business.

Amber Yochum of Yochum Contracting said the giant industrial building won’t totally disappear. “We really want to leave the stack, if it is safe,” she said. “It’s a monument to the people of Hardin.”

Although still mulling ideas for the site, Yochum said the company will involve the city of Hardin as plans progress. “We have a lot of ideas,” she said. “We don’t know which we’ll decide to use.”

Read more here.