Demo Diva meets Superbowl Superstars

For far too long post -Katrina, the city of New Orleans lost its reputation as the party capital of the world; its name becoming synonymous with devastation, destruction and a forgotten community.

However, as the city rebuilds itself, two stories have emerged to bear testimony to the rebirth of the Big Easy. First came the New Orleans Saints historic and fairytale winning of the Superbowl; and then came Demo Diva Simone Bruni bursting onto the demolition scene like a pink-clad running back with the end zone in her sights.

So it’s fitting that these two stories of “Nawlins” second coming should themselves come together.

Our picture shows Simone (right) with New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Reggie Bush and safety Darren Sharper.

Economic boom marred by increasing demolition officials’ abuse of power.

Abuse of power by housing and demolition officials has been on the increase this decade and is causing massive economic losses, an investigation has concluded in an official paper released to the Global Times Tuesday.

Official bribery took place in 28 of the city’s total 41 demolition cases this decade, and abuse of power – bullying – in five cases. Some 38 of the 41 cases involved corrupt housing or demolition officials, the prosecutors revealed. One third were cases of collective corruption, the biggest involving 16 officials.

By studying 10 years of cases, the Shijingshan district procuratorate team had identified 10 common issues, spokeswoman Wang Shuolei said.

The most publicized case involved Shichahai housing administration center director Zhang Jichun, sentenced to death on September 18 last year for receiving 7.3 million yuan in bribes and paying a 300,000 yuan ($45,116.18) bribe himself.

Zhang’s gambled 3 million yuan ($451,162) away in Macao, much of the cash coming from demolition compensation intended for residents, according to the Procuratorial Daily Tuesday.

Criminals could be found profiting at each and every stage of the demolition process: real estate developers, demolition companies and government departments including the sub-district administration committee and urban planning commission.

Read the full story here.

International Contractor of the Year films with legendary UK TV programme.

Presenter Helen Skelton, who attended an Asbestos Awareness Course and underwent a face fit test, donned her PPE following site inductions all round to get up close to Safedem’s ongoing works at Red Road in Glasgow on behalf of GHA (Glasgow Housing Association)

Blue Peter, which learned about Safedem’s very own safety campaign directed at children, are filming the entire demolition process of a tower block and the impact on the local community.

“We developed our SafeKIDS campaign to alert children living nearby that demolition sites can be dangerous,” explains Tracey Sinclair, head of Safedem’s community liaison team. “Over time we have extended the message to promote recycling, road safety and we have also become involved in various community projects.”

The film crew will re-visit the site at key stages through the project with a special report being aired post blowdown. The 30-storey steel frame structures are scheduled for demolition in 2011.

Our Demolition Digest blog gets up close and personal with new Komatsu high reach.

As we reported last week, it is our intention to concentrate all of our demolition equipment coverage at the Demolition Digest blog on the US’ Construction Equipment website.

Well, the latest post – featuring an exclusive machine walk-around and demonstration video of the new Komatsu PC290LC high reach excavator, together with a first impressions interview with Thomspons of Prudhoe high reach guru Andre Aymard – has just gone up and can be viewed here.

Here’s a flavour of the article…

“…In order to get to this machine, I would need to leave home shortly before I went to bed the previous evening and drive 95 percent of the way to Scotland, to crawl over the latest offering from the Japanese equipment giant. But such is our dedication to duty, that’s exactly what we did. And – despite arriving bleary-eyed some five hours after I set off, my spine a perfect replica of my car seat – the machine, which was launched amidst Icelandic volcanic ash clouds at the Bauma 2010 exhibition in Germany earlier this year, made the trip worthwhile…”

Demolition boss gets 16-month sentence for insolvency offences.

The director of two demolition contractors has been jailed for 16 months following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, reports The Construction Index.

George Taylor, of Arundel, West Sussex, was sentenced at Chichester Crown Court last week for a series of offences relating to his roles as director of Amalgamated Demolition Services and Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services.

Steyning-based Amalgamated Demolition Services was wound up by Brighton County Court on 24 April 2006, owing £142,059 to creditors, and a bankruptcy order was made against Taylor on 16 January 2007.

In a separate action taken by the official receiver, he undertook to the Secretary of State not to act as a company director for a period of eight years. This took effect on 12 June 2008.

Despite this, Taylor continued to act as a director of Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services. He had also been prohibited from being a director of the firm because its name was so similar as to suggest an association with Amalgamated Demolition Services.

Subsequently, Taylor asked Amalgamated Demolition Services’ major customer to make payments for work into a new bank account. However, the account details he provided were those of Amalgamated Demolition and Asbestos Services.

This meant £22,795 that was due to Amalgamated Demolition Services was diverted into the other company.

Read the full story here.

Video captures three-day bridge demolition project.

As part of the City’s plan to upgrade its aging infrastructure (with some funds from the federal government’s stimulus package) a handful of bridges around Toronto are being repaired or rebuilt. Since the spring, the multiple bridges near the intersection of Lake Shore Blvd. and Jameson Ave. that cross over the Gardiner Expressway have been in a constant state of destruction.

The following time-lapse video – from Spacing Toronto – starts late in the evening of Thursday, August 5th and ends just after sundown on Sunday, August 8th. There are some gaps of time in the video due to the inaction of the construction site or when I had to bring the camera inside as a rain storm passed over.

Lake Shore Blvd. westbound bridge demolition from Spacing Magazine on Vimeo.

British manufacturer receives undisclosed settlement from Asian backhoe company.

JCB has agreed terms of settlement with an Asian manufacturer of backhoe loaders regarding allegations of product copying of JCB’s iconic 3CX backhoe loader. JCB has received an undisclosed settlement payment and the manufacturer has agreed to fundamentally redesign their backhoe loader.

This follows on from court actions that JCB also undertook against three Asian manufacturers at the Bauma show in Munich in April of this year in relation to product copying of both JCB’s backhoe loader and telehandler machines.

Tim Burnhope, JCB’s Group Managing Director for Product Development and Commercial Operations, said: “This is the fourth incident this year of an Asian manufacturer copying one of our machines and taking unfair advantage of 57 years of product development. JCB is determined to act promptly and decisively in relation to such activities and stamp them out.”

Supervising demolition worker wasn’t present when wall fatally crushed girl

A worker supposed to oversee demolition work at a site where a wall collapsed, fatally crushing a schoolgirl, was absent at the time of the accident, it has been learned.

The 17-year-old high school girl was crushed to death on 14 October when a wall of the factory being dismantled by demolition firm Maruman Goto Kogyo collapsed on top of the road she was cycling along. The accident occurred while demolition workers were attempting to demolish an elevator tower nearby without supporting the wall with wires or heavy machinery.

Under the Industrial Safety and Health Law, a person qualified to oversee the dismantling of steel-reinforced structures is supposed to be present during such demolition work. But industry sources say that the regulations have lost substance and qualified workers are commonly absent.

Read more here.

Alaska crew asked to demolish three small buildings destroyed a fourth building by mistake.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the fourth building torn down at Russian Jack Springs Park this week was a storage facility for a Girl Scouts of Alaska summer day camp.

Anchorage Parks and Recreation officials had decided to remove three structures in the area that were being vandalized and used for what director John Rodda described as “negative behavior.”

At some point, an Alaska Demolition crew realized they had started to destroy the wrong building. But Rodda said damage was substantial enough to the 16-by-16 foot building that he decided it should be completely torn down.

Read more here.

Investigation underway after demolition worker is killed at chemical plant.

Authorities are investigating an accident at an Illinois chemical plant that’s left an Iowa man dead.

Forty-six-year-old Timothy Shields of Cedar Falls, Iowa, died Wednesday at a Joliet hospital.

The Will County Sheriff’s office says Shields was finishing demolition work at the Oiltanking plant in Channahon when a three metre (10-foot) section of rebar hit him in the forehead, under his hard hat.

An autopsy has cited the accident as his cause of death.