City officials call time on iconic St Petersburg pier.

For nearly four decades, the Pier’s inverted pyramid has served as the city’s instantly recognizable landmark.

In a Wednesday workshop that lasted less than two hours, the City Council endorsed Mayor Bill Foster’s recommendation to demolish the icon and start from scratch. “Now we get to rebrand our trademark for the next 100 years,” Foster said. “Or 50 years. We won’t be around. That’s a pretty awesome responsibility.”

Foster coaxed the decision from a council that has been hesitant to make a call on what to do with $50 million that will be made available to overhaul the Pier, which is entering its latest chapter in redevelopment.

The city opened the Mediterranean-style Million Dollar Pier in 1926 but demolished it in 1967 when it slid into disrepair. The exotic and some say funky upside down pyramid pier opened in 1973, but its condition has declined. For more than a year, a task force has discussed options but didn’t narrow down what to do next.

On Wednesday, Foster described the indecision as “analysis-paralysis.” He pushed council members to support his recommendation not just for scrapping the existing building, but its base, too. He said the Pier needs to come closer to shore.

Read more here.

Bellaire Bridge cat fight reaches ignominious “he said, she said” stage.

As demolition of the Bellaire Bridge supposedly draws closer, the question of who owns the structure has become a raging controversy.

The answer seems to be clear, depending on who you talk to. Eric Kelly, of Advanced Explosives Demolition, of Idaho, says he owns the bridge. “Advanced Explosives Demolition / Eric Kelly owns the bridge,” states Kelly.

He says it’s a legal tangle, but he said his lawyer’s interpretation is this: “We are advised that we own the bridge because we have, uh, other individuals have breached the contract,” Kelly said.

But Lee Chaklos, of Delta Demolition, whose wife Krystal owns KDC Investments, said KDC owns the bridge.
“KDC Investments owns the bridge,” Chaklos said. “On June 3, payment was conveyed by wire transfer.”

Chaklos was asked about Kelly’s claim that he owns the bridge. “Eric Kelly does not own the bridge,” Chaklos answered. “He sold the bridge. He doesn’t own the bridge.”

And KDC’s attorney, Jeremy Domozick, said KDC is absolutely the bridge owner. “It has come to our attention that there may be rumors circulating which call into question the ownership of the Bellaire Bridge,” Domozick said. “In order to put those rumors to rest, I want to emphatically and unconditionally state that KDC Investments owns the bridge. KDC negotiated the purchase of the bridge with Eric Kelly and Advanced Explosives Demolition, paid the purchase price in full, and now owns it outright. Any claims to the contrary are patently untrue and unsupported by the facts. KDC Investments and Delta Demolition Group are currently finalizing their preparations for demolishing the Bellaire Bridge and work will begin as scheduled in September.”

All we can hope is that the demolition – when it finally happens – runs more smoothly than the pre-contract negotiations.

Read more here.

Threat of demolition hanging over Liverpool birthplace of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

The BBC is reporting that the Victorian terrace at Madryn Street, Toxteth, is one of hundreds in the “Welsh Streets” area to be bulldozed to make way for modern family homes.

Discussions to move number nine – where Richard Starkey was born on 7 July 1940 – brick-by-brick to the new Museum of Liverpool are currently on hold.

But official demolition notices have now re-appeared in the street. There is no word as yet if crews are planning to use Maxwell’s Silver Hammer in the demolition process.

Read the full story here.

Midlands-based demolition company starts work on major framework project.

Armoury Group has commenced work on a multi-million pound framework agreement which will see run-down areas of North Solihull receive a much needed face-lift. The Regenerating North Solihull project is set to help over 40,000 people living in Chelmsley Wood, Smith’s Wood, and Kingshurst & Fordbridge by providing new housing and improved community facilities.

The 15-year re-vamp plan for the city was devised through a partnership between Whitefriars Housing Group and Solihull Council, which awarded Armoury the three year agreement for mass housing clearance based on a competitive tender and an impressive portfolio of past residential demolitions.

Up to 40 tower blocks from across the area, ranging from three to 16 storeys, have been earmarked for demolition, with Armoury having already having cleared in excess of 300 residences to make way for new social housing.

Tony McLean, managing director of Armoury Group commented: “The schedule for work across the area of regeneration is extremely tight and has been planned with the utmost precision,” says Armoury MD Tony McLean. “Armoury commenced demolition almost immediately after the properties are vacated, with the developer then beginning building works on that site as soon as it is clear.

“Because of the bison panel construction and lack of as-built drawings it was important that we employed structural engineers to conduct a full HSE approved structural survey, and agree a stringent process of demolition,” he continues. “Aside from this, we have also had to conduct specialist asbestos removal and a soft-strip before each demolition has taken place, and have been very conscious not to disrupt the surrounding community by protecting buildings with fencing and scaffolding, closing footpaths when and where required, and putting an extensive traffic management system put into place.”

New time-lapse video shows high reach excavator in action.

Just over a week ago, we exclusively brought you video footage from the initial stages of demolition of Gateshead’s famous “Get Carter” car park. A week on and contractor Thompsons of Prudhoe is making superb progress with the work, as are the company’s video crew who have just supplied us with their footage from Week 2 of the contract.

Get Carter Car Park Demolition – Week 2 from Thompsons of Prudhoe on Vimeo.

Australian company has been demolishing for 118 years.

Can anyone beat this?

Threat of legal action throws pier demolition bidding process wide open again.

The City of Gulf Breeze is relaunching its search for a company to demolish the defunct Gulf Breeze fishing pier to head off a threatened lawsuit over a bidding dispute.

This comes after the City Council on Monday took the advice of its attorney, Matt Dannheisser, and voted unanimously to rescind a previous decision to accept a bid from Alabama contractor Virginia Wrecking. The firm was the second-lowest bidder.

Gulf Breeze officials said they bypassed the lowest bidder, National Salvage & Service, because they believed National did not plan to dispose of the pier rubble as an offshore reef as outlined in the project documents. But National threatened legal action, saying its bid proposal did outline disposing of the rubble in the manner the city outlined.

Virginia Wrecking’s attorney, Davisson Dunlap III, was at the council meeting and argued that it would be unfair to rescind his client’s bid. He indicated, in doing so, it could lead to a lawsuit for breach of contract.
“Virginia Wrecking was compliant and played by the rules,” Dunlap said.

After the council’s decision, Dunlap declined to comment on whether or not he would take legal action against the city. He said he and his client needed to discuss the issue first.

Virginia Wrecking Vice President Daniel Schambeau said he was “disappointed” about the city’s action.

Read more here.

“It was louder than I expected” says project manager as judicial building falls.

Explosives reduced the old Colorado Judicial Building to rubble. Some parents saw this as a rare spectacle to share with their children. “I figure [my daughter] is at the stage where she likes to knock things down. She’s going to enjoy this after it scares her!” parent Tony Schwietzer said.

Some have a curious fascination that keeps them wanting to watch the tumbling of a building over and over again. If you blinked during the demolition, you missed it. However most of downtown heard its roar.

As for the after shock, those in the downtown area who didn’t know it was coming seemed to experience the most shock. One viewer wrote to 9NEWS saying, “Explosion! At 8:00 today, there was a large boom, and a concussion wave that hit the second after.”

The sound was even startling to those who planned the demolition.

“Well, it was a little louder than I thought, but it went as planned,” Project Manager Bill Mosher with Trammell Crow Company said. He says it was time for the building to come down. “[Buildings back then] just weren’t very well constructed; lots of leakage issues, water issues, lack of quality materials,” Mosher said of the 33-year-old building.

Read more here or view the video below.

Man’s body found at former asphalt plant.

A 59-year-old Mississippi man was pronounced dead at the scene after falling from a catwalk at a demolition site three miles north of Detroit Lakes on Saturday.

Becker County sheriff’s deputies were contacted by the man’s wife Saturday night after her husband didn’t check in with her that evening as he usually did.

Deputies found the man’s body at the site where he’d been working: a former asphalt plant that was being disassembled. According to a press release, the victim “had apparently … fallen from a catwalk of a substantial height.”

Read more here.

Our thanks to the guys at Hy-Safe Technology for bringing this one to our attention.

C&D Consultancy’s main man is top of the league.

Although Manchester United are still to play, the first weekend of our Demolition Fantasy Premier League is all but over. The points have been checked and verified. And we can exclusively reveal that C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward is currently in pole position with an impressive 65 points.

Woodward’s early season success is doubly remarkable. His team contains no real big name players; and it has three players from his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers, surely contenders for relegation by this time next year!!

To make things even more frustrating for those of us competing with John “Shankly” Woodward is the fact that he was actually texting and tweeting about his success whilst at the Wolves v Stoke game with Genesis’ Arne Marx on Saturday.

We would like to say that this is merely an early season blip and that the cream will rise to the top but, having seen the cream of my own beloved West Ham sink to the bottom for most of the past 20 years, we’re already adjusting our expectations and praying for mid-table mediocrity.

And it’s not too late for you to join the league. Just click here for more details on how to create and register your team.