After a six-month hiatus, the Demolition Digest blog is back.

The recession has claimed many victims within and around our industry. But few surprised and saddened us more than the (thankfully temporary) demise of the US’ Construction Equipment magazine.

As we mentioned previously, this magazine had long been the industry benchmark; the one by which other construction magazines were measured, with most of them falling a long way short. So we were extremely honoured when we were invited to take our idle ramblings onto the Construction Equipment website last year in our own Demolition Digest blog.

Sadly, the Demolition Digest blog died along with the rest of the Construction Equipment empire when the magazine was closed earlier this year.

But thanks to magazine stalwart Rod Sutton and his Stateside colleagues, Construction Equipment is back, risen like a phoenix from the ashes; and dragging along behind it, like a leaden-footed zombie, is the undead Demolition Digest.

It is our intention that the majority of our equipment-related content will appear on the Demolition Digest; partly because that’s where it belongs but also because, in many areas, Europe is leading the way in demolition equipment innovation.

The first of the reborn Demolition Digest stories takes a closer look at the Volvo/Kocurek joint-venture, zero tailswing, high reach excavator that caused something of a furore when we covered it here a few weeks back, and which is set to cause a similar level of excitement at next month’s Demolition Awards.

We hope you’ll add the Demolition Digest blog to your required reading list and look forward to receiving your feedback.

Bizarre and misleading web post on demolition in the UK.

I am a firm believer that those that can, do; those that can’t just write about it. And, frankly, while I have a good understanding of what item of equipment goes where, and where I probably shouldn’t stand in the midst of a demolition project, I would be the first to admit that I have never (and probably will never) demolish anything in my life.

However, by comparison to the author of this web post, I am not just a considered expert; I am THE Demolition Man.

Apparently – and I am paraphrasing here – “…It is the process of attaching a heavy weight ball to the crane or a loader for demolition that is very usual….” Well, maybe 20 years ago. However, while the author’s knowledge of demolition equipment may be a little outdated, his grasp of the need for personal protective equipment is second to none: “…one has to be very cautious to use hard hats and steel capped boats…”

And yes, that really DOES say boats!!

You can read the rest of this marvelous post in all its strange glory here.

Demolition News brings you the key footage from this week’s NFDC Demolition Day.

National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ chief executive Howarb Button (left) should be feeling rightly pleased with himself right about now. Earlier this year, he came up with the concept of the NFDC Demolition Day; a conference/seminar event to highlight the benefit of using NFDC members to cary out UK demolition work. At the time, he was hoping for “maybe 100 delegates and, perhaps, 10 exhibition stands”.

Fast-forward to Tuesday this week and some 25 exhibitors and more than 220 delegates crammed into the Britannia International Hotel’s Sandringham suite for what must be the largest national demolition event ever outside the US.

And Demolition News was on hand to capture all the key speakers. We have brought you below all the videos that we believe are appropriate for an international audience. But those we have left out for being, perhaps, a little parochial, can be found on the NFDC website here.

NFDC President David Darsey’s welcome address:

NFDC CEO Howard Button – Accredited Site Audit Scheme Overview

John Thoday, The Health & Safety People – Accredited Site Audit Scheme case study

Demolition Day – John Thoday from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

Giuseppe Panseri, European Demolition Association president – EDA

Demolition Day – Giuseppe Panseri – EDA from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

Howard Button, NFDC CEO – Annual waste Returns and Recycling Rates

Demolition Day – Waste Returns – Howard Button from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

David Darsey, NFDC President – Waste Recycling on Europe’s largest demolition site

Demolition Day – Waste Management at Lafarge – David Darsey from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

Gary Bishop, NFDC vice-president – Waste recycling on small, inner city demolition project

Valerie Stroud, National Secretary, Institute of Demolition Engineers – IDE Overview.

Demolition Day – Valerie Stroud – IDE from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

Photo Montage of guest speakers, guests and exhibitors

Demolition Day – Photo Montage from Mark Anthony on Vimeo.

Demolition News refutes scurrilous rumours started by leading excavator modifier.

Word has reached our sensitive ears that a certain Kocurek salesman has been casting aspersions about our willingness to participate in any form of manual labour in the preparations for yesterday’s excellent NFDC Demolition Day event.

According to Alistair Janson, “…Demolitionnews.com’s Mark Anthony was also on hand, but when it came to doing any lifting he would suddenly get an urgent text message or phone call that generally lasted as long as the task in hand….”

Now, a lifelong career in trade journalism has armed us with a skin thick enough to be the envy of the average armadillo. But we take enormous exception to any suggestion that we’re in any way lazy.

It is true that the Demolition News mobile phone was quite busy; and we were a little concerned about doing anything that might harm our delicate wordsmith’s hands. But we strongly refute any suggestions that we were less than helpful.

Janson will be hearing from our lawyers (well, he would if we had one!!)

Armoury Group finally fells stubborn chimney.

Almost a month after a blast left a large portion of chimney pointing skywards at the Cemex facility in Rochester, the company has finally laid the stubborn structure to rest, pulling down the remaining and heavily weakened structure.

The failed implosion was the subject of some heated (and ongoing) debate among the blasting community. But hopefully, this particular hatchet can now be buried, along with the structure that started it all.

There are time-lapse videos and then there is this!

The band Crowded House once famously sang “four seasons in one day“, a line that would strike a chord with anyone that has ever taken a holiday in the UK. But a new time-lapse video goes one step further, capturing a three minute high-rise Parisian tower block dismantling projects in a fascinating three minutes.

3 Years At The Same Place (english version) from Ramon on Vimeo.

Explosives Demolish Two 300-Area Buildings.

Before the sun rose Friday morning, crews watched at three 300-area structures came crashing down. After a quick blast, an exhaust stack was the first to come quietly tumbling down. But the grand finale? That was reserved for office buildings across the street, used by the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) when President Carter was in office.

Those buildings crumbled like a house of cards, brought down by 750 pounds of nitroglycerin-based explosives.

“It really went, actually perfect,” Bobby D. Smith said, Demolition Director for Wasington Closure Hanford.

A perfect job – executed in a matter of minutes – required a year of planning by Washington Closure Hanford, Clauss Construction of California, and Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI), the same company that brought down the Kingdome. They were all working toward one goal:

Read more here.

Christchurch City councilors give go ahead for demolition of earthquake-hit building.

Heritage supporters are mourning the impending demolition of Manchester Courts, but its owner and most Christchurch City councilors say there is no choice.

Just three days before the local body elections, councillors made what some called one of their toughest decisions, to demolish the city’s first commercial high-rise building.

The plan is to knock down the earthquake-hit building floor by floor.

Staff told yesterday’s special council meeting the 104-year-old Manchester Courts building, on the corner of Manchester and Hereford streets, and the Angus Donaldson building in Colombo St, Sydenham, presented an immediate danger.

The council voted 10-2 to give acting council chief executive Peter Mitchell powers to issue a demolition warrant for the Manchester St property, while there was unanimous support to demolish the Sydenham building.

Using warrants avoided the resource consent process, which could have taken 18 months.

Read more here

Exclusive video from Ferrari Demolition in France.

The recent European Demolition Association conference in Stockholm comprised a number of impressive presentations and videos; but our personal favourite was this video of hydraulic jack demolition of a tower block in France.

Our personal thanks to Ferrari Demolition’s Daniel Rieber for allowing us to bring this great video to you.

Illinois workers claim they were misled about presence of asbestos.

Four Illinois demolition workers filed a lawsuit August 13 claiming the companies that hired them to dismantle a structure misled them about asbestos dangers, exposing them to risks for mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancers.

Mesothelioma lawyers who have handled similar cases say this is a frequent foundation for asbestos lawsuits: workers exposed to the cancer-causing material after employers, building owners, or manufacturers assured them, erroneously or negligently, that no asbestos was present.

The suit, brought in Madison County Circuit Court, alleges that the defendants’ Alter Trading Corp., Environmental Consultants, Midwest Asbestos Abatement Corporation (doing business as Midwest Service Group), Envirotech, and Talbert Industrial Commercial Services?had inspected the premises prior to the demolition work and promised workers that the structures had been cleared of all asbestos.

But that assessment was wrong, according to the men, all employees of Premier Demolition. They also contend that asbestos remained at the site in Quincy, causing the workers to become exposed to high levels of asbestos in the air.

Read more here.