When is an implosion not an explosion? When there’s an expert involved!

When thousands of area residents line the sidewalks at 9 a.m. Sunday to watch the 1515 Tower crumble to the ground, they won’t be watching an implosion. Or an explosion.

“An implosion would indicate that there was a vacuum created in the process and that, of course, does not occur,” said Ron Lynn, director of development for Nevada’s Clark County, who has overseen 12 “implosions” of Las Vegas casinos and hotels.

But don’t call it an explosion, either, Lynn said. “Explosion people think about something blowing up. That does not occur. What happens is, you use explosive materials in critical structural connections to allow gravity to bring it down.”

Still, Lynn said, implosion has become the term of convenience for arguably the most fascinating feat in demolition.

Read more here.

A new video captures both the demolition AND reconstruction of a St Louis bridge.

We have all seen time-lapse videos showing the demolition of various structures, with bridges being among the most popular. But this is the first time we can recall anyone leaving the camera running for long enough to also capture the subsequent reconstruction:

Thirteen-year old Chinese hotel falls under explosives spell.

It may have been just 13 years old but the four-star Five Lakes Hotel in Nanchang, China has already been demolished to make way for a five-star replacement.

The demolition – captured on video here – has been condemned as wasteful by local residents who are concerned at what will become of the 40,000 tonnes generated by this weekend’s blast.

Read the full story here.

New video showing the implosion of the Rydges Hotel in Doha, Qatar.

Cranes and excavators replace pyrotechnics on low-key Las Vegas demolition

In a town famed for its demolition pyrotechnics, the demolition of the Queen of Hearts hotel and casino has proved to be a remarkably low-key affair, a fact highlighted in this no razzmatazz video:

UK-based Erith Group oversees chimney implosion at giant Northfleet site.

Erith Group, one of the UK’s leading demolition contractors, has imploded a large chimney on what is believed to be Europe’s largest demolition project at Lafarge’s former cement works at Northfleet, Kent. Covering an area of some 34 hectares and incorporating more than 70 buildings and structures, the demolition is scheduled to take two years.

Health and safety violations continue to plague the “Tombstone at Ground Zero”.

Located, as it is, beside the scene of the US’ worst peace time atrocity, the Deutsche Bank building in Manhattan has been under the media spotlight since that fateful day in 2001. So you would have thought that, with the eyes of the world upon it, the demolition contractors involved in removing this contaminated blot on the Ground Zero landscape would have put safety first, particularly after the death of two firefighters in the building in 2007.

However, as a letter to contractor Bovis Lend Lease on 29 January points out, the building remains the subject of grave safety concerns following a recent and ongoing spate of accidents and safety violations.

In the letter, letter, LMDC President David Emil warned contractor Bovis Lend Lease that its safety record at the site was a “failure” and its management of the job “unacceptable.” Emil ordered Bovis to shake up top staff and overhaul safety operations immediately.

“There has been a failure by senior management at Bovis to properly manage safety issues,” Emil told The New York Daily News. “We have grave concerns about the quality of their work, and we’re expressing that very forcefully to them.”

It is little wonder. Last month alone, the city Buildings Department slapped Bovis or its subcontractors with at least a dozen safety violations, alleging offenses that could endanger the lives of workers and the safety of the public. That’s more infractions in a single month than any time since the seven-alarm fire. Bovis would not address specific violations; it plans to appeal most of them.

To read the full story, please click here. And to see a list of the health and safety infractions, click here. Alternativiely, click here to view a video report.

30-storey, 1515 will be third-tallest US implosion when it goes down on 14 February.

With less than a week to go until the company drops the 1515 condo tower in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post has produced a colourful and insightful feature on the family behind Advanced Explosive Demolition:

The Kelly family travels the country like a posse on a mission to destroy, unhitching their trucks and trailers long enough to blow up buildings and then saddling up and moving on.

Though their matching cowboy hats and shirts caught West Palm Beach’s construction services director by surprise, he knows the Kellys are among the country’s most sought-after demolition experts, fully capable of safely pulling off the Valentine’s Day implosion of the 1515 Tower on the South Flagler Drive waterfront.

It’s a challenge, Eric Kelly concedes, and one that has neighbors on edge. The 30-story, hurricane-damaged condo will be the third-tallest building imploded in the United States when it goes down Feb. 14, according to Kelly.

Read more here.

Jim Caldwell appointed chairman of the UK’s National Demolition Training Group.

As a leading light within NDTG Scotland, Caldwell has been a career-long advocate of demolition training; and his appointment is a just reward for his tireless work in giving the UK demolition sector a competent and carded workforce.

Caldwell takes over at the helm of the NDTG from previous president David Clarke who will stay on as a member of the Group’s management committee.

In addition to chief executive Howard Button and training group manager Sophie Francis, the new committee is as follows:

CHAIRMAN – Jim Caldwell
VICE CHAIRMAN – Richard Comley
SECOND VICE – Terry Quarmby
Co-opted NFDC Member – Richard Dolman
NDTG Scotland Chariman – Craig MacWilliam
Non-NFDC Member – David Clarke
NFDC Current President – Dave Darsey

Demolition of the Giants Stadium is finally underway.

In addition to acting as home to the New York Giants for many years, the Giants Stadium hosted a mass by Pope John Paul II, a concert by U2, and was the venue for the last soccer match ever played by Pele.

But all of that is in the past; and yesterday demolition crews finally got to work with a high reach excavator to take down one of the Big Apple’s most famous landmarks.

Gramercy Group, a Westbury, N.Y.-based demolition company, is performing the more than $10 million demolition project, which will take about four months to complete.

You can read more here or view the video below.