UK contractor offers reward to help catch arsonists that destroyed high reach excavator.

The boss of a Bradford-based company has offered a “substantial” reward for help in convicting arsonists who burned out a £330,000 high reach demolition machine. At least £100,000 of damage was caused to the state-of-the-art high-reach machine when it was set alight in Heckmondwike.

The machine, which belonged to Thomas Crompton, had been used to demolish a mill at the Flush Mills site in Westgate and was parked in a secure unit at the side of the road. Company owner Thomas Crompton said he was waiting to hear whether the high-reach machine could be repaired or would be written off.

He said: “We are offering a substantial reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible. We don’t want to let our customers down and we have got a replacement machine coming from Belgium so that none of our contracts are affected.”

Read the full story here.

Button-Linguard throws down the snowman challenge.

Earlier today, we asked readers to send us their photos showing demolition sites at work in or halted by the snow that has brought much of Europe to a standstill.

However, Button-Linguard managing director Roy Gibbons has just thrown down a new snow-related challenge.

With their site at a standstill, Roy and his team have spent their day creating two first class snowmen (pictured below). But, having appointed Demolition News as arbiters of all things cold and white, Roy has said that he will donate £50 to the Cancer Research charity if anyone can beat his team’s snow-sculpting skills.

UPDATE: We have just heard from “GoldenGirls” that they will match Roy Gibbons’ generous offer for a photo of the biggest snowman “to prove, once and for all, that size really does matter”.

So please send your photos via email to manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk or via text on (UK) 7973 465166 before judging takes place on Friday this week.

And just so you know what you have to beat, here are the two snowmen with which Button-Linguard has set the benchmark:

Fears over asbestos and lead paint unfounded.

Just before Christmas, Sedona.biz published a letter to the editor regarding an investigation by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in response to a complaint they received about how the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) was handling the removal of hazardous material during the demolition of the old Oak Creek Bridge.

According to Rod Wigman, Public Information Officer for ADOT, ADOT and the contractor continue to work together to complete the construction of the SR 179 project. All pertinent regulatory submittals were filed for both demolition phases prior to the start of demolition.

ADOT coordinated all activities associated with both phases of the demolition with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), who administers state and federal (EPA) regulations, including National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). The concern on the Oak Creek Bridge was due to lead paint in the [old] bridge railing. The bridge was tested for Asbestos in 2006 before construction with negative results. To comply with the law, ADOT filed a NESHAP notice with ADEQ for both phases of the bridge demolition.

Read the full story here.

Show us how your site or office is coping with the current cold snap.

With the UK and Europe under an increasingly deep blanket of snow, we’re calling on Demolition News readers to send us their photos to show us how their site has stopped because of the snow, or how work is progressing in spite of it.

You can email your photos to manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk or text them to (UK) 7973 465166.

Our first photo comes courtesy of SCG Supplies who are keeping themselves and their extensive stock of crusher spares warm and toasty with what is probably the UK’s most sought-after item of construction equipment.

Residents anger at proposed asbestos processing facility.

The DemolishDismantle website is reporting that the residents of Basildon are less than happy with news of a new waste transfer centre being setup by UK demolition company Keltbray. The new centre will deal with asbestos waste.

Anger stems from what looks to be a lack of information and consultation with local residents before green lighting such a facility on their doorstep. That anger seems to be directed at Essex County Council and not Keltbray.

Jeff Letch, waste manager for Keltbray is attempting to reassure people that the operation is safe and precautions and safe guards are in place to contain the asbestos on-site.

Read the full story here.

Historic Scottish slipper baths could face demolition.

A 100-year old building which houses one of the last intact slipper bath complexes in the UK could be demolished if plans are given the go ahead.

Clydebank’s town centre is set to benefit from a £3.3million investment which will see the building demolished and turned into an arts venue as part of the proposals.

The bath houses were designed to accommodate the health and hygiene needs of thousands of people who had no access to bathing facilities. The still intact slipper baths, massage rooms, laundry foam room and turlish suite have lain unused for more than 20 years but campaigners believe they are a symbol of the past and should be retained.

Read more or view the video here.

Contractor braves the elements to fell Lynchburg bridge.

Neither a foot of snow nor three weeks of below-average temperatures have delayed the contractor who is removing the 24 metre (80-foot) high span, which crosses a dry gorge between two of Lynchburg’s older neighborhoods, Lower Rivermont and Daniel’s Hill.

The major snowfall that hit Lynchburg on Dec. 18-19 “probably slowed them down for about a week, but they’re back on schedule,” Wood said Tuesday.

Read more here.

New video captures Lake Champlain bridge implosion in super slow motion.

Having already been delayed by snow and ice, the recent implosion of the Crown Point bridge was never going to be particularly photogenic. But this new video, kindly sent to us by AED‘s Mark Wilburn, certainly captures the implosion process in high quality, super-slow motion.

The UK’s premier construction equipment industry has bowed to recessionary pressures.

There are times when being proved (belatedly) right simply fails to deliver the satisfaction that it should. And that is the case with the sudden and apparently unexpected postponement of the UK’s SED 2010 exhibition.

Almost 12 months ago in these very pages, I suggested that the organisers of the exhibition were failing to take note of the recession that was gripping the industry, preferring to plough on regardless in order to feather their financial nest. The 2009 show went ahead, although on a far smaller basis and with considerably fewer visitors.

With the recent closure of its construction magazine Contract Journal, Reed Business Information’s decision to postpone this year’s SED should have been clear for all to foresee.

However, at the same time as Contract Journal closed its doors, its sister magazine Plant Managers Journal was given a quick paint-job and renamed SED – The Magazine to run alongside the new SED365 website. So while no-one thought that all in the Reed garden was rosy, there seemed to be a determination to soldier on and run the 2010 show regardless of the continuing bleak economic outlook.

But it’s not to be. It appears that, somewhat belatedly, the organisers have realised that the current recession, coupled with the fact that most manufacturers worth their salt will be committing a large part of their marketing budget to Bauma 2010 and Hillhead 2010, could render the Rockingham show an exhibitor and visitor-less desert.

So after more than a quarter of a century as the UK construction and demolition’s annual equipment supermarket, the SED succession is broken (although, interestingly, at the time of writing, SED‘s own website isn’t reflecting this fact).

Coming just a day after the UK’s Financial Times forecast a bleak outlook for demolition in 2010, this news puts paid to the many “prosperous New Year” wishes we have received in recent days.

Financial Times says 2010 outlook is bleak for UK demolition contractors.

The UK’s demolition industry is preparing for a painful 2010 as inactivity in the commercial property building sector and soaring vacancy rates heap pressure on already weak demand.

According to the UK’s Financial Times, the five largest demolition companies – all of which are privately owned – have seen a fall in revenues over the past 18 months and there is a growing concern among them that a revival in the industry’s fortunes will lag behind any rebound in the wider construction sector.

To read the full story, please click here (you may have to register but it’s free and takes just a few seconds).