Work underway on South Jersey building contaminated with mercury.

After more than three years of legal wrangling, demolition has begun on what used to be Kiddie Kollege in Franklinville, Gloucester County; a day care center that had been housed in a former thermometer factory.

Some five dozen kids were exposed to mercury levels more than two dozen times those deemed acceptable in 2006. Assemblyman Paul Moriarty isn’t sure how long it’ll take to tear the building down, get rid of tainted soil and clean the site up.

Read more here.

Flying concrete kills woman and child during controversial implosion in former Soviet state.

A woman and her young daughter have been killed in Georgia during the controversial demolition of a huge Soviet World War II memorial.

The demolition was being carried out to make space for a new parliamentary building and reports suggest the two victims were hit by flying concrete. Prosecutors are considering whether safety standards were violated.

Russian officials and some Georgian opposition politicians criticised the decision to demolish the monument.

The girl, said to be aged seven or eight, and her mother were killed when workers set off an explosion to take down the memorial in Georgia’s second-largest city Kutaisi, interior ministry spokesman Zura Gvenetadze told AFP news agency.

Read the full story here.

Our thanks to Robert Kullinski and Mark Bryan for bringing this tragic story to our attention.

Video showing helicopter & wrecking ball smashing a Norwegian cliff.

Date set for bridge to drop; but crowds urged to stay away.

New York and Vermont transportation authorities have tentatively set Wednesday 23 December as the date on which Idaho-based AED will demolish the Champlain Bridge. Details were still being firmed up this morning.

“23 December is our planning date and is not ‘official,’” stressed John Zicconi, director planning, outreach & community affairs for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. “It could change, but that is the date and time we are shooting for. When it becomes official, we will post on our own (Web) sites and make an announcement. But we are telling staff — state police, fire, rescue, etc. — to gear up for that time and date.”

Zicconi stressed that the demolition is not being advertised as a community spectacle. Quite the contrary. “We are discouraging people from attending,” Zicconi said. “It is supposed to be cold, and there will be no facilities. And there is no parking except along local streets. I stress, we are not throwing a party, and we are not inviting people to attend anything. There is no ceremony of any kind. What we have is a construction site. We understand people can stand on the side of the road and view our construction, but we are making no accommodations. People may have to walk a considerable distance to get there, as there is no parking, it is expected to be very cold and there will be no places to warm up or go the bathroom.”

Read more here.

EPA moves to block “gagging dust” at Lorain High School demolition site.

Residents, and others in the Cleveland town have been enduring the dust and aggravation almost since the demolition began in July. Conditions worsened in the past few weeks after brick walls were turned into huge piles of debris.

Much of the blame for the unacceptable conditions have been directed at DEM/EX, the Illinois company running the demolition effort along with its subcontractors. Thursday, an Ohio EPA inspector gave the contractors working on the site a warning about the dust problem. The EPA is considering whether to impose other sanctions.

Apparently, the contractor had previously complained fire hydrants in the area were frozen and couldn’t be used. However, an EPA official noted correctly, “If it can’t be done right it shouldn’t be done.”

The city received complaints about the dust on Monday evening and talked to contractors on the job site the next day, advising them to get the dust under control, Contractors said they were days away from completing the project. Fortunately, the Ohio EPA said all asbestos was removed from the building before demolition began.

Read more here.

JCB unveils demolition specification version of new JS360 excavator.

JCB has introduced the JS360XD, a demolition variant on its newly-introduced JS360 excavator. A completely new model for JCB, the 36-tonne JS360 was the company’s first entry in the higher end of this weight class. The machine – which combines high torque, pump flow and bucket breakout forces with excellent controllability and stability – is now available with a series of features designed to increase its strength and resistance to the high impacts and debris common in the arduous demolition environment.

The powerful and productive machine is fitted with heavy-duty arm protection, a platform mounted FOPS frame, undercarriage covers, side and rear impact protection, upper structure covers and a Visibowl air pre-cleaner all as standard. As optional extras, a Turbo II pre-cleaner, full-length track guides, a bucket ram guard and radiator mesh screen guard can also be specified.

When fitted with these accessories, the JS360XD becomes even more resilient to the potentially damaging conditions typically found on demolition sites.

The undercarriage plate guarding benefits from a significant strength increase on the JS360XD as the material thickness is doubled from 5mm to 10mm. Similarly, all the upper structure under plating is increased in thickness from 2 to 10 mm. Side and rear protection is provided by an integral box section design which ensures all core components of the machine are provided with an additional barrier of safety.

Heavy-duty arm protection is afforded by special edition JCB XD arms. Wear strips on the underside of the arm also provide added strength and resistance to high impact materials. Optional bucket ram guards provide 100 percent protection to the ram. Using a two-piece sliding design, the guard ensures that none of the ram (including the rod) is exposed throughout its complete stroke.

To ensure that the engine is provided with continuously clean, fresh air the JS360XD features a pre-cleaner. The air can be treated even further prior to reaching the engine with the optional Turbo II pre-cleaner. Additional protection to the engine can be afforded by a radiator mesh screen guard which ensures that dust and debris cannot block the cooling pack and enter the engine bay.

The JS360’s 7.8-litre, 6-cylinder, Tier III-compliant Isuzu engine provides high power and torque and low fuel consumption and noise levels. Producing 212kW (281hp) at 2000rpm, the power is achieved through an isochronous electronic governor which reacts automatically to hydraulic system demand, maintaining the ideal engine output for a given operating condition. The result is greater responsiveness and quicker cycle times, significantly improving the productivity the machine can deliver.

Grant funding moves Plainwell paper mill a step closer to demolition.

Wrecking crews may finally start demolishing parts of Plainwell’s vacant paper-mill complex later next year if city officials keep getting good news about funding.

They learned Wednesday that an application for $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funds was approved by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“I really think we could see a wrecking ball on the mill site by next fall,” City Manager Erik Wilson said. “This grant won’t fund the entire demolition process, but it will cover a significant portion of the costs.”

Plainwell Paper Co.Mill siteView full sizeJerry Campbell | Kalamazoo GazetteFile photo of the Plainwell Paper Co.Mill site. In this photo you see the interior of one of the old production ares of the mill.Initial estimates indicate it might cost the city upwards of $2 million to “selectively demolish parts of the mill that can’t be redeveloped,” Wilson said, but that figure could change as existing conditions and the scope of work are better defined.

South Carolina contract is latest to broadcast demolition works live via the Internet.

Harper Corporation has been hired as General Contractor to oversee the demolition at Main St. and Washington St. in Downtown Greenville, SC. This demolition project will make way for future downtown development. The Harper team has worked to coordinate with the City of Greenville and surrounding organizations to minimize the impact of the project on the Downtown Community.

Harper Corporation has enlisted the expertise of Clear Site Industrial to perform the hands on demolition and disposal of the structures. This team, with a strong focus on sustainable construction/demolition, will strive to divert 90%+ of the demolished material from landfills.

To watch the demolition live, please click here.

Demolition worker killed when a slab of concrete fell on him at a work site.

The man was working a stone cutter on a portion of the old Bronte Road bridge in Oakville, Ontario, which is being demolished to make way for a new bridge. Ontario Provincial Police say that section gave way, falling about three metres, and the worker was crushed by a concrete slab that came tumbling with him.

The accident occurred in a construction zone on Bronte Road just north of the Queen Elizabeth Way at about 2:30 p.m yesterday. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It’s very unfortunate,” said OPP Constable Graham Williamson. “The time of year comes into play, but … any time a worker is killed on the job it’s a very serious and sad situation.”

Read more here.

Demolition work starts on 100-year old Lynchburg bridge.

The much-anticipated demolition of Lynchburg’s oldest concrete span, which was shut down more than a year and a half ago because of deterioration, got under way on Tuesday. Officials expect it will take approximately two weeks to raze the circa-1908 structure.

The D Street bridge, which connects Rivermont Avenue to the historic Daniel’s Hill neighborhood, is slated to be completely replaced by December 2010.

The city closed it off to traffic in March 2008 after an inspection found serious structural deficiencies. Officials started squirreling away money to rebuild the bridge and have now amassed a fund of $4.5 million for the total project.

Read more here or watch the video below.