UK contractor celebrates website relaunch with new video.

Erith Group, one of the UK’s leading demolition contractors, has relaunched its corporate website. And, to celebrate, the company has just produced a short but really nice demolition video to run alongside it.

Run by National Federation of Demolition Contractors president David Darsey, Erith is a keen exponent of Internet usage in all its forms, as this video on the company’s adoption of cloud computing explains.

But here at Demolition News, we’re far more interested in the sharp end of the company’s activities so take a look at the video below.

University of Alabama starts demolition of Central Plant smokestack

The UA board of trustees approved plans in February to demolish the 73 metre (240-foot) high smokestack because of the rising cost of upkeep.

University spokeswoman Cathy Andreen said the cost of demolition is approximately $225,000. “The smokestack was in a deteriorating state, with bulges between the upper bands, weakening of the mortar joints, discoloration of the upper area, a rusted cast iron cap, and corrosion of the steel tension bands,” Andreen said.

Demolition will save $85,000 every 5 to 10 years in scheduled maintenance costs. Repairing the smokestack, which has been dormant for six years, in its current condition would cost $125,000.

The demolition is expected to be complete by the end of the month.

The 6.75 metre (22-foot) wide smokestack was built in 1965 to vent exhaust from the university’s coal-fired boilers. The smokestack, considered an eyesore in part because of the billows of smoke that came out of the top, was removed from service in 2004 and replaced by a modern, more energy-efficient exhaust system.

Read more here.

After four years of mothballs, demolition work is underway at Ford’s Norfolk facility.

Brandenburg demolition crews started the daunting task of tearing down nearly all of the buildings once used to build the F-150 truck.

The Ford company is making room for its potential buyer – Jacoby Development Group. The Atlanta developer wants to turn the 106-acre site into an alternative energy manufacturing and research park. It would lease or sale 65 acres of industrial-zoned parcels. The main assembly building would be subdivided into office space.

Rio de Janeiro’s Presidio Helio Gomes falls, just as predicted.

Demolition News’ friend Fabio Pinto carried out the implosion of the Presidio Helio Gomes in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. And while our Portuguese barely allows us to order a beer unaided, even we can see that the job went smoothly (unlike the implosion of the Brazil national football team the previous evening) and in accordance with the computerised simulation released previously.

Population growth drives need to replace one bridge with two.

The Texas Department of Transportation has set aside almost $30 million to replace the Lake Marble Falls bridge with two new bridges. In order to maintain access, construction crews will build one bridge first, divert traffic on to it, then demolish the old one before building the second.

Population growth in Burnet County coupled with inefficiencies are the driving force behind the construction plan. Increased traffic flow is the main goal of this four year construction project that calls for two new bridges, one to serve northbound traffic and the other to serve southbound traffic.

The bridge remains one of the only ways to access Downtown Marble Falls and northern Burnet County.
“It’s too small,” said Bob Remack who told KXAN he drives over the bridge at least 10 times a day. “Look, you’ve got four lanes here, but there’s no dividers, it’s pretty brutal.” It’s a bridge so brutal, many locals nicknamed it the “killer” bridge.

View the video below.

Debate continues over Deutsche Bank demolition.

After being slowly dismantled, the former Deutsche Bank tower is now only 12 stories tall, and that means the end is finally in sight for the jet-black skyscraper — once 41 stories tall — that was mortally wounded in the 9/11 attacks.

But according to a new report from the New York Times, it looks like the building will still sow debate and disagreement even after it is gone. In a hint of the post-demolition aftermath, the construction manager for the dismantling, Bovis Lend Lease, is involved in a courtroom free-for-all over tens of millions of dollars with the state agency that hired it.

Bovis claimed in a complaint filed last month in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that it had been shortchanged at least $80 million for work it was ordered to perform at the site.

But in a court filing on June 23, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation excoriated the construction company for having the “gall” to seek extra compensation and profit, despite the project’s “being more than three and a half years behind schedule and despite tens of millions of dollars of costs and damages incurred by LMDC” from long delays and an August 2007 blaze in which two firefighters died.

“There are two Bovises,” said Avi Schick, chairman of the development corporation. “One that speaks with contrition and accepts responsibility for its safety lapses on the site, and then there’s the other Bovis with its hand in the taxpayer’s pocket.”

Read the full story here.

Time-lapse demolition video back up again.

Our more eagle-eyed readers might have noticed that, just over a week ago, we were involved in The Case of the Disappearing Video. No sooner had we posted details of the video showing the demolition of the Howard Street bridge at Hebburn in the North East of England by Thompsons of Prudhoe than the privacy parameters for the video were changed, forcing us to take the story down.

But, thanks to the swift action of Thompsons’ health and safety manager Chris Dobson, we now have our own copy of the video which means we can dictate who gets to see it.

Part of the works to facilitate the New Tyne Crossing project, Thompsons was employed to demolish the existing Howard Street Bridge situated over the southern exit of The Tyne Tunnel. The bridge was a one- way spanning reinforced concrete pinned portal frame measuring approximately 20 metres supported by piled foundations. The bridge deck varies in thickness from 686 mm at its centre to 1,067 mm at the supports. The works were completed under a full 36-hour road closure to the A19. Handover back to client, Bouygues Travaux Publics, was achieved six hours early.

Impressive job; impressive video. And thanks Chris!

A piece of Cold War history will be torn down for new development.

The one-time Alert Facility at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, adjacent to the flight line of Plattsburgh International Airport, will be demolished beginning this week.

“They have 120 days to complete the job, and they’ve indicated that they should be done well within that time frame,” Clinton County Deputy County Administrator Rodney Brown said.

The facility will be torn down by two companies: Stamford Wrecking of Connecticut and Sunshine Environmental Services out of Waterville.

Stamford will remove the tunnels and four smaller buildings on the property, while Sunshine will take down the main building. The facility is stocked with asbestos and has developed a significant amount of mold since the base closed in 1995.

Sunshine will do its portion of the demolition for $973,000; Stamford will be paid $346,000. The job is being financed by funding from the federal and state governments, with the county pitching in 2.5 percent of the cost.

Read more here.

City still doing business with company wit ties to man under investigation.

The demolition of more than 3,000 dilapidated or abandoned homes each year in Detroit was heralded as the beginning of a rejuventation of the beleagured city; a fresh start; and a welcome fillip for the local demolition industry.

But for all mayor Dave Bing’s good intentions, the Detroit demolition programme is rapidly becoming a case study in how NOT to run city-wide renewal programmes. First of all, demolition work was halted just hours after it began over asbestos fears, only to be restarted again shortly thereafter. And now, just days after deputy mayor Bob Buckler said that the city was seeking to ramp up the speed of the programme, comes another set of news that is set to tarnish this well-intentioned demolition drive.

According to the Detroit News, the city is continuing to do business with Bobby Ferguson, a man who is already under investigation in a city corruption probe.

ncil last week approved a maintenance contract with Xcel Construction, a company with ties to Ferguson that was raided by the FBI and other federal officials in January 2009. Earlier this spring, a city department recommended another Ferguson company for a $1 million demolition contract, but it was rejected last month after a final check showed he owed back taxes.

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said the Xcel contract snuck by him and he plans to move to reconsider the vote this week so he can vote no. The city shouldn’t give work to contractors under criminal investigation, Kenyatta says, and he is working on an amendment to the city’s ordinances that would ban the practice.

No charges have been filed against Ferguson. Calls to Ferguson Enterprises, Xcel and two Ferguson attorneys were not returned. A spokesman for Ferguson has said in the past the companies have followed the city’s bidding process correctly and have come in as the lowest responsible bidder.

Ferguson Enterprises was listed among 12 bidders who were awarded two-year demolition contracts, according to a “preliminary notice” sent to contractors May 5. But two days later, Ferguson Enterprises failed a revenue tax and income tax clearance, Dan Lijana, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, wrote in an e-mail. It’s not clear how much he owes. “Ferguson Enterprises did not qualify based on the required clearance and no recommendation was made to council to approve the contract,” Lijana wrote. “Mayor Bing has made it clear that the pay-to-play culture of the past is over.”

Ferguson, whose companies do construction and demolition work, received at least $170 million in city contracts while Bing’s predecessor Kwame Kilpatrick was mayor.

Read the full story here.

$300,000 “error” forces low bidder to withdraw.

The firm awarded a contract to demolish the old Elkhart Foundry on Elkhart Avenue, Dore & Associates, withdrew its bid after the firm discovered a $300,000 error.

Elkhart city officials released a statement Thursday stating the city will not hold the firm to the contract. Instead, the contract will be awarded to the next lowest bidder, E.T. MacKenzie Co,

Dore’s bid was $524,937, compared to MacKenzie’s bid at $769,114.

Read more here.