Houston-based Cherry Group appoints new business development specialist.

In his new role, Samuels will work to expand Cherry’s existing business and develop other business on local, state and national levels. He has 19 years of construction management and business and community development experience and most recently served as Executive Director of the Houston chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

Samuels earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degrees in community development planning and public administration, all from Iowa State University.

Famous arches that mark entrance to luxury Spanish holiday resort may face demolition.

Press reports from Spain suggest that the famous road arches that markt he entrance to one of the country’s most exclusive holiday resorts may soon face demolition.

The structural safety levels of the iconic Marbella arches have been under intense governmental inspection recently, to ascertain whether they can remain standing. The entrance arches are located at the east and west points of entrance and exit in Marbella and have stood for some 18 years.

Now, during the roadworks at San Pedro Alcántara (western) archway and after the extraordinary rains of this past winter, the governmental department in charge of the report as to its safety want the arch demolished for safety reasons.

Tests are now ongoing at the eastern archway to see if that structure is suffering similar problems which could result in demolition.

Should demolition be required, it will be an ironic twist for some UK demolition professionals that own holiday properties in the area and for whom Marbella has been a long-favoured destination to escape the grind, noise and dust of demolition work.

Read more here.

High reach excavator tips and falls into neighboring house.

A graphic video shot from the air in Sharpsburg, Pittsburgh shows the aftermath of a high reach excavator collapse that only narrowly avoided ijuring a family in a neighboring building.

Crews of a sheet metal company were tearing down a building to make room for a new building and parking lot when the Caterpillar machine somehow tipped over, authorities said.

The Winegarden family was inside the house as crews were demolishing the building next door. The excavator tipped over and crashed into the second story of the family’s home.

“At first, a couple of bricks came down and hit the house. I told my daughter we should leave the house just to be safe. We came outside and as soon as we came outside, that’s when the crane came into the side of the house and smashed the side of the house,” said James Winegarden.

Read the full story and view the video here.

Demolition worker killed during post-quake Haiti cleanup.

Demolition work across the city of Jacmel in Haiti has been halted indefinitely after one young man was killed and another injured when a house partially collapsed on the pair during a group clearing effort.

The incident highlights the precarious nature of site-clearing work in post-earthquake Jacmel. With half-demolished buildings littering the city, the laborious job of clearing the lots they sit on has become both a vital precursor to rebuilding and a sought-after form of income for the unemployed.

For weeks, non-government organizations across the city have been paying teams of locals about 200 Gourdes per day (about $10) to take to the streets – and half-demolished building plots – with hard hats and shovels. Under the umbrella of a United Nation’s cash-for-work program, most workers who are lucky enough to win a placement (and a monogrammed t-shirt) can be employed for up to two weeks regardless of whether they have a background in construction.

Read more here or view the video below for an insight into the task facing demolition workers.

Alcoa earmarks two smelting plants for demolition.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. plans to raze two idled smelting facilities, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Slated for demolition are the 60,000-tonne-per-year Badin Works smelter in Badin, N.C., and the 195,000-tonne-per-year Eastalco smelter in Frederick, Md.

According to Alcoa’s regulatory filings, the permanent shuttering of the two plants will result in an after-tax charge of $120 million in the first quarter, in addition to $10 million to $15 million in demolition-related costs.

Read more here.

The latest edition of Demolition & Dismantling magazine is available to read online.

Although traditional paper copies are still winging their way to Demolition & Dismantling readers in the UK and beyond, demolition professionals can get their quarterly fix online.

The latest edition is available to view below.

Work stops as DoE seeks new contractor at former world’s largest building.

We reported earlier today that Bechtel Jacobs, the US Department of Energy’s contractor of choice on what is probably the world’s largest demolition project, has taken a step back from front line demolition at the former K-25 uranium processing plant at Oak Ridge. But it seems that this is merely the tip of an iceberg of Biblical proportions now facing the DoE.

A cold, wet winter has further complicated operations at the site. “If it rains on Monday, it rains inside for three more days,’ John Eschenberg, the U.S. Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup manager, said at a workshop last week. Eschenberg was referring to K-25’s sieve-like roof. But rain is just one of the many obstacles faced by contractors trying to bring down the massive structure, which was built during World War II to process uranium for atomic bombs.

Demolition of K-25’s west wing was completed in late January, but tearing down the rest of the milelong, U-shaped building will have to wait for at least another year. DOE is changing contractors, and Bechtel Jacobs Co. — the government’s cleanup chief in Oak Ridge since 1998 — plans to spend the rest of its tenure taking samples, dismantling high-risk equipment and doing other ‘heavy lifting’ to prepare for eventual demolition by the next contractor.

The yet-to-be-selected contractor is scheduled to take over July 1, 2011, and Eschenberg said demolition of K-25 — and its nearby sister facility, K-27 — will be the agency’s top priority.

The Oak Ridge project has proved to be enormously difficult and incredibly expensive — spending may already have topped $1 billion.

Read the full story here.

Lake East medical center moves step closer to demolition.

Painesville Council now has the money to knock down the vacant Lake East Medical Center. The city received the signed agreement, regarding the Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds Round 7 that came from the Ohio Department of Development.

During council’s regular meeting Monday night, it authorized bids to go out for the hospital’s demolition. Although the city received $2,052,408 in grant money, the demolition and asbestos abatement is estimated at $1.9 million.

The project will be advertised for bid on April 22 with the opening May 20. The demolition portion of the project is expected to be completed within seven months of the award of the contract, according to city documents.

Read more here.

Bechtel Jacobs announce end to its demolition work for Department of Energy.

Jim Thiesing, vice president and K-25 project manager for Bechtel Jacobs Co., confirmed today there is no plan for BJC to do any more demolition work under the company’s current contract with the Dept. of Energy. Bechtel Jacobs, according to Thiesing, will do as much “heavy lifting” as possible to prepare the remainder of the mammoth K-25 facility for demolition by the next contactor to take over the job, July 1, 2011.

Demolition of west wing of the mile-long, multi-story structure, which was the world’s largest building under roof when built during World War II, was completed Jan. 20 as part of BJC’s long-running contract with DOE. Since then, the 800-member workforce assembled by Bechtel Jacobs has been doing pre-demolition work on the north and east sections of K-25.

The vast K-25 project has not been without its challenges, as we have reported previously, although it is not yet clear whether the unforeseen delays over safety concerns have prompted Bechtel’s decision.

Read more here.

City officials in denial as nine-storey “deathtrap” stands proud over Calcutta.

It was the subject of no less than three demolition orders in 1996; it has been described by inspectors as a “deathtrap supported by weak columns and beams”. And yet the nine-storey building that stands at 174 CR Avenue in Calcutta apparently doesn’t exist. At least that is the stance taken by local city officials who fear that an admission of the building’s continued existence would also be an admission of its own inability to demolish the dangerous structure.

The city corporation doesn’t collect tax from the building, and shop owners do not hold trade licences. The city stopped issuing licences from 1996 because, again, that would acknowledge the building’s existence.

Rabindra Gupta, office-bearer of the tenants’ association, says: “The association maintains the building. No one pays rent, since technically there is no structure.”

Read the full story here.