General Motors’ Massena plant could fall.

A number of contractors toured the General Motors Powertrain plant in Massena last Wednesday and were asked to prepare estimates for the demolition of the 50-year-old facility, according to several sources.

According to an internal demolition proposal, the entire 83,612 square metre (900,000-square-foot) factory would be razed, an outbuilding torn down and an on-site water tower dismantled.

Officials from Motors Liquidation Corp., which assumed ownership of the facility following GM’s June bankruptcy filing, would neither confirm nor deny that the meeting took place or that the liquidation group has made the decision to raze the plant.

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The sudden demolition of a New Zealand smokestack has angered some Patea residents as they had just started a campaign to save it as a memorial to the town’s freezing works history.

Patea’s symbolic smoke stack was knocked down by Nikau Contractors on Friday evening.

But at a public meeting called by residents last week, campaigner Jim Ngarewa was scathing of the council and its “lack of democratic process”.

“This was done in a devious manner and an arrogant manner,” he said. “They were gutless and sneaky. Why couldn’t they wait, even until Monday after we had all had our say?” Mr Ngarewa said.

To read the full story, please click here. To see the chimney fall, please check out the video below:

The demolition of a New Zealand hospital catches patients and visitors unawares.

The concrete walls of Wairau Hospital’s clinical services block came crashing down on Friday, making way for stage three of a major rebuild.

The main entrance was demolished along with physiotherapy, occupational therapy, laboratory, staff library and secretarial and clinical coding areas.

People with appointments in the demolished areas looked confused until directed to a green line leading to the new facilities.

The X-ray area and what was the emergency department is being temporarily left in place as an internal thoroughfare. When the site is clear, work will start on building a new main entrance and sites for oncology, outpatients, maternity, child and youth, and a cafe.

Nelson company CJ Solutions is subcontracted by Hawkins Construction to carry out the demolition.

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New video from outgoing European Demolition Association president, Yves Canessa.

OK, I admit that I don’t know what the commentary says, and we’re not entirely sure what this Dijon building was before it was imploded this weekend. But when European Demolition Association president Yves Canessa takes time from his weekend to send you a vide, it would be churlish not to upload it.

Governor responds to asbestos allegations.

Gov. Mark Parkinson labeled as alarming Thursday allegations by former Topeka Correctional Facility inmates and workers of improper disposal of asbestos waste during renovation projects orchestrated by the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is investigating assertions the staff and prisoners were exposed to the cancer-causing material during demolition activities at the facility. EPA stepped in after a complaint was forwarded to federal officials by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

“It does alarm me anytime we have an environmental problem in one of our state buildings, especially asbestos, which is an issue we’ve known about as a society for 30 years,” Parkinson said in an interview at the Statehouse. “That’s why I endorsed the EPA coming in, figuring out what the situation is and, hopefully, developing a plan.”

Former inmates and employees of the East Topeka prison have said they were exposed to thick asbestos-tainted dust when floor tiles were ground to a powder with heavy machinery during projects performed before and after 2005. Some workers said they wore paper face masks, while others said they had no protective gear or specialized training. The staff and prisoners said complaints about working conditions were ignored by KDOC managers.

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Mayoral aide indicted for demolition-related corruption.

A former top aide to Newark Mayor Cory Booker was indicted on charges that he helped steer city contracts to a trucking company where he was a part owner.

Ronald Salahuddin, who was Deputy Mayor for Public Safety from 2006 until his resignation last summer, allegedly helped S. Cooper Brothers Trucking win more than $1 million in city demolition, street sweeping and waste collection contracts.

Sonnie L. Cooper, the company president, was also indicted.

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Bids open but Corpus Christi still pondering full or partial demolition.

A dozen or so people gathered at City Hall Wednesday to watch city staff unseal 14 bids for Memorial Coliseum demolition.

Bids submitted Wednesday estimated the costs between $611,000 and 887,667. A&R Demolition, a company based near Austin, provided the lowest bid at $562,312. The company has previously won contracts from the city.

The ceremonial gathering Wednesday marked the first step toward a June demolition deadline. Staff with the city’s engineering department will review bid information and provide a recommendation to City Council for its meeting on 23 February.

Council will have one of four choices: select a bid for full demolition, select one for partial demolition, table the decision or throw out the bids. A partial demolition of the coliseum is an idea proposed by local architect George Clower. His plan would keep the arched green roof as an open-air pavilion and add a festival park and memorial nearby. He has suggested using the city money set aside for coliseum demolition and Shoreline Boulevard realignment for his plan, but has not yet provided a cost estimate for the entire project.

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Chicago mall that staged the famous Blues Brother movie car chase set to fall soon.

The long abandoned Dixie Square Mall, where the Blues Brothers famously filmed a police chase, has a new developer who plans to demolish the shuttered shopping center and build new stores and housing.

Preliminary plans for the 35-acre site at 153rd Street and Dixie Highway in south suburban Harvey, as well as surrounding blocks, call for big-box and smaller retail stores and as well as housing over five years, said Thomas Planera, chief counsel for the Chicago-based developer, MG Development South LLC.

The mall could be demolished as soon as later this month, but that hinges on Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan who has a pending lawsuit against the previous developer, the city of Harvey and several others, alleging environmental violations.

Dixie Square Mall has been an eyesore for years. It opened in 1966 and was one of the state’s first enclosed shopping malls. The doors were shut in 1979, but were famously reopened for the “Blues Brothers” scene in which John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd led police on a wild car chase through the building.

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Mayor orders temporary hold on demolition works in run-up to local elections.

The Quezon City government has imposed a ban on scheduled demolition operations within the city until after May.

In a one-page memorandum, Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the suspension was aimed at preventing any misunderstanding among candidates that might arise due to the heightened political atmosphere.

“To avoid any misinterpretation that demolitions are being used to benefit or to cause damage to any political party or candidate, both local and national, it is hereby ordered that demolition orders issued but not yet implemented are hereby suspended until after the election period,” Belmonte said.

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A demolition worker has died on a Rwandan demolition site after wall fell on him.

Hamza Izabayo, 23, was killed when part of a wall fell on him during demolition of houses in the Gisenyi town of Rwanda’s Rubavu District.

“The deceased was among men who were temporarily hired by the family of Vedaste Rubangura to help in the demolition of their old house,” a police source told The New Times.

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