Demolition News is just a few days from signing off for the festive period.

Judging by the dearth of phone calls and email messages received at Demolition News Towers during the past 24 hours, the global demolition industry has either started its festive celebrations early or has given up the ghost in the face of an economic downturn that shows no signs of abating….we sincerely hope it’s the former.

To reflect this, Demolition News will be winding down from 23 December. And while new posts will be added during the Christmas and New Year period (particularly footage from tomorrow’s Champlain Bridge implosion), we will be all but closed until 3 January 2009.

So we would just like to take this opportunity to wish all our subscribers, readers, sponsors and advertisers the very merriest of Christmases and the most prosperous of New Years.

See you in 2010.

Tower block made famous in BBC sitcom to be demolished.

The tower block where Del Boy and Rodney lived in Only Fools and Horses is to be demolished.

Harlech Tower on West London’s South Acton Estate stood in for Peckham’s fictional Nelson Mandela House for exterior shots in the long-running sitcom.

But the 13-storey building is to be torn down in 2011 as part of a redevelopment of the entire 42-acre estate, 1,800-home estate, considered one of the most foreboding in the capital.

Read more here.

Iraqi torture chamber faces demolition and replacement by Government building.

Aside from the obvious listed buildings and those of great architectural merit, there are certain buildings and structures that should be forever immune to demolition: pubs; cafes selling a good quality full English breakfast; and the Boleyn Ground.

But there are some that should be marked for destruction almost before the cement and concrete holding them together is dried and cured: Tax offices; call centres; and the Emirates Stadium.

Read the full story here.

One of world’s largest demolition projects draws ever closer.

US Dept. of Energy spokesman John Shewairy today confirmed that discussions are underway about demolishing the K-33 building; a massive, 260,000 square metre (2.8 million-square-foot) structure that was decommissioned and cleaned up by BNFL in the 1990s as part of a three-building D&D project.

But Shewairy said no decision has been made on K-33 demolition, and he declined to estimate the cost or confirm whether DOE intends to use Recovery Act money for the job. He also wouldn’t say if the work would be assigned to Bechtel Jacobs, the current cleanup manager.

“We are considering the possibility of that demolition project, but have not come to a decision at this time,” Shewairy said via e-mail.

Read more here.

Woodnock Mill chimney falls to age-old demolition method.

An Accrington landmark came crashing to earth yesterday, marking the end of a mill’s 229-year history.

The demolition of Woodnook Mill chimney created a huge dust cloud as it came swiftly down, watched by a crowd of spectators who had gathered in the rain to watch the end of an era.

The demolition team used an old-fashioned Fred Dibnah technique to topple the land-mark safely at 2pm.

Rather then use explosives, which could make it unpredictable as to where the chimney would fall, the team used a technique to cut a large hole at the bottom of the chimney, supporting the brickwork with wooden props, and then burnt away the props so the chimney fell.

Saginaw stack comes tumbling down.

Bay City-based Dore & Associates Contracting Inc. crews are clawing and scraping at a towering smokestack at Lake State Railway and Saginaw Bay Southern Railway, 750 N. Washington.

A crane “just nibbles a little bit off at a time,” said Vicky K. Chmura, railway property administrator.

“The smokestack was starting to crumble at the top,” she said. “It was a safety hazard. We’re happy that it’s not going to drop on somebody’s head.”

The stack carried emissions from a steam powerhouse that ran air tools in a locomotive garage. Today, the garage still is used to store and repair locomotives, she said.

Read more here.

Chemical works implosion startles local residents.

An implosion rocked the La Porte area for a few seconds on Saturday morning. The Sunoco Chemicals plant demolished one of its buildings. Ruble is all that’s left in the area. Some residents found out about the implosion through friends but other residents were never notified. They were startled this morning.

“It was just a really loud noise and i thought somebody was walking on my roof ,” said Lisa Rahimi, resident.

Sunoco Chemicals representatives said they did inform all residents and the controlled implosion was no cause for concern. Earlier this year, officials announced the closure of the plant. They said this is the final stage of the demolition process.

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.