New video tour of Port of Long Beach highlights importance of C&D waste recycling.

We have, in the past, been vocal in our criticism of some US contractors’ somewhat ardy approach to the subject of construction and demolition waste recycling.

So it’s pleasing to see this new video on the demolition and construction works taking place at the Port of Long Beach in which the main contractor is achieving European-standard 95% recycling levels.

Police renew appeal to prevent vandals becoming exposed to asbestos.

Vandals are exposing themselves to asbestos by ignoring police warnings not to enter the sites of derelict buildings being knocked down in Hull.

Humberside Police have renewed appeals to people to stay away from the old Heron Frozen Foods site on Walcott Street in Hull which is being demolished.

Officers are concerned that vandals are persistently ignoring signs to keep out and exposing themselves to potential hazards to carry out attacks.

They have also asked people to keep their eyes open and report anyone they see sneaking into any building site, because the same dangers exist in other areas of half-demolished structures.

Read more here.

TV bosses have confirmed that home of TV’s longest-running soap opera is to be demolished.

It has been the scene of murders and rapes, assaults and catfights, marriages and divorces, unexpected arrivals and dramatic departures. But the street in which TV’s longest-running soap opera – Coronation Street- is facing the wrecking ball as the set is moved from Quay Street in Manchester city centre to a site near Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium after ITV resumed talks to relocate its offices.

Following the appointment of new ITV chairman Archie Norman, negotiations have begun again to relocate the soap’s famous pub and cobbled streets to the £600m Media City UK in Salford Quays.

Read the full story here.

Last-minute entry steals the plaudits in our snowman competition.

As regular readers will be aware, we attempted last week to make the best of the terrible weather that had brought work to a standstill across the UK, Europe and on into many parts of the US by challenging demolition workers to create a snowman.

Well, thanks to generous offers from two readers, we were inundated with entries for what (ironically) turned out to be a hotly contested affair. As arbiters of all things snowy, we were looking for a mix of style and substance, size and stature and, ideally, something of a demolition theme.

So we’re delighted to announce that our winning snowman, which was in fact that last entry received before the contest closed on Friday night, was from Barry Morgan in Faversham, Kent. As you can see below, not only does Barry’s entry display some superb snow sculpting facial features, it is the only entry we received which would get past an HSE workwear inspection.

Our congratulations go to Barry while £100 (donated by Button-Linguard’s Roy Gibbons and a mysterious benefactor known only as GoldenGirl) is heading for the Cancer Research charity.

A Brazilian demolition contractor uses simulation software to predict implosion.

Applied Science International has helped complete the successful implosion of two buildings in the Rio di Janeiro, Brazil just miles from the Deodoro Military Club, one of the four central venues hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The buildings which had become known by many locals as the Skeleton Man are two of many structures that will be demolished paving the way for construction projects in preparation for both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the World Cup in which it will host in 2014.

The buildings which had been deemed unsafe by local government officials were imploded by Fabio Bruno Construcoes, a seasoned demolition contractor and one of ASI’s Exclusive Demolition Analysis Partner in Brazil. ASI performed pre-demolition analysis of the structural demolition plan using its Extreme Loading Technology which can quickly and accurately simulate and predict the performance of structures under extreme loads. ASI simulated several demolition scenarios for Fabio Bruno Construcoes providing recommendations and modifications to the demolition scenario, increasing both the effectiveness and safety of the demolition.

Extreme Loading Technology (ELT) is based on the Applied Element Method (AEM) of analysis, the only method of analysis capable of automatically calculating the initiation and propagation of cracks, the separation of elements, and impending collisions. Edward di Girolamo, ASI’s CEO stated, “Fabio Bruno Construcoes is one of the first demolition contractors to take advantage of ELT through our Exclusive Demolition Analysis Partnership. The Brazilian demolition is one of many demolitions planned and carried out around the world on which the technology will be used to improve safety and avoid costly mishaps which happen all too often.”

Read more here, or watch the video below.

15 minutes to evacuate before collapse drops debris on neighbouring houses.

A Southeast Washington neighbourhood was jolted Thursday when a building collapsed and it was all caught on tape.

As the demolition crew worked on what was left of the SE high rise, evacuated residents like Pete Lyes and Renee Carter, who share a place at Southern Homes and Gardens apartment complex, stood in a parking lot and fumed.

“They just woke us up and said, ‘Evacuate!'” said resident Rene Carter. “My father is 80 years old and they gave us 15 minutes to evacuate…if it had been in Georgetown, they would have put me up in a hotel or somewhere else,” Carter said.

Efforts to bring down the city-owned building had been going on for a week, a process accompanied by a lot of dust and debris.

Further details can be found here or, alternatively, you can watch the (slow loading) video below.

Demolition started in 1994 at Est German nuclear plant remains ongoing.

Lubmin is a small, little-known Baltic resort in northeastern Germany. Scarcely one kilometer, or half a mile, removed from the town’s eastern boundary, several hulking and dilapidated cement bunkers stand flanked by rusty scrap metal. They are the remains of what was the largest nuclear power plant of the German Democratic Republic. Inside, as many as five Soviet-engineered pressurized water reactors once fed electricity into the grid.

Shortly after the 1990 fall of the Berlin Wall, the reactors were shut down. They were deemed unsafe based on Western standards.

Now, 15 years later, a demolition process which began in 1994 is still underway. It is a painstaking job, because although all the nuclear fuel rods have been removed, individual parts of the nuclear plant are still radioactive and need to be laboriously dismantled and stored.

Read the full and fascinating story here.

Workers removing Champlain Bridge debris from beneath water and ice.

As the photos here prove, Europe is currently in the midst of a cold snap that has brought snow, ice and transport misery to millions.

But if you think it’s cold where you are, spare a though for the demolition workers charged with removing the debris from the recent Crown Point bridge that currently lies in the icy and ice-covered depths of Lake Champlain.

In fact, according to a new report in the Burlington Free Press, the contractor is using a pair of excavators to handle the debris removal with one of the two dedicated to ice breaking duties.

Click here for further details.

Demolition set to start at Massachusetts Uniroyal plant.

One of the oldest factories in Chicopee will be reduced to rubble on Thursday morning. Mayor Michael Bissonnette and his economic development team are hoping the demolition of the old Uniroyal Tire plant will spur economic vitality in Chicopee Falls.

The Mayor will make the formal announcement at 10 a.m. The demolition and site clean-up will immediately follow.

According to Mayor Bissonnette, the old tire plant that dates back to the turn of the century is an eyesore and a health hazard. He says the 72 acre property has been a cancer to Chicopee Falls for almost two decades.

With this demolition, the mayor is hoping to make way for one of the biggest brownfields in western Massachusetts.

Read more here or watch the video below.

Texas to receive grant funding for flood plain demolition in Ike-damaged Galveston County.

Texas is getting nearly $103 million for buyouts of hundreds of homes on the flood plain in Hurricane Ike-damaged Galveston County.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday announced the funding to acquire and demolish 759 buildings in an effort to avoid future structure disasters. FEMA says the federal government will pay 75 percent of the total cost, estimated at almost $137 million. Administrator Tony Russell says it is the largest Hazard Mitigation Grant Program project funded by FEMA in Texas.

Read the full story here.