Exclusive overview video from last Friday’s Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Roadshow.
We’re still beavering away in the editing suite (well, back bedroom actually) to bring you some more audio and video footage from last week’s Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Roadshow at Mercedes benz World in Surrey.
However, while that’s happening, here’s a very quick overview video featuring some of the highlights of the venue and the day:
The search is underway for a demolition crew with seafood experience.
Of all the unusual demolition applications we’ve ever come across, the demolition of this giant prawn is probably the strangest.
Although not yet decided, it now appears likely that this famous Australian landmark could soon face demolition, which set us thinking about the skills required to tackle such a unique task.
Equipment-wise, we reckon that you’re going to need some crab-steer wheel loaders, ideally equipped with a clam-shell bucket and boasting plenty of mussel. The winning contractor will be a selfless individual (ie, not shellfish in any way). Upon completion of the contract, the world will be your oyster.
(OK, we’ve run out of seafood-related jokes but please feel free to add your own in the comments area below).
Exclusive audio podcast by Terry Quarmby, president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers.
Anyone with even the most tenuous link to the demolition business knows that demolition contractors are the undisputed world leaders in the recycling and reuse of materials, a fact that has put this industry at the very forefront of the drive for sustainability.
However, as this exclusive audio podcast reveals, this leadership comes at a cost.
What follows is the raw audio recording of a presentation by Terry Quarmby, president of the Institute of Demolition Engineers, in which he suggests that all is not rosy in the sustainability garden. In fact, Quarmby says:
The following podcast runs for about 30 minutes but please try to find the time to listen to this either here or via iTunes.
A series of brief audio boos recorded live at today’s IDE Roadshow.
Although the gremlins prevented these from being uploaded live, the Audio Boo system did (thankfully) retain these audios recorded live at the IDE Roadshow earlier today.
IDE vice-president John Woodward on forthcoming legislation and its impact on the demolition sector.
In the first of our exclusive audio podcasts recorded live at the last of the 2009 IDE Roadshows (held earlier today at the fabulous Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey), IDE vice-president and Demolition News regular John Woodward gazes into his crystal ball at the legislation that is likely to impact upon the demolition industry in the coming months.
NOTE: This was recorded as a video (which may be posted later) but, given the timely nature of the content, we have uploaded this in its raw, audio format).
A small US community is feeling the effects of the latest round of Bobcat layoffs.
The entire world is feeling the effects of the current global recession. But it is the small communities that rely upon a local employer for their very existence that are feeling it worst.
Take for example the 800 residents of Gwinner in North Dakota, a town that is built around the local Bobcat skid steer loader plant. As this report from the local Bismarck Tribune reports, the latest round of redundancies at the world-leading skid steer manufacturer are having a major impact, despite the US government’s ongoing stimulus investment.
What happens when you use one crusher as a battering ram on another.
“…In the red corner, weighing in at an impressive 40 tonnes, the Powerscreen WARRIOR. And in the blue corner, weighing a measly 3.5 tonnes, the Dig A Crusher 900 crusher bucket…”
Word reaches us that a group of vandals broke into a Thames Valley C&D recycling site recently and decided to see which of the two crushers were the toughest: the old heavyweight; or the up and coming lightweight contender. Setting aside the Queensberry Rules, they used the Dig A Crusher as a battering ram against its much larger opponent.
On paper, this had all the makings of the most one-sided fight since Frank Bruno repeatedly head-butted Mike Tyson’s boxing gloves.
But anyone that is familiar with the story of David and Goliath or who has seen the movie 300 should know that size doesn’t always matter in these circumstances, as the following photo clearly illustrates.
The aptly-named Warrior lies beaten, reduced to so much mangled metal while the Dig A Crusher….
…well the Dig A Crusher isn’t in the photo because it’s actually back at work having required no repair or maintenance work!
The Shanghai tower block that collapsed recently is now being demolished.
Following a lead from Safedem managing director William Sinclair, we recently reported on the collapse of a 13-storey tower block in the Minhang District of Shanghai in which the entire structure simply laid down, almost entirely intact.
Well, if that wasn’t surreal enough, the demolition of the fallen structure has now begun, giving rise to some very unusual-looking photographs.
Click here for more photos.
Leading UK contractor Armac is the latest demolition company to join Twitter.
Midlands-based UK contractor Armac Group has become the latest demolition contractor to recognise the benefits of social networking and social media, joining the Twitter micro-blog service.
If oyu’re a Twitter user, please be sure to follow them at www.twitter.com/ArmacGroup. And if you’re NOT a Twitter user and would like to know what all the fuss is about, please check out this previous post.
Tonight’s episode of Megastructures looks at the demolition of the Sheraton Hotel in Miami.
We have set up all manner of fancy news feeds, monitor thousands of websites and RSS feeds, and regularly scour the Internet for new information to share with you. But it never ceases to amaze us just where we can draw information and inspiration from, and how unlikely some of those sources might be.
Take, for example, an email we received a few moments ago via Facebook, advising us that the TV programme Megastructures, (UK Channel 5 toight, at 8.00 pm) will be focusing upon the demolition of the Sheraton Bal Harbour Hotel in Miami, Florida.
Now, with all our contacts and fancy news gathering resources, you might think this had come from a fellow demolition person. But no. Instead, it comes from the managing director of Indigo Showers, a bathroom shower company who, as far as we’re aware, has no personal link with the demolition sector whatsoever.
However, by way of a thank you, we’re suggesting that you swing by his website , particularly if you’re the type that is so hooked on your Blackberry that you have considered ways of using it in the shower. Here you will find showers that are not only equipped with telephones but radios and TVs too. And if you’re exceptionally keen on post-site cleanliness (or your Portaloo has run out of paper….again), please also check out their range of electronic bidets too.
Thinking about it, if we’d pre-ordered one of these shower TVs, we could actually watch Megastructures from there!
