Grant funding moves Plainwell paper mill a step closer to demolition.

Wrecking crews may finally start demolishing parts of Plainwell’s vacant paper-mill complex later next year if city officials keep getting good news about funding.

They learned Wednesday that an application for $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funds was approved by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“I really think we could see a wrecking ball on the mill site by next fall,” City Manager Erik Wilson said. “This grant won’t fund the entire demolition process, but it will cover a significant portion of the costs.”

Plainwell Paper Co.Mill siteView full sizeJerry Campbell | Kalamazoo GazetteFile photo of the Plainwell Paper Co.Mill site. In this photo you see the interior of one of the old production ares of the mill.Initial estimates indicate it might cost the city upwards of $2 million to “selectively demolish parts of the mill that can’t be redeveloped,” Wilson said, but that figure could change as existing conditions and the scope of work are better defined.

South Carolina contract is latest to broadcast demolition works live via the Internet.

Harper Corporation has been hired as General Contractor to oversee the demolition at Main St. and Washington St. in Downtown Greenville, SC. This demolition project will make way for future downtown development. The Harper team has worked to coordinate with the City of Greenville and surrounding organizations to minimize the impact of the project on the Downtown Community.

Harper Corporation has enlisted the expertise of Clear Site Industrial to perform the hands on demolition and disposal of the structures. This team, with a strong focus on sustainable construction/demolition, will strive to divert 90%+ of the demolished material from landfills.

To watch the demolition live, please click here.

Demolition worker killed when a slab of concrete fell on him at a work site.

The man was working a stone cutter on a portion of the old Bronte Road bridge in Oakville, Ontario, which is being demolished to make way for a new bridge. Ontario Provincial Police say that section gave way, falling about three metres, and the worker was crushed by a concrete slab that came tumbling with him.

The accident occurred in a construction zone on Bronte Road just north of the Queen Elizabeth Way at about 2:30 p.m yesterday. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It’s very unfortunate,” said OPP Constable Graham Williamson. “The time of year comes into play, but … any time a worker is killed on the job it’s a very serious and sad situation.”

Read more here.

Demolition work starts on 100-year old Lynchburg bridge.

The much-anticipated demolition of Lynchburg’s oldest concrete span, which was shut down more than a year and a half ago because of deterioration, got under way on Tuesday. Officials expect it will take approximately two weeks to raze the circa-1908 structure.

The D Street bridge, which connects Rivermont Avenue to the historic Daniel’s Hill neighborhood, is slated to be completely replaced by December 2010.

The city closed it off to traffic in March 2008 after an inspection found serious structural deficiencies. Officials started squirreling away money to rebuild the bridge and have now amassed a fund of $4.5 million for the total project.

Read more here or watch the video below.

Spanish demolition worker killed and another injured in house collapse.

A 31-year-old man has died and a 23 year old has been injured when the house they were demolishing collapsed. The accident happened in Algemesí, a town of approximately 35,000 inhabitants in the Ribera Alta region of Valencia.

Sources from the emergency services say that the old town house at the junction between Calle Santiago Apóstol and Calle Mosén Cursá in the centre of the town collapsed at 5.20pm yesterday.

Full story here.

Contractual fiasco sets worrying precedent for UK demolition industry.

According to my trusty Oxford English Dictionary, a contract is defined as “a written or spoken agreement between two parties, intended to be enforceable by law”.

Why am I telling you this? Well, apparently, this meaning of the word contract is either not understood in Staffordshire or Stoke City Council considers itself exempt. For having let the contract to demolish the former Westcliffe Hospital to Brown & Mason, the council then found itself the subject of a BBC investigation over alleged irregularities in the way in which contracts were being let. And so, despite the fact that there was no evidence suggesting that Brown & Mason had done anything wrong, their contract was terminated and the entire contract will be re-tendered.

Not surprisingly, Brown & Mason MD Terry Brown is far from pleased. Setting aside the work that his tender team will have put into compiling the initial bid AND the fact that preparatory works had already begun, Brown & Mason is now effectively excluded from being able to retender. Every major UK demolition contractor worth their salt now know the bid price submitted by Brown & Mason so they’re there to be undercut. And if Brown & Mason were to re-tender at a lower price than previously agreed, they would be perceived as having been dishonest in the first place.

No-one, least of all Brown & Mason, disputes the fact that the company’s bid price was not the lowest; but that’s largely irrelevant.

For one thing, it is always possible to buy cheaper as there is always Fred and Bill down the road who share a sledge hammer and a brain cell, who once saw a demolition documentary on the Discovery Channel, and who will carry out any contract for the price of a full English breakfast and a tank of diesel per day.

In addition, Brown & Mason is a premier league contractor; just ask anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the UK demolition sector. You don’t get to demolish power stations unless you know what you’re doing.

What is important here is the precedent set by Stoke City Council’s very public reneging on a contract.

Where will this end? If you sign an agreement to buy a new Caterpillar excavator for £250,000 and you use it for a few weeks only to discover that Volvo could supply a similar machine for £240,000, could you just park up the Cat outside your local dealer and make a phone call to Sweden to arrange delivery of a cheaper replacement?

And, given that we’re now in the run-up to the festive season, can we all flock to the January sales, hand back the slightly used gifts for which we paid top-dollar pre-Christmas and then buy them back at knock-down prices in the New Year?

I for one sincerely hope that Brown & Mason’s legal team play merry hell with this case: not just for themselves; but for the UK demolition industry as a whole.

UK contractor expresses anger as agreed contract is sent for re-tender.

Brown & Mason has reacted angrily as the contract it had won to demolish the former Westcliffe Hospital in Staffordshire is to be re-tendered following an ongoing internal investigation into how council contracts are awarded.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council officers are recommending the authority asks for new bids after it emerged lower tenders were overlooked.

The report to the cabinet recommends that the deal to flatten Westcliffe is retendered after a quote of just over £309,000 was dismissed. London-based contractor Brown & Mason had been identified as the preferred bidder out of seven short-listed firms, despite quoting a price of £1.1 million, which was three times higher than that of a rival.

But Terry Brown, managing director of Brown and Mason, said his firm would not reapply.

He said: “We won’t be bidding again. How can we? We have spent a lot of time pricing up the job and now everybody in the country knows our price. I was assured on the phone dozens of times that the work was ours. We started working on it last Christmas – I have wasted a year on this job. The council should stick to their own rules.”

Read more here.

One man’s trash is another man’s masterpiece, according to Lawrence Straughn.

“Somebody threw it away. I’m gonna make it into something,” he said. “I’m recycling.”

Read more here.

Irving City council sets up implosion watch webcam at Texas Stadium.

Its implosion is still a few weeks away but fans of the iconic Texas Stadium can catch a final glimpse online following Irving City council’s installation of an “implosion watch” webcam.

Admittedly, there’s very little going on there right now – In fact, when we last looked, the stadium was shrouded in darkness with just a few cars driving by. But it will certainly be worthy of a visit on implosion day.

Click here to check out the live webcam.

“I just climbed it; it must be safe” says Australian sit-in protestor.

A sit-in has begun atop the 47 metre high heritage-listed Jimna fire tower in an effort to stop the Government demolishing the landmark structure.

Jimna Fire Tower Action Group spokesman Dave Wright climbed the tower – between Nanango and Maroochydore – on Monday and said he would stay there as long as it took for the Government to promise to save the structure.

The Primary Industries forestry department sought to demolish the tower in 2006 to save on costs.
After protests from Mr Wright’s group, the department proposed the following year to do repairs before handing the tower to the Kilcoy Shire Council. It rejected the offer because of concerns about upkeep.

Mr Wright said he hoped his sit-in would prove as untrue as the Government’s claim the tower was unsafe.

“This is a total fabrication. I’ve just climbed it and it’s fine,” he said. “I’ll stay up here as long as it takes … the Government to acknowledge its heritage obligations.”

Read more here.