It’s 10 years since Maine’s Edwards Dam was demolished; but locals are now celebrating.
However, it is pleasing to note one of those rare occasions when the demolition industry’s contribution to the environment is rightly highlighted.
Click here for the full story.
New implosion video from EDA President, Yves Canessa
Here at Demolition News, we’re constantly on the lookout for new content to bring to you, our readers/viewers. We regularly beg and plead our contacts across the demolition industry to send us photos and video from their own personal archives. But, every once in a while, one of them is kind enough to send us something unprompted; and that’s the case with this video provided by none other than EDA president, Yves Canessa.
Details of the contract are a little sketchy, although we understand that the implosion took place in Corse. But, let’s face it, if the presdient send you a video, you’re not going to ask too many questions, are you?
Our recent review of the Blaklader kilt has sparked a lively debate.
A few days ago, we produced a tongue-in-cheek review of the workwear kilt now on offer from workwear manufacturer Blaklader, and we thought (hoped) that would be the end of the matter. But this is one of those odd stories that has sprouted legs and now has a life all of its own.
We asked the question “would you wear a workwear kilt” and the answers have been coming in thick and fact both via email but also over on Twitter and Facebook.
And while we’d question the “celebrated journalist” part of this, we have just come across this piece that is now running as a follow-up to our original story.
It looks as though I may yet prove to be a trendsetter!
UK demolition contractor Syd Bishop & Sons is celebrating its 80th birthday.
Syd Bishop & Sons Ltd, famous across the UK for its familiar “watch it come down” slogan, is celebrating its 80th birthday with a new magazine supplement and a photo montage video:
Workwear manufacturer Blaklader has added a kilt to its range. We took it for a test drive.
Let me start by saying that, I am happily married (to a woman), am the father of four children, and aside from one drunken dalliance with a negligee when I was about 16, I have never harbored any transvestite leanings. However, I must admit that my curiosity was piqued when I first heard that Swedish workwear manufacturer Blaklader had added a heavy-duty kilt to its product range. In fact, I was so taken with the item that I actually invested in one with my own hard-earned cash so that I could test drive and review it without in an independent and unbiased manner.
Now I could have worn it onto a demolition site but, thick though my journalistic skin has become, I didn’t think I could cope with the level of abuse. So I decided to try it somewhere quiet, somewhere off the beaten track. In short, somewhere where very few people might point and laugh. So I chose to unveil my new look at last week’s Glastonbury Festival where, I hoped, the 180,000 revelers and their pervading weirdness might provide a bit of cover. So here we go.
First off, this kilt is seriously well built. It’s heavier and thicker than a pair of jeans so straight away any concerns about stray breezes causing an unplanned unveiling were put to the back of my mind. Putting it on proved to be rather more of a challenge, however. For the past 40+ years, I have grown accustomed to the well-proven zip/button combination so the process of wrapping this kilt around my waste and then fastening it with two big, heavy buttons felt oddly unnatural.
However, once it was on, I must admit that I quickly acquired something of a swagger; not quite Braveheart but certainly heading in that direction.
Sadly, this being Glastonbury, my plans to pair it with a pair of bright red Dr Marten boots vanished in the mire of a major thunderstorm and a mud the consistency of mushroom soup, and I was forced, instead, to accessorise with a pair of luminous green socks and slightly less intimidating green wellington boots. At this point, my daughter rolled her eyes for what would be the first of many times during that day.
The kilt is remarkably comfortable and once we had started to watch the bands, I largely forgot that I was wearing anything other than my usual concert-going jeans. However, the presence of the kilt flashed back into dramatic clarity the first time I decided to sit down. Even though I had eschewed the traditional Sottish approach to underwear, I was suddenly very aware of just how exposed I was in the undercarriage department. And all too quickly, I settled into smoothing it to the back of my legs as I sat down which, when paired with three days worth of beard growth, gave me the air of the world’s least convincing transvestite.
The pockets (and oh my, does this thing have pockets) were superb and plentiful. In fact, my mobile phone, camera, wallet, hangover cure, ProPlus, and asthma inhaler each had their own pocket and I still had room to store any leftover beer bottles and falafels that I accumulated during the day.
I also mentioned earlier that this was a heavy-duty item. I wore the kilt for two days solid; it survived a torrential downpour, copious amounts of mud, spilled cider, vegetarian chilli, stray drunken Bristolian vomit; 19 gigs; some ill-advised dancing; and a whole lot of walking and it just came back for more. And even the kilt’s harshest critic – my 16 year old daughter who was forced to accompany said item for the entire two days – started to warm to it. At one point, I was stopped by a total stranger and asked where he could get one as it was a “good look” – My daughter still rolled her eyes but, if you looked really closely, you could tell there was a tiny bit of pride lurking behind her convincing facade of ridicule.
The best thing about the kilt, however, was its coolness. I attended Glastonbury 2008 in jeans last year and, even though it was much cooler in June 08, my jeans were hot and uncomfortable to wear. The kilt, however, kept me cool and well ventilated throughout, despite stage-side temperatures hitting the 90s on two days.
But will it catch on? Will it become a common sight on demolition sites in the UK and across Europe?
Given the level of banter and abuse among demolition workers, it seems unlikely. However, the wearing of hard hats, safety gloves, goggles and the issuing of sun tan lotion seemed equally unlikely not so long ago, so I certainly wouldn’t dismiss the concept. And while I opted for the tres chic all-black model, it is also available in ultra-high vis yellow which makes it even more suitable for site work.
I am reliably informed by the good people of Active Workwear who sold me my kilt that there have been less than a dozen of them sold in the UK so far and that, to the best of their knowledge, mine was the first to be sold to the South of England, which I guess makes me a trendsetter.
So if you walk on a demolition site at any time in the future and you see a worker wearing a rather fetching kilt, just remember who started the trend!
Would you wear a Blaklader kilt on site? Please let us have your thoughts by hitting the comment link below.
C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward has suggested the compilation of a demolition music Top 10.
Demolition News is taking a short hiatus to visit the Glastonbury 2009 festival this weekend, drink too much cider and listen to bands that most people have never even heard of, all while standing in a muddy field wearing a kilt (don’t ask).
To celebrate, our good friend John Woodward at C&D Consultancy, has suggested that we compile a Top 10 (or possibly Top 40) songs that are appropriate for a demolition setting. We immediately came up with “Appetite for Destruction” by Guns n Roses but then equally quickly dismissed it because it is only an album title.
So, we’re throwing this open to readers of Demolition News. To start you off, we are suggesting:
We look forward to receiving your entries.
Valerie Stroud, national secretary of the Institute of Demolition Engineers,celebrates her birthday.
Word reaches us that Valerie Stroud, national secretary of the Institute of Demolition Engineers and undisputed “power behind the throne” of many recent IDE presidents, is celebrating her birthday today.
So many happy returns Valerie!!
Demolition News and C&D Consultancy is offering readers a chance to win a skid steer model.
Judging by the response that they always attract, our competitions to win machine models are extremely popular. In fact, they’re so popular that we’re currently out of stock of models; which is why we welcomed the kind offer from John Woodward at our sponsor C&D Consultancy who offered us a very nice 1:32 scale model of a Komatsu K815-5 skid steer loader as a competition prize.
To enter the draw for this machine, all you need to do is submit your answer to this very simple question:
On 1 August 2009, C&D Consultancy will host an asbestos and demolition safety awareness course. But in which English city will the course take place?
Please send your answers via email to manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk, adding Skid Steer Contest in the subject line.
The winning entry will be drawn on Friday 31 July 2009.
The Lowry Bridge in North Eastern Minneapolis was imploded yesterday.
Advanced Explosive Demolition Inc. used 320 charges to topple the Lowry Avenue Bridge across the Mississippi River Sunday morning, severing a connection between north and northeast Minneapolis that had held since 1905.
Demolition News has been granted an exclusive interview with EDA president, Yves Canessa.
You have now been EDA president for more than a year. What do you think you have brought to the job?
Each president brings their own personal touch when trying to respect the idea that is the EDA. The task is immense and the time goes by so quickly. I simply try to bring the EDA to life through the research of new ideas that could permanently establish the association’s position and make it more attractive and representative.
What do you believe has been your greatest achievement as EDA president?
I am half-way through my time in office, the Bureau has approved a partnership with the D&Ri magazine for the organisation of an industry awards night. We are also working towards the future with groups of researchers looking into community schemes concerning the improvement of demolition methods. Success doesn’t exist in this type of work. You must simply have an ideal and convince our members of it so that they can continue in the vein that you believe to be correct, and to show them that they are right to be members of the EDA.
Even though the delegate numbers were down, the EDA seminars in Istanbul and Nice were a great success and the association now seems stronger. To what do you attribute this?
Indeed, there are several reasons for this.
• Firstly due to ensuring the loyalty of a certain number of members who enjoy meeting up twice a year to discuss their passions and their problems.
• Also as a result of Europe becoming increasingly political we are slowly but surely becoming aware that the daily trials and tribulations that we experience in our respective countries are exactly the same as those experienced in other countries and that it would surely be a good idea to show Brussels that we exist and that we are a force to be reckoned with.
• Finally our new secretariat is far more involved than before in communicating with national associations, companies and suppliers. This is a major asset to our development.
The new secretariat seems to have given the association a greater degree of stability. What are your plans for the future of the association?
I would like it if they were in a position to have real exchanges with the secretariats of national associations and if, once a year, a meeting between all of the national secretaries could take place. This would allow the EDA to be more involved in each country and for each country to be more involved in the EDA, and would, without a doubt, enable other members to get to know our association a bit better. We have to work hard with communication. The language barrier is a major concern, but it shouldn’t be an excuse for us.
Although the German and Dutch federations are still not back on board, the EDA has enjoyed an expansion with new members/delegates from Belarus, Russia, Poland and Turkey. Are these the future of the association or are you still hopeful of attracting the Germans and Dutch back again?
Holland is part of the EDA! The Germans on the other hand were one of the founding nations of the EDA, but for their own reasons they preferred to leave our association. I couldn’t possibly comment on whether or not we hope to have Germany back in the EDA. We must continue on our own path and keep focused on the future; we must concentrate on the members that we have, appreciative them and show that the EDA is capable of satisfying their current members and attracting new members. After that, everything else will take care of itself!
With regards to the countries that you mentioned, it is evident that we should continue to promote the EDA in all areas of the European community and ensure the loyalty of the new arrivals.
During your inaugural speech, you mentioned that you wanted to encourage younger members. Stefano Panseri and William Sinclair are already making huge contributions – Are there more to come?
Stefano and William do an immense amount of work, and I thank them. We need many more but I am reassured because I see new members at each conference. All of the national associations should be convinced of the EDA’s interest. We need to meet with them one by one. Its then and then only that young people will feel motivated to work with us. Also, we shouldn’t forget the “not-so-young” either, who must “pass the torch” of their knowledge on to others.
2009 is set to be a big year for the EDA with its involvement in the Demolition Awards. Is this the year that the EDA regains its former glory?
Why regain its former glory ; did we lose it? Seriously though, the EDA has been through a transition period, times of economic crisis, organisational changes, but this is also what we go through with our companies all the time. Despite all of that our capabilities remain intact and my role as president is to find solutions to correctly apply these capabilities. The EDA should be present wherever demolition is being spoken about. This is my, our challenge.
If you could be president of the European Union for a single day, what one thing would you change for the better of the demolition industry?
I think that I would try the standardise the different national regulations so that the so-called free movement of companies through the European Union is actually possible, and at the same price for everyone and not just one-way which is so often the case.
