Multiple fires as Executive Inn nears implosion day.

Roll on 8 November 2009. With any luck, once the blast and resulting clean-up is over, I will never again have to write about the demolition of the Executive Inn, a saga that seems to have begun around the time Methuselah was a boy and which has had more twists and turns than a Michael Jackson dance routine.

With the assistance of some very helpful (and, no doubt, knowledgeable) TV executives, the demolition contractor recently decided to implode the five-storey building this coming Sunday. All that was left was a little pre-weakening of the structure. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, plenty, according to FireFighting News which reports that crews were called to the building to tackle “multiple fires”. Engine companies and a ladder truck from the Owensboro Fire Department responded to the call of the blaze, which was reported by the demolition company crews at the hotel, at 2.35 p.m. Firefighters cleared the scene at 7:15 p.m.

The fires, which caused no appreciable damage to the structure and caused no injuries, started after torches were used by crews trying to cut through the steel I-beams that make up the superstructure of the building.

According to Owensboro Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill VanWinkle, the demolition crew was extremely helpful. “They’re super people. They were more than willing to go with our firefighters to show them where the fires were, though we didn’t take them,” VanWinkle said. “We’re going to work with them Monday before they resume cutting with the torches, making sure they have a water supply to prevent anything from happening in the future.”

Demolition delay ruling sought to protect historic buildings.

The Harvard planning board is considering the creation of a demolition delay bylaw to provide communities time to review their options when a historic building is facing the wrecking ball. This follows a request from local history aficionado Jonathan Feist, who said the bylaw can provide anywhere from six months to two years to save a historically significant building, whether it be by preservation, restoration or relocation.

Feist said more than 100 communities in the state currently have the bylaw, saying it’s usually passed after communities lose a beloved building, and that he didn’t want that to be the case in Harvard.

“Say a developer comes in and offers $2 million for the Hildreth House, demolishes the building and puts in skyscraper,” he said. “I think that’s typically what we’re trying to prevent — developers coming in, making quick decisions, and flipping stuff to make a quick profit.”

Read the full story here.

New video demonstrates how NOT to operate a demolition grab.

The public and, bizarrely, the readers of Demolition News just seem to love video footage of demolition gone bad. So here, by popular demand, is the latest offering which could quite easily be used for operator training purposes with the simple addition of the following caption:

“If your grab starts to look like a goldfish out of water, gasping for its last breath, there’s probably something wrong. Hey, buddy, it’s called a grab for a frickin’ reason.”

Malaysian authorities investigating after cafe is demolished without permission.

The demolition of the Waterfall Cafe at the Penang Botanic Gardens may be illegal, according to a non-governmental organisation, the Cultural Heritage Advisory Team (CHAT), which stated that the demolition of the building was done without the local authorities’ approval.

The group also claimed that its findings revealed that the State Secretariat had violated Section 19 (1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976, that prohibits development without planning permission.

Read the full story here.

Proposed demolition of Gateshead’s “Dunston Rocket” clears major hurdle.

Gateshead Council’s plans to redevelop the Ravensworth Road area of Dunston, Gateshead and demolish Derwent Tower – the so-called Dunston Rocket – have cleared a major hurdle.

English Heritage has turned down an application to have the 29-storey Owen Luder-designed Derwent Tower listed as a building of significant architectural merit, allowing Gateshead Council to bring forward its plans for the site.

Councillors have already worked closely with local residents to agree a comprehensive redevelopment for the Ravensworth Road area which will mean the demolition of Derwent Tower and 116 adjacent maisonettes, followed by new residential development, new shopping facilities, improved health facilities and a range of environmental improvements.

The new development framework was agreed in January this year subject to the Council being allowed to demolish Derwent Tower.

Read the full story here.

Demolition of 600 properties in path of new O’Hare airport runway could be imminent.

Bensenville officials have reached a tentative agreement with Chicago that could lead to the demolition of more than 600 buildings in the path of a new O’Hare International Airport runway.

Mary Dickson, a village attorney, told DuPage County Judge Kenneth Popejoy today that the village board met in executive session Tuesday and approved a settlement with Chicago that could be finalized within the next week.

Attorneys on both sides of the case declined to make terms of the agreement public until it is finalized.

Popejoy, following a week-long hearing in 2008, declared the planned demolitions constitutional and legal, but in January the 2nd District Appellate Court remanded the issue for more clarification on the potential environmental impact of the demolition.

Read the full story here or watch the video below:

Bayer CropScience enters final phase of Widnes decommissioning project.

Bayer, a world leader in the field of crop protection, crop pest control and plant biotechnology with global sales of €6.4 billion, ceased production at the Gorsey Lane site in April 2009, as part of a major restructuring programme.

But the two-phase closure and clearance of the award-winning site, which once employed over 100 people, actually began in April 2008 with the 22-week decommissioning, dismantling and demolition of the PZ plant.

With the help and support of specialist engineering consultants and construction design management (CDM) co-ordinators RVA Group, Bayer was able to continue operating the other half of the site – its EF (Ethofumesate) plant – while the PZ plant was being demolished.

Now extensive decontamination of the EF plant itself is coming to a close, with the appointed contractor EDS entering the final dismantling phase before the entire site is finally cleared.

The Widnes site consists of a variety of structures ranging from simple brick-built administration buildings to heavy steel-framed concrete production facilities, and also includes warehouse buildings, effluent treatment plants, labs and workshops. A range of hydraulic excavators and long reach machines with 30-35 metre reach capabilities will be used to bring the buildings down.

But as part of the works programme, RVA has also stipulated that the dismantling contractor devise detailed method statements for the careful retrieval of process plant pressure vessels weighing up to 10 tonnes. This high-value equipment must be salvaged without damage for re-installation at Bayer’s Norwich site.

Bayer site manager Steve Tynegate said: “We engaged the services of RVA in 2007 when the site closure was announced – RVA’s unique service and independence were precisely what we needed to manage the closure. RVA have also worked on other sites within the group, and all we have heard is praise.

“Their involvement has ensured that all aspects of the demolition side of the project – scope definition, contractor selection, and the interface management under CDM – were of the highest class and significantly contributed to our excellent safety and environmental performance. We could not have achieved this without RVA.”

Demolition-Jobs.co.uk has a great selection of experienced workers seeking employment.

It’s been a long time coming but it finally looks as though UK demolition workloads are on the up, even if margins aren’t.

So if you are experiencing an upturn and need additional staff to help you cope, look no further than demolition-jobs.co.uk.

demolition-jobs.co.uk was the altruistic initiative established by Demolition News and the National Federation of Demolition Contractors to help short and long-term unemployed demolition workers find alternative employment. And it has been a great success.

Currently seeking work through the site are a pair of qualified contracts managers, two Topmen, and three demolition supervisors from across the length and breadth of the UK.

So, if you’re looking for new staff, make demolition-jobs.co.uk your first port of call.

Demolition has embraced the Internet, but not to the extent of conservationists.

Just over four years ago, when I took on the role as the media relations consultant for the UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors, I was asked to send a message to all of its 160+ Corporate members using an existing email database.

More than half of the emails bounced back with messages such as “gone away” and “broken link”; a sad indictment of the demolition industry’s adoption of the Internet.

Fast-forward just a few years, however, and how the industry has changed. During one recent meeting involving some 12 or more UK demolition contractors, the meeting chairman offered delegates a “comfort break”, a colloquial term for a visit to the bathroom or a cigarette break. All but two of the delegates accepted the offer of the comfort break. But rather than reaching for a pack of cigarettes, almost all of them reached instead for a Blackberry or iPhone to check their email.

Hey, let’s face it, where would Demolition News be without an Internet-savvy audience?

But while demolition professionals have grasped email, the Internet and even social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, they have failed to keep pace with the anti-demolition lobby which is actively using the same mediums to delay and even prevent demolition.

Take, for example, the proposed demolition of the Mitchells brewery in Lancaster. As far as we can tell, a contractor has yet to be appointed for this contract. And yet, the anti-demolition and pro-conservation lobby has already mobilised both off and online and is making life difficult for the building’s owner, the local authority and the yet-to-be-appointed contractor.

Now I am not suggesting for one moment that demolition contractors go head-to-head with the conservationists in an online battle for the hearts and minds of the public.

But when was the last time you saw a pro-demolition website, blog or campaign that was not merely a veiled sales tool for a demolition contractor?

Some demolition companies – notably Safedem in Scotland – have highly sophisticated resident liaison procedures in place to keep local people informed of what to expect before, during and after a demolition contract; and it is an approach that has won plaudits from many of Safedem’s high-profile clients including the Glasgow Housing Association.

Yet, to the best of my knowledge, no contractor has yet taken that approach online where local residents and the often vocal NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) lobby often resides. As a result, the general public remains largely unaware of the safety procedures that demolition companies set in place; of the industry’s almost faultless recycling and salvage record.

And it can’t be time restraints or the prohibitive cost of an online presence that stands in the way. A blog – such as Demolition News or DemolishDismantle – can be set up in a matter of minutes; and the only cost is your time.

We’d love to hear your comments on this and, of course, if you’d like any help setting up your own “contract blog”, please just drop us a line.

Unnamed contractor could face prosecution over health and safety breaches.

An as-yet unnamed demolition contractor involved in the demolition of a derelict building on Mansfield’s Bellamy Road estate could face prosecution after major health and safety problems.

The eyesore Courtlands Social Club has been bulldozed over the last few weeks, but residents’ representative say the demolition ‘endangered everybody on the estate’.

Council chiefs say the building was knocked down without planning permission and the contractor involved ignored notices from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) barring the company from continuing the work.

Read the full story here.