US contractor Nuprecon brought its wrecking ball out of retirement to tackle a unique project.

Nuprecon recently used old-school technology to bring down an old-school building at Paradise on Mount Rainier National Park. Instead of remote-controlled robots or excavators equipped with processing shears, the Snoqualmie-based contractor resorted to a wrecking ball to take out part of the aging Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center.

The 6,000 square metre, flying-saucer-like building has given visitors 360-degree views of the mountain and the surrounding landscape since 1966. But it had a flat concrete roof that had to be heated to keep snow from piling on. Heating the interior and the roof required as much as 1,800 litres of diesel a day.

Shawn Smith of Nuprecon said the wrecking ball was used on the top ring portion because of its height and the tight site. Track hoes equipped with concrete processors tore apart the two lower levels.

“It’s not a preferred mean or method for us, but there are some ways it’s the most prudent method to go,” Smith said. “It’s time-consuming and arduous. It’s yesterday’s technology.” Nuprecon used a wrecking ball on a job last year in Portland, but the ball had been idle for five years before that, he said.

Nuprecon is working as a subcontractor to CMEC on the Rainier job, which included asbestos abatement and site work such as underground tank removal and some soil remediation.
Smith said a 19,000 litre capacity fuel tank was pulled from three metres of soil last week and now the site has been shut down for the winter because of snow. Crews will return in the spring to crush the concrete debris, which will be stored on-site and used for future National Park Service projects.

Smith said the biggest challenge has been the remote location. “It’s hard to co-ordinate work because there is no cell phone service there,” he says. “We tried using a satellite phone, but that didn’t work either. Communication was coordinated through a pay phone in a nearby parking lot.”
Another big factor has been the weather. “We’d get there one day and there would be 2 feet of snow and then it would melt by the end of the day,” Smith concludes. “That made it tough for equipment operations to sift through the debris.”

The April 2009 edition of Professional Demolition International is out now.

UK legislation on empty property is bad news for almost everyone EXCEPT the demolition industry.

The UK Government’s Empty Property Rates (EPR) legislation has resigned England and Wales to a continued boom bust commercial property cycle; delivering property shortage and stifling regeneration and investment, an industry survey has revealed.

Published today, the Empty Property Rates Survey, by national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), is the first research into the controversial Government policy 12 months after its introduction.

LSH Director of Rating, Richard Wackett, said: “The industry believes that the demolition of property will increase significantly in coming months as the recessional plight of business is exacerbated by growing EPR debts.

“Many property owners are now left with no option but to demolish buildings that are sitting empty – generating large EPR bills, but no income. This will leave the commercial property market with a shortage of stock when demand picks up.

“It is clear that the property sector wants immediate change from the Government, including a substantial increase in the relief available for owners of non domestic buildings, particularly given the current state of the market. Indeed the Pre Budget Report acknowledged the need for support, albeit limited, with the temporary exclusion from rate liability of non domestic properties with Rateable Values below £15,000 for 2009/10”.

The consensus of more than 600 property professionals, who participated in the LSH and RICS survey, is that the Government’s overarching objective to provide an incentive for owners to return vacant buildings to use to the benefit of occupiers – has been highly unsuccessful.

Richard said: “The Government’s EPR policy has failed. 85% of professionals surveyed within the Empty Property Rates Survey Report fear that EPR is negatively impacting on the regeneration of towns and cities. A key concern is that 92% state that EPR policy deters speculative development – exactly the activity that is needed to rejuvenate Brownfield sites.”

The survey presents the following findings:

– 78% of participants believe EPR has exacerbated the present financial difficulty of property firms and occupiers.
– 83% of participants state that EPR has reduced property values
– 88% of participants argue EPR has deterred investment in industrial property specifically (given longer average vacancy rates).
– 85% of participants argue the EPR liability is the single biggest factor for the demolition of buildings at present.
– 43% of buildings being demolished would deliver rental income of £50-250,000 if let.
– 73% of participants have reviewed their property portfolios as a direct consequence of the removal of EPR relief.

A Scottish demolition contractor has purchased a gold JCB as an anti-recession talisman.

Scottish demolition contractor Alan Beattie is proving he has the Midas touch when it comes to beating the recession by buying a £50,000 JCB and having it painted gold.

Alan, who has been in business for 40 years and has the honorary title Lord of the Manor of Oversley, purchased the top-of-the range backhoe loader 4CX to show he is bucking the trend of the economic slump and to demonstrate his confidence in the “best of British” manufacturing. The gilt-edged finish – which replaces the traditional yellow and black livery synonymous with the world famous machine – should have cost him an extra £4,500 but local dealer Scot JCB decided to do the work for no extra charge.

It took three weeks for a craftsman at the dealer’s Glasgow depot to complete the job and also inscribe the vehicle with two slogans: “The Gold Digger” and “Beattie’s The Best”. The backhoe loader is the 18th new JCB Alan has purchased since he started his business, A and J Demolition, during the late 1960s.

Larger-than-life Alan says he is thrilled with his gold digger and the 24-carat service he receives from Scot JCB. He said: “I feel extremely proud to be British when I look at this great machine built by one of Britain’s best companies. It is a great work of art which should be celebrated.

“Although the gold JCB may look like a status symbol there is a serious message in it. It’s my belief that 90 per cent of this recession is about a lack of confidence, but business must not give in to it under any circumstances. Customer loyalty is extremely important during a recession but so is equipment reliability, and I’m glad to say I have never had one of my JCBs break down or let me down in all the years I have been using them. I bought my first JCB when I was about 15 and I am nearly 65 now and they have been an integral part of my working life.”

And he added: “I see my new golden JCB as a talisman of hope for the future and to show people you can buck the trend and there is work out there if you demonstrate quality and professionalism. I haven’t given in to past recessions and I have no intention of giving into this one.”

Unexploded ordnance discovered in imploded building.

Demolition crews responsible for the destruction of Building 82 in Charleston, West Virginia in the US left unexploded ordnance behind after they imploded the building on March 28. The South Charleston landmark, the former headquarters for Union Carbide, was blown up in a public ceremony to pave the way for development by the University of Charleston.

However, Sgt. Keith Vititoe, head of the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad, said firefighters and other emergency responders on a training exercise immediately following the destruction of the building found unexploded charges inside.

Full details of the story can be found here.

New figures from the US suggest that less than half of arisings are recycled.

Just a few days ago, we reported on the fact that a UK contractor had almost achieved a 100% rate of materials recycling on a project in Scotland. Compare that to the latest statistics from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which suggest that less than half of all the US’ 170 million tonnes/year arisings are recycled.

New EPA figures show that the US increased its output of debris from construction and demolition debris by 25 percent from 1996 to 2003, while also recovering 48 percent of this waste.

The data is viewed as an estimate because only eight states release both their disposal and recovery data for construction materials.

It is true that the recovery rate was just 25 percent in 1996, meaning although the US is producing more of this waste, there are increased efforts to reuse and recycle these materials. However, it appears that the US still has a long way to go before it catches up with its greener European counterparts on this side of the Atlantic.

Demolition News is launching its first-ever photographic competition – So grab your camera!

Imagine our surprise then when we discovered that the photographer was a 14 year old boy with no links to the industry whatsoever! The person in question is Jack Westwood who comes from Walsall in the UK’s West Midlands.

Well, young Jack has inspired us to run our first-ever photographic competition with the winner receiving a 1:50 scale model of a Komatsu PC 450 LC high reach excavator for their troubles. The winning photo will also be featured here on www.demolitionnews.com.

So what are we looking for?

Quite simply, we’re looking for the most dramatic or downright unusual photograph depicting demolition. The subject matter might be men, machines or structures. It can be new or old, black and white or colour, and feature the very latest techniques or hark back to the ball and chain of days gone by – we don’t mind so long as it’s artistic.

Photos can be submitted, ideally in high resolution format, to manthony@markanthonypublicity.co.uk
Closing date is 1 May 2009.

And don’t forget; young Jack Westwood has set the bar high (and Jack, if you’re reading this, you ARE allowed to enter!!)

Happy Snapping!

Caterpillar will use the Intermat exhibition to launch a compact radius demolition excavator.

The Caterpillar 328D Medium Size Hydraulic Excavator is the first compact radius excavator specially equipped for demolition in urban or restricted areas. The machine was designed and prepared for demolition purposes by the French Caterpillar dealer Bergerat Monnoyeur.

“There is a growing interest towards the compact radius machines in the demolition industry. They are safer and practical, particularly when used in demolition projects where space is often confined. That is why we’ve built this machine; to offer our customers something that is currently not available in the market,” explains Jacques Gavillet, Demolition Manager at Bergerat Monnoyeur.

The concept of the 328D for demolition is simple. The standard reach boom of 6.15 metres was modified in order to allow two positions; boom cylinders can now be mounted either underneath or in the normal guide. In order to offer the maximum working height Bergerat Monnoyeur designed and built a special stick of 5 meters enabling a maximum reach of up to 14 metres.

Thanks to the boom cylinders, the 328D can work either with the demolition stick or the normal stick depending on the work carried out – a change from one stick to another is simple thanks to a quick release. This adds to the versatility of the 328D significantly. Moreover the 328D can be equipped with a blade.

“This is a good alternative also from the financial point of view. We’ve used a standard 328D excavator on which the modified boom and the demolition stick can be added with small adjustments. Compared to a true demolition machine, this is a very economic option,” Jacques Gavillet adds.

Italian manufacturer Promove will unveil a new heavy-duty breaker at next week’s Intermat show.

The Intermat 2009 exhibition in Paris will provide the international launchpad for a new heavy duty hydraulic breaker from Italian manufacturer Promove.

Designed for carriers in the 60 to 120 tonnes operating weight class, the new XP7000 weighs 6,800 kg and develops a blow energy of 17,700 Joules at the 210 mm diameter tool for optimum performance in a broad range of hard breaking applications.

According to Promove, the new mass-breaking hammer has been extensively tested prior to this official launch, and has already demonstrated positive features in terms of productivity and noise and vibrations level to the lowest level on the market.

In keeping with other models in the company’s XP range, the new XP7000 incorporates a number of proven features including combined gas and oil working principle, blank-firing prevention system, auto-greasing pump, adjustable frequency/energy, full “square-section” percussion body with tie-rods completely encased for extra long life and reducing risk of damages in the case of their breakage, high back pressure allowed, underwater operation kit as on option.

The latest edition of Independent Asbestos News is available to read online now.