JCB has officially opened its new £40 million excavator factory.
With its former excavator factory now being dismantled by Armoury Demolition, JCB has officially opened the doors of its new £40 million Heavy Products factory in the company’s traditional Uttoxeter home. That opening is captured here in the last (for now) of our exclusive JCB videos.
The Health and Safety Executive has published an updated downloadable leaflet on leptospirosis. The short guide explains types, symptoms and prevention. The disease can be caught when the bacteria enters the body through cuts etc or mouth, throat and eye linings after contact with infected urine or contaminated water, such as in sewers, ditches, ponds and slow-flowing rivers.
Further details of the new leaflet can be found here.
Armoury Demolition is taking down the former JCB excavator factory.
NFDC member Armoury Demolition is using a host of JCB equipment to demolish the former JCB heavy products factory. Demolition News has exclusive video footage of the kit in action:
Demolition News was granted an exclusive video interview with JCB CEO, Matthew Taylor.
To coincide with the official opening of its new Heavy Products factory in Staffordshire, equipment giant JCB granted Demolition News an exclusive video interview with CEO, Matthew Taylor:
JCB has unveiled the JS360, the latest addition to its heavy line of excavators.
Earlier this week, the trade and technical press from across Europe descended upon JCB’s sparkling new Heavy Products factory for the official launch of both the factory and the first new product to be developed there; the JS360.
In this exclusive video, JCB’s business development manager – heavy line sales, Ken Covell provides an insight to the machine and its suitability for demolition applications.
Demolition marketing is moving online.
I have been writing about demolition and construction for almost a quarter of a century now and, during that time, I have seen my fair share of changes, both in the industry that I write about and in the way in which I receive and pass on that information.
When I started out in the world of business to business journalism, it wasn’t unusual to receive hand-written press releases (seriously) accompanied by Polaroid photos of men and machines in action. Things improved with the advent of personal computing although, in truth, I still receive photos that were clearly taken using a mobile phone and which are, therefore, unusable. For my part, I have always been a committed fan of the printed page. To this day, I still proof whatever I write in printed form as I am happier holding a piece of paper than I am reading a screen.
But, as Bob Dylan once said, “the times, they are a’changin”. Today, I rarely receive press releases or photos through the post; everything arrives via email. Furthermore, while I still produce several magazines, a huge amount of my words and photos are now distributed exclusively via the Internet and email.
And so we come to the point of this short article.
When I produce a magazine, it is sent to around 6,000 named individuals who (I sincerely hope) enjoy the articles and appreciate the work that has gone into their production. The trouble is, I have no way of knowing, as very few ever take the trouble to let me know.
But when I produce some content for the web, not only is the potential audience far larger, it is also considerably more vocal.
Take for example the Extreme Cab Test video that was added to the www.demolitionnews.com website back in August. Since that time, it has attracted more than 20,000 viewers and I have received numerous comments via both www.demolitionnews.com and also via YouTube.
And this is not an isolated example. Even relatively low-key video interviews with industry pundits receive hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of views and dozens of comments.
I am certainly NOT suggesting that the day of the printed magazine is over. But be in no doubt – The writing’s on the wall for traditional forms of media, and those that fail to grasp and embrace modern forms of marketing could soon find themselves falling behind their more forward-thinking competitors.
A video of Komatsu’s excavator cab testing has been viewed more than 20,000 times.
A brief video posted on www.demolitionnews.com back at the end of August last year has been viewed a staggering 20,600 times!
At the time of setting up this site, everyone involved accepted that we would be aiming our content at a very small, vertical market and that 100 “hits” on a story would be a fine achievement. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to receive such incredible support.
For those of you that missed the video the first time around, here it is again.
A UK demolition company celebrated its 49th birthday with a successful chimney blowdown.
At 10 am on Sunday 5 April 2009, Widnes-based J Bryan (Victoria) Ltd, successfully demolished the redundant 105 metre-high, reinforced concrete chimney stack at The Hanson Castle Cement Plant in Clitheroe, Lancashire. The demolition of the 2,500 ton structure made a good ending to the week in which the company celebrated its 49th birthday.
The stack was dropped into a confined area defined by buildings and live plant, and only minor damage to two cladding sheets was reported. The demolitions generated around 400 tons of asbestos for landfill, 11,000 tons of scrap metal and 5,000 tons of concrete for recycling. The removal of the chimney will be welcomed in the Ribble Valley, a beautiful rural area in North East Lancashire.
Thousands of spectators watched the event both from the viewing areas at the site, and from on top of the nearby Pendle Hill, reputed to be the home of the Pendle witches.
The project was the latest in a long list for this client that has seen J Bryan (Victoria) Ltd demolish three stacks, five kilns and other structures, at two factories during the last two and a half years.
A three-handed play with a demolition engineer as a central character has opened in London.
I don’t normally write about my own personal life in these pages – let’s face it, who wants to read about me – but last night I had the good fortune to be invited to attend a production of Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song at the Almeida Theatre in North London, a play in which the central character is, in fact, a demolition engineer.
Toby Jones, fresh from his role in the Oscar-nominated Frost Nixon movie, plays the central character and demolition man, Ned, a man for whom precision is everything. Jones is ably supported by Andrew Lincoln who plays Ned’s next door neighbour Dale, and by Amanda Drew as Ned’s long-suffering wife.
As someone who is not a regular theatre-goer, I will not attempt to do justice to the set (which is superb), the script (which is even better), nor the play itself (which is well-observed and funny, sad, dark and poignant in roughly equal measure).
However, what I can comment upon is the industry feel that Toby Jones brings to his role. Jones is quite clearly a very talented actor but, speaking to him after the show, it was clear that he had drawn a great deal of inspiration from his pre-production discussions with C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward. Indeed, having greeted Woodward like a long-lost friend, Jones explained how Woodward had helped with the thought process that had gone into creating his character, Ned; how Woodward had explained the thought processes that take place before, during and after an explosive demolition contract.
Speaking after the show, John Woodward (who even gets a mention in the production thank yous section of the programme) explained that he had been invited to meet Jones, his fellow actors and director Ian Rickson several months ago, to offer suggestions on script changes but to also explain the mindset of a demolition engineer. “They picked up on such minute details; it was incredible,” Woodward says. “Little things like the fact that demolition men tend to eat on the road, the fact that successful demolition men have a love of good quality wrist watches, and even that split-second delay between starting an implosion and the blast actually happening.”
As I have said previously, I am not a theatre critic. But if you’re close to London and want a good night of demolition-related entertainment, I would highly recommend Parlour Song.
Coleman’s ultra-high reach excavator brings end to slip-form chimney.
Birmingham-based Coleman & Company has demolished a 60 metre high slip-form concrete chimney as part of their works with BNHJV. Due to the extremely close proximity of busy railway lines and high pressure C.I. water mains explosive demolition was not an option. This very difficult project was completed without incident during night time possessions using Coleman’s Ultra High Reach excavator, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom.
