Google makes it easier for users to create 3D models on its Google Earth application.

Google is launching their version of Sim City today, Google Building Maker. The tool lets you create buildings for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you pick any building and construct a 3D version of it using photos and building blocks provided by Google. Google says that buildings are relatively fast to construct using their tool, taking only a matter of minutes.

Building Maker runs within your web browser and connect with your Google Account so you can get credit for your building. You can also use Google SketchUp to edit or modify your creation.

Read more here

DSM Demolition is hard at work on the demolition of the Walsall College near Birmingham.

Demolition of the old Walsall College tower block was moving apace yesterday as DSM’s high reach machine started work in earnest. The building formerly served as the main administration offices and tuition classrooms at the St Paul’s Street premises.

It is being demolished to make way for a proposed multi-million pound Tesco superstore. Billy Young, contracts manager of demolition firm DSM, said: “The removal of the main college building is the latest milestone in the project and we are pleased with progress so far. We are on schedule to complete demolition on the site early next year as expected.”

Read more here or watch the video below:

A pair of smokestacks will be imploded later today in Lawrence, Merrimack Valley.

More than 100 years of history will come crashing down Thursday morning as two chimneys are imploded in Lawrence; and television crews will be there to capture every second of it.

Cable network channel TLC will be in Lawrence filming when two smokestacks at 290 Merrimack St. are imploded this week. The demolition will be part of a new reality program profiling the lives of Lisa Kelly and her husband, Eric, who run Idaho-based Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc.

Read the full story here.

Construction Equipment blog questions the future of demolition equipment.

Given a clean sheet of paper, a healthy dose of hindsight and the facts regarding the environmental impact and fossil fuel depletion that would be wrought by their invention, would the pioneers of the internal combustion engine really have designed their product in the same way?

Well, in truth, yes they probably would.

But given the same circumstances, would demolition equipment designers really propose using a beefed-up excavator to tackle the demolition of a 100 metre high structure?

This is the question addressed in our latest Construction Equipment blog, which you can see by clicking here.

H&L Plating & Grinding factory in Munci slated for decontamination and demolition.

Officials are planning to demolish an electroplating factory in central Indiana and clean up soil and water contamination at the site.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management said the H&L Plating & Grinding property in Muncie has chemicals such as hexavalent chromium and arsenic in the soil and ground water.

Agency spokesman Barry Sneed said plans are to have the factory torn down by late November. Work will then begin on clearing out contaminated soil and treating the water.

Read more here.

A North Virginia University is to recreate and demolish the Berlin Wall.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, George Mason University is to build a replica wall to give students – many of whom are too young to remember the fall of the real wall – an opportunity to participate in the construction, decoration and ultimately demolition of the new wall.

George Mason University is one of more than 25 universities to receive a grant to participate in the national Freedom Without Walls campaign. Like other universities participating in the program, Mason will host a range of events, from debates to lectures, art exhibitions (both on campus and at the Goethe Institute), a gala, a unity walk and the building and demolition of a replica of the Berlin Wall.

Read the full story here.

Not getting enough demolition action at work? Then take some home with you.

Anyone that (like us) became addicted to that productivity-sucking and soul-destroying addition that is Demolition City should probably look away now. For while the first two editions of that online game catered to the explosive end of the demolition business, a new game from German developer Astragon puts the player at the controls of a variety of demolition machines.

Spreng- Und Abriss- Sim demo (a catchy title if ever I heard one) is the latest game from the company that brought you Digger Simulator, Forklift Simulator and Dustcart Simulator (no, really). The full game – which puts you at the controls of a crawler crane and wrecking ball combo – carries a 30 Euro price tag, but you can play a free demonstration version complete with excavator and hydraulic hammer.

But before you invest your hard-earned cash, check out the accompanying video, below.

New report from Engineering News Record highlights impact of recession.

Despite the fact that President Obama’s stimulus package money is now startling to trickle down to demolition and other specialist contractors, the latest Top 600 US speciality contractors report from Engineering News Record is tough reading.

For while the headline figures show that the Top 600 companies generated a 13% increase in revenue in 2008 over the previous 12 month period, there are strong and worrying suggestions that this was merely contractors clearing a backlog of work. Against this background, prospects for 2009 look bleak.

Read the full story here.

Elmira City Council set to approve funding to demolish Armory Building.

Plans to take down the Armory building are expected to move ahead next week following action by Elmira City Council.

The council will vote on authorising the demolition at a maximum cost of $1,030,000, issuing $750,000 in bonds to pay part of the cost, hiring Epic Contracting Inc. of nearby Buffalo as the contractor and declaring the project and bonding will have no negative environmental impact.

The Armory, where the majority of city law enforcement personnel had been housed, was vacated following the collapse the facade in March 2006.

Demolition halted on Wyatt Building as property owner’s money runs out.

The Wyatt Building in Esparto, California has forced closure of the main street for the final four months due to worries that the crumbling building could tumble into the street.

The property owner, a non-profit group, found the money to begin demolition several weeks ago. Asbestos has been removed from the building, as well as a partially collapsed section has been removed. The bulk of the building was scheduled to come down on September 11, but the money ran out.

The property owner still needs another $16,000 to reach the $82,000 total for the demolition work, as well as work has been halted indefinitely.

Read more here.