A rose by any other name is not a daffodil…

Indignant rant about a magazine’s apparent inability to describe a machine properly.

About 25 years ago, I was told by a senior officer from within the Kent police force that one of the biggest challenges facing them when trying to recover stolen equipment was the fact that they couldn’t identify machine types. The term JCB can cover a multitude of equipment types, very few of them actually rolling off a Uttoxeter production line; and a digger can be anything from a half tonne machine you can tow behind you family car to a mining shovel that could accommodate said car in its bucket.

This is not the kind of thing the police have to deal with every day so, even a quarter of a century on, I am still happy to make allowances on this basis. But what excuse can there possibly be when one of the UK’s leading construction magazines perpetuates this ignorance?

In this article, which ironically is on the subject of plant theft, we have references to:

  • A Volvo dumper truck (surely an articulated dumptruck)
  • A JCB 3CX excavator (er, that’s a backhoe loader)
  • And a JCB digger (that could be just about anything)

There would be outcry if, instead of using the proper name and nomenclature, Jeremy Clarkson described Ferrari’s latest offering a “a red car”. And how would you get on if you popped into your local mobile phone shop and asked for “a Nokia”.

Surely we should expect a little more accuracy and attention detail from a supposed industry magazine.

We just hit a new record…

Visitors to the Demolition News website just hit a record high…

When we first unveiled Demolition News approximately one year ago, we regularly monitored our traffic statistics on Google Analytics; and it often made for pretty depressing reading. Indeed, in our first month in operation, there were six days in which no-one at all visited the site.

How things have changed.

Thanks in part to an influx of new subscribers from the US, possibly attracted by our “why don’t Americans GET high reach demolition” story (our most widely read and commented on this month), the number of visits yesterday hit an all time daily high and have contributed to making August our most successful month to date.

But while we’re delighted to have established a readership “across the pond”, one of the most telling statistics is that more than 10% of all our readers have returned to the site more than 200 times.

Equally pleasing is that the second most visited area of the website, attracting just over a third of ALL visitors,, is our new Business Directory. This has been achieved with just 13 listings, the majority from long-time Demolition News supporters. Just imagine what that could look like if this became a definitive listing of all demolition-related products and services!

So we would just like to take this opportunity to thank all our subscribers, new and regular readers, and of course our sponsors, without whom we simply wouldn’t be here.

Oh the joys of high def’ video…

New high definition video truly captures beauty of Montana smokestack implosion.

Last week, we brought you footage of Asarco Demolition’s dual implosion of a pair of smokestacks in Montana. But we’ve just uncovered this new high definition footage of the blast. If only all demolition video looked as good as this (and be sure to hit the Full Screen option – the four little arrows in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen):

Asarco Smelter Demolition [RED 4K] from Tempest HD Productions on Vimeo.

Who pays the training man…?

What happens to your demolition qualifications if you find yourself unemployed…?

Demolition News has today received a message from one of its readers who (like far too many others) finds himself in the unfortunate position of currently being unemployed and unable to afford to pay to maintain his demolition qualification card. Which set us thinking – Is this really fair?

The man in question – and he is NOT alone – has spent 40 years working in the demolition industry. He has worked his way up through the ranks, committed to the required training route, and has achieved Top Man status thanks in part to the backing of his employer and the grant funding available to them, but also thanks to his own hard graft and commitment over the years.

And now, through no fault of his own, he finds his beloved industry in recession and himself prematurely on the scrapheap. From a personal point of view, the man in question is now having to consider alternative forms of employment because the cost of the card renewal is beyond his current means.

But what of the cost to the industry?

This is a man with four decades of hands-on experience in an industry where experience is everything.

Can we REALLY afford to allow a man like this (and the hundreds of others like him) to take their knowledge to another or worse, to abandon it altogether?

We’d love to hear your comments on this matter. In addition, if you find yourself in this unfortunate position, don’t forget to register at www.demolition-jobs.co.uk.

Listen!

Fulbeck flats fall…

MGL Demolition carries out dual tower block implosion in Middlesborough.

MGL Demolition this weekend completed the demolition of Fulbeck House and Glentworth House in Middlesbrough’s Netherfields area. These were built in 1968, and each 16-storey block comprised 90 flats.

A lottery to press “the button” raised money for Normanby’s Zoe’s Place and was won by schoolgirl Joanna Gray.

What happens next…?

Experienced UHD machines users will spot the problem about 21 seconds in.

In light of the ongoing discussions regarding the inexperience ultra-high demolition excavator utilisation of some US contractors, and the willingness of others to use undersized machines, the outcome of this (quite old) video should become apparent about 21 seconds after it starts, even though it takes almost three minutes to reach its inevitable denouement.

Can open, worms eveywhere…

The debate about the US’ apparent reluctance to high reach machines rages on…

What started out as a simple, almost rhetorical question has proved to be the most eagerly followed and contentious in Demolition News’ 12 month history.

Towards the end of last week, we innocently asked “why don’t Americans GET high reach demolition excavators”. There was an initial (and ongoing) flurry of comments here on Demolition News (click here to read the story and then hit the word comments in blue at the foot of the article to follow the trail of feedback) but, since then, the conversation has gone global.

First, the story turned up on the blog of Construction Equipment, the world’s largest construction equipment magazine. This was followed by another trail of comment and counter comment on the Heavy Equipment Forum, and then by yet more toing and froing on the Demolition Forum.

And the argument and debate is not over yet.

So please, if you have a spare few minutes and can offer feedback based upon your own company’s use of a high reach machine, please visit any of these discussion forums and share your thoughts.

Calling all TV execs and researchers…

Demolition News offers a guide to demolition for TV executives everywhere.

Rarely a week goes by when we don’t receive a phone call from a TV researcher or two, each looking to show demolition “in a new light”. In recent weeks, we have also had a tea producer and an online game organiser, each looking to “butch up” their product by a link with the rough, tough world of demolition.

However, on the basis that most of these enquiries ask exactly the same set of questions, we thought we would offer the following guide to demolition for TV types:

  • No, there isn’t an implosion scheduled for tomorrow afternoon between 2.00 and 2.15 in the Leeds area.
  • No, we don’t blow things up; we blow them down (occasionally); and that big yellow thing you keep referring to as a “bulldozers” aren’t (and it’s probably not a JCB either).
  • No, implosions cannot be arranged to suit your recording schedule.
  • No, you can’t have an actor pressing the button, driving a car through the falling debris, or leaping from the top of the building with a Union Jack parachute.
  • No, Gucci loafers are NOT considered safety wear.
  • No, you can’t put your camera there – It’s called an exclusion zone for one very obvious reason.
  • No, it doesn’t matter how purple your director’s face goes, we can’t just do a second take.

If any readers have any further advice, please use the comments area (in blue) below.

Demolishing world’s largest refrigerator factory…

Work underway at Electrolux’s Michigan factory, formerly world’s largest refrigerator plant.

Demolition crews are well on their way to reducing the building that once was the world’s largest refrigerator factory to a distant memory.

Crews from Bierlein Companies in Midland have demolished about three-quarters of the former Electrolux plant in Greenville. After starting on the west side in May, workers have chewed their way nearly all the way to the oldest sections of the 158,000 square metre factory on the east side.

Click here for the full story.

Montana stacks fall…

One big bang, and these twin smoke stacks fall.

OK, this is not quite live, but as we’re typing this text, this implosion in Montana happened less than an hour ago:

We’re hoping there will be some more professional footage such as this which was filmed during the preparation for today’s nicely controlled implosion.