Tower block fire risk could lead to boom for demolition contractors.

One hundred social-housing tower blocks in London face even worse fire risks than Lakanal House in Camberwell, where six people died in July, according to the BBC.

It claims that councils have failed to fire check at least 253 social housing high-rise buildings – which is a criminal offence.

A BBC London team found that while Lakanal House had been given a medium-risk rating on a scale used by councils, thousands of residents live in accommodation condemned as high risk.

Click here for further details.

New video highlights the dismantling of a Komatsu 1250 excavator at the WTC site.

After almost 2 years of excavating soil, shearing steel and hammering concrete Testa Corp’s Komatsu 1250 finally leaves the World Trade Center Construction Site in New York City. And all the action has been captured by videographer Stephen SetteDucatti.

Cranes, Inc. Liebherr 130 ton capacity 885 Crawler crane performs the lifting duties from a stationary deck on the edge of the pit. Lead by a Master Mechanic and Master Rigger this crew of 8 disassembles the 1250 6 stories below street level. Top side a small army of trucks and personnel retrieves each piece, loads them onto waiting trucks and readies them for transport to the next demolition site.

New video captures the last days of Houston’s 103-year old Savoy Hotel.

Pedestrians and drivers in lucky escape as building facade falls into road.

Demolition of a building on Denison Parkway in Corning, New Yorl didn’t go according to plan Thursday evening. During the process, a large section of the façade came crashing down into the street. The lane closest to the building was closed, but the other three lanes had vehicles driving by consistently.

No one appeared to be hurt in the incident and the demolition crew temporarily blocked off all traffic to clean up the fallen debris, some of which fell all the way across the street. A lamp post in front of the building was crushed.

This the second of two buildings being torn down to create more parking space on Market Street. The first came down last week.

Click here to see the video report from News 10 Now.

Former mustard gas factory falls to latest Lee Demolition implosion.

At noon the Rhodia Chemical Factory, in Bristol, stood alone on a derelict site. Seconds later, it was nothing more than a heap of mangled steel.

The implosion was handled by Lee Demolition Group, with managing director David Lee pressing the button.
“It’s taken about four days to prepare the site. It’s involved some pre-cutting within the building. This demolition is quite difficult as the structure is heavy duty.

“It also can be quite hazardous because of chemicals so we’ve had to do all the environmental checks beforehand. We added a charge to 18 of the legs the factory stands on and added the nitroglycerin. Once the button is pressed it sets off the charge.”

Click here to see a video of the implosion.

D-Drill (Master Drillers) helps eat 1.65 tonne concrete biscuits.

On the fourth floor of a chocolate factory in Chester, D-Drill (Master Drillers) Limited got to work cutting out concrete sections for contractors Barry Callebaut Manufacturing UK Ltd.

The job consisted of four 1,850 mm diameter x 275 mm deep heavily reinforced concrete ‘biscuit’ shaped sections, each weighing slightly more than the average chocolate treat at 1.65 tonne each.

Callebaut appointed the diamond drilling and sawing specialist because of the difficult access and control issues that are faced when dealing with food production line areas. D-Drill North West Area Manager, Neil Wood comments, “The team dismissed breaking out by mechanical means because of the obvious dust and debris that would result from this method. With access via a staircase plus demanding lifting capacities, a small goods hoist was also not advised. Our solution was to erect a suitable crash deck below the works area which was then tented and bunded off to contain any water ingress below. All our equipment was hoisted to the works floor 40 metres from the ground and reassembled in place. Openings into the concrete were created by ‘stitch cutting’ using a Zhorro Plunge saw then lowered down to ground level for removal.”

High priority environmental demolition about to start…three years late.

The company responsible for demolishing the PCB-laden Aerovox mill in Massachusetts is about a month away from signing a settlement agreement with city, state and federal environmental officials, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The agreement will pave the way for the long-awaited demolition of the mill, which the EPA first announced as a priority in June 2006. For more than a year, the EPA, state Department of Environmental Protection and city of New Bedford have been negotiating with the potentially responsible party, AVX Corp. of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Read the full story here.

Jail owner claims that demolition works damaged historic jail building.

Demolition crews that removed a former auto parts store to make way for a new library in Newhall have damaged a historic building next to it, according to the owner.

City officials challenge the claim and say they have no reason to believe the old Newhall jail building, erected in 1901, is less sound than it was before they began the work.

Read the full story here.

How many companies – demolition or otherwise – have their own brand of whisky?

Even in these tree-hugging, muesli-knitting, green tea-drinking, teetotal times in which we’re living, it is pleasing to note that at least one company understands the importance of tradition.

Leading UK demolition contractor Safedem has given a nod to its proud Scottish heritage by putting its name to a uique brand of 12-year single malt whisky, complete with a label that bears a subtle photo of an explosive demolition contract in progress.

We can’t vouch for its flavour. Being of the English persuasion, the subtleties of whisky are largely lost on our gin-soaked palate. However, we are impressed by the name of the tipple (although it works best if you can say it with a Scots accent):

Knockemdoon!

Demolition of incomplete South Padre Island “leaning tower” throws up interesting challenges.

The “implosion” of the faulty, 31-story condominium tower and interconnected four-level parking garage on South Padre Island in Texas is not going to be standard by any measure, says the demolition contractor.

The razing by explosives is complicated by the failed structural elements—a consequence of differential settlement between the structural concrete tower and the post-tensioned garage; post-tensioned beams; the tower’s robust frame; the high water table; and sand that conducts vibrations to nearby buildings, says J. Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demolition Inc.

Tower core settled independently of stairwell core, which settled independently of tower perimeter, which settled independently of post-tensioned garage, causing at least 14 in. of differential settlement.

Contractor CDI expects to raze the topped-out, half-clad building at the end of November or in early December. “We’re not going to rush it. We have a lot to learn before we finalize the plan,” says Loizeaux.

Read the full, detailed story and see the slide show here