Exclusive podcast of speech given to The Builders’ Conference AGM by HSBC’s chief economist.

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited (top table no less) to the annual general meeting of The Builders’ Conference trade organisation in London. At a surprisingly well-attended event (attendance actually broke organisation records), the guest speaker was Dennis Turner, chief economist for HSBC. In an excellent and entertaining speech, Turner highlighted the key causes of the current economic crisis and highlighted what might be seen as the first green shoots of recovery.

The audio podcast – which you can hear by hitting the blue link below – runs to 34 minutes and the sound quality is not exactly studio quality. But if you’re seeking an insight into the current economy and what it will take for a recovery to take hold, I would strongly recommend that you set aside half an hour of your time.

Dennis Turner Speech

TER is offering used equipment buyers a fast check on the origin of their purchase.

Buyers of used equipment can now check online whether it’s registered as stolen or on finance before parting with their hard-earned cash thanks to new developments at TER (The National Plant and Equipment Register), which operates Europe’s largest database of owned and stolen plant and equipment.

With TER’s new quick and cost-effective online Check, potential purchasers simply log onto TER’s website and enter the make, model and serial number of the item they are proposing to buy. Within seconds, they get a report showing whether the item has been registered as stolen or if there is outstanding finance. If the item has nothing registered against it, the buyer can then print his or her own TER Check Certificate directly from the system as evidence of due diligence.

“You wouldn’t buy a second hand car without checking it wasn’t stolen or on hire purchase yet every day buyers of used plant and equipment spend tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds on kit that may have been stolen,” says Tim Purbrick, Manager of TER. “With more than £1M of equipment being stolen every week in the UK alone the reasons for doing a TER Check before you buy used equipment are clear.”

Allowing demolition contractors, rental companies, auction houses, dealers, individuals, insurers and banks to check the status of plant and equipment before they buy it, auction it, insure it or finance it, the new online service is designed to provide peace of mind. It could also prevent customers from losing substantial amounts of money.

Short video shows the human side of the demolition business.

In a short video by David Elks showing a Walter Forshaw Ltd contract in Middleport North Staffordshire, the real human side of demolition is beautifully captured, from the care that is taken to recycle roof tiles to the preservation of a door number for a former resident.

A few broken windows are all that is left after bridge implosion.

As we reported via our Twitter feed yesterday, Pittsburgh’s Davis Avenue bridge finally succumbed yesterday in an explosive demolition project that required the evacuation of a number of nearby houses.

Demolition News takes a timely look at the issue of equipment theft.

Every once in a while as a journalist, the news plays right into your hands. Last week, I had arranged to interview Tim Purbrick of The Equipment Register (TER) to look at the ever-present problem of equipment theft. That interview took place at 10.30 this morning.

Unbeknown to me, as that interview was taking place, the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ president Terry Quarby had the unenviable task of writing out yet another list of equipment lost to the plant thieves over the Bank Holiday weekend (see story below)

The resulting podcast, which you can hear by clicking the blue link below, probably wouldn’t have helped Quarmby and his security-conscious team at Dorton Group. However, in an interview in which Purbrick suggests that some demolition sites are “as secure as a wet paper bag“, it does make for an interesting listen.

TimPurbrickInterview.mp3

UK contractor Dorton Group has been hit by a major attachment theft.

UK demolition contractor Dorton Group has returned from the Bank Holiday long weekend to find that it has fallen victim to a major attachment theft. The following is a copy of an email received from the company’s Terry Quarmby a few moments ago:

On Saturday 2nd May we had a big break in to our Yard premises at Burgess Hill. The thieves caused an extensive amount of damage to plant and equipment to get to the rear of the yard where we had stored the machine attachments in lieu of the coming long weekend.

They brought with them a Hiab lorry, sawed off the tongue to the gate latch, smashed the alarms and lighting standards, ripped out the electric cables and overturned at least 10 pallets and stillages of reclaimed materials to get their lorry through. They smashed a window and door lock on the 7 tonner to move it and broke off all the locks to the storage containers but do not appear to have taken anything from them.

Altogether we lost 4 x selector grabs, 1 x pulverisor and 2 x hammers. Details of which are as follows:

1 x Demco 275 Hydraulic breaker for 35 tonner
1 x Demco 150 Hydraulic breaker for 20 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR2200 Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR 4.5 Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne GR 3.5 Hydraulic selector grab for 20 tonner
1 x Kinshofer D40H Hydraulic selector grab for 35 tonner
1 x Mantovanibenne MS20R Hydraulic pulverisor for 20 tonner

Readers are kindly requested to contact Dorton Demolition directly if they are offered any of these items for sale.

Many Thanks
Terry Quarmby
Dorton Group

Was the explosives engineer REALLY planning this?

A smoke stack was imploded just a few hours ago in North Carolina. While we don’t yet have any reports, I can only guess that the tower was NOT supposed to hit the neighbouring tower, unless the explosives engineer was a total genius.

We can’t embed the video at present, but if you’d like to judge for yourself, please click here.

The Spring 2009 edition of Demolition & Dismantling is available to read and download now.

A unique co-operative agreement sees the CSDA and US’ NDA pool their resources.

The National Demolition Association (NDA) and the Concrete Sawing & Drilling Association have announced what they are calling “a reciprocal association agreement that will promote the exchange of information between the groups to enhance the safety and professionalism of their industries.”

Read the full story here.

New York bridge implosion captured on video.

We reported yesterday that the James A Farley Memorial bridge in New York was to be imploded later in the day (evening if you happen to be in Europe!).

Well, the job apparently went without a hitch, and here’s the video to prove it: