We recently interviewed Rob Collard, a UK demolition contractor who regularly replaces one hazardous business with another by racing in the British Touring Car Championships. Now finding someone with a passion for both demolition equipment and fast cars is hardly unusual; but it set us thinking: what do other demolition professionals do with their spare time?

Are there any out there that hang up their hard hat at the end of each working day and put on a chef’s toque to cook up some cordon bleu cuisine? Are there any that swap safety boots for soccer boots? Does anyone balance their ability to destroy buildings with a love for architecture?

We’d love to hear from you with your surprising hobbies and away-from-work activities. Please use the comments tab below.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is one of those unique occasions when we’re in danger of becoming trapped perpetually in a space/time continuum warp of self-promotion. So bear with us, as this is about to get complicated.

Back in June, we made an audio podcast on the subject of acoustic modeling in which we interviewed Campbell Associates’ founder John Campbell. As a result of that podcast, John was approached to speak at the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Roadshow event that took place at Mercedes Benz World last week. During John’s excellent presentation, which we have captured on video here, he actually played back a part of our podcast. So, to recap, we were recording him playing back our recording of him, for future broadcast alongside that original recording!

Right, while we go for a sit down in a dark room, here’s the video. It’s a wee bit dark but it makes for an interesting 10 minutes. And don’t worry, we have edited out the bit of John talking to us preiously. If you’d like to hear that original audio, click here

Yesterday, we brought you a cracking video of a demolition project shot from the operator’s eye view. Well, today, we’re taking you even closer to the action with a video in which the inset picture was shot by a camera slung on the underside of a Cat 322C excavator’s boom.

There are times when words just aren’t enough. So, aside from saying that the operator thankfully escaped with just a few cuts caused by the imploding windscreen, here’s what happens when a 10 tonne concrete beam lands on an excavator cab:

Here at Demolition News, we pride ourselves on having our fingers on the pulse of the industry; of being fully informed of all that is going on in the great wide world of demolition. So quite how this one passed us by, we’re not entirely sure (although we’re going to blame the fact that Kocurek’s new website was under construction).

The Ipswich-based excavator modifier has supplied India’s first high reach, demolition spec excavator in the shape of a new Volvo EC460BLC complete with 26 metre high reach front end and the familiar Kocurek modular joint.

The machine was commissioned over Christmas 2008 and went to work on its first job carrying out a prestigious job to demolish part of Mumbai International Airport and was sub-contracted from M/s Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

Read the full story here.

Accudata, purveyors of sound level monitoring and seismographic equipment for sale or rental, has become the latest company to join the Demolition News Business Directory.

To find out more about Accudata or any of the other, growing number of companies listed, please click here to visit the Business Directory.