DemolitionNews is heading for the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ spring seminar.

Later today, DemolitionNews will be boarding a North-bound train, armed with video camera, stills camera, voice recorder, notepad and toothbrush, heading for Leeds.

Together with around 160 of the UK’s finest demolition engineers and professionals, DemolitionNews is attending the Institute of Demolition Engineers’ Spring Seminar at the Royal Armouries, an event hosted by IDE President John Woodward, and organised (at least in part) by Wring Group’s nominated unexploded ordnance expert, Duncan Rudall.

We will, of course, be capturing as much of the action as we can for broadcast early next week. But to follow the action live, please keep a close watch on our Twitter feed (just to the left of this article) for live updates and photos as they happen.

Normal service will be resumed over the weekend.

More news emerging on WWII bomb discovered on Plymouth site.

Late last night, we brought you the news that Bristol-based Wring Group had achieved an unenviable double, uncovering the second unexploded World War II bomb in just three months. Today, as work continues on the site, local newspapers are providing more information.

Within minutes of the bomb being discovered, police threw a cordon around Notte Street, cleared the Holiday Inn and other nearby buildings with some being taken to the Duke of Cornwall hotel, according to This is Devon. Once again, Plymouth Pavilions was used as the main evacuation centre during the major emergency operation.

Sgt Andy Smith said: “On the advice of the bomb disposal team we set up an exclusion zone of 150 to 200 metres. Initially it was quite difficult at rush hour and unfortunately there was a bit of traffic chaos. Things were brought under control quite quickly and an emergency plan was put into action. Experience from previous events like this have helped us to cope with incident.”

Duncan Rudall, regional operation manger for Wring said the team were on the “final run of the job” and were working on “additional foundations” when the device was discovered. He said: “Basically, there was something there before the Naafi building and the team were having to going down a little deeper into foundations. The 40 tonne machine was excavating and it came out of the bucket. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same driver, but the bomb looks very, very similar.”

Tim Sharp, site supervisor who was at the scene when the bomb was dug up. He said: “I was on the other side of the site and the guys were working away. The next minute they called me over and one of them was on the phone to let police know they’d found what was believed to be a bomb. We quickly got into the van and as we were leaving the police were closing off Notte Street. It was eerie with no traffic and lots of officers. The bomb actually appears to be a little bigger in diameter than the last one. My father was the person who found that, but he’s working at another site today – I’ve already phoned him to let him know we found another one.”

Read the full story here.

Delta Group lands historic deal to fell part of asbestos-contaminated museum.

The state government has appointed demolition firm Delta Group to take down the Western Australian Museum’s Francis Street building.

The multi-storey 1970s building has been closed since 2003 due to asbestos contamination and other occupational health and safety hazards, Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said.

“The Francis Street building – which does not contain any of the museum’s public exhibits – will be demolished floor by floor inside a dust-proof canopy as a protective measure for the public and museum staff,” Day says.
“Internal demolition works are due to begin in March, while the external demolition work is scheduled to begin mid-year and be completed in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October.

Day said Delta Group was chosen over a shortlist of three other demolition firms because of its industry skills and experience.

Read more here.

St Lucia police investigate after single gunshot kills worker.

St Lucia police report that a 48-year-old man was shot and killed over the weekend while he was demolishing a private unoccupied house in La Clery, just on the outskirts of the capital.

They said that Marius Polidore was part of a group of men who were hired to demolish the house when he was shot on Saturday night.

The police said that Polidore was killed by a single gunshot to his upper torso. They said that no one has been arrested in connection with the 16th murder so far for this year.

Read more here.

UK contractor uncovers second unexploded WWII in three months.

The team at Wring Group must be experiencing a severe dose of deja vu this afternoon, after uncovering an unexploded World War II bomb on the same site that threw up a similar bomb back in November.

The company unearthed the latest bomb while working at a building in Notte Street, in Plymouth city centre.
A 100m cordon has been set up around the street and city’s Holiday Inn has been evacuated. The Holiday Inn was almost at capacity with most of its 190 rooms booked.

Officers have established a command centre in the Guildhall car park nearby. Police on the scene have told the BBC that the device found on Wednesday was the same size and from the same era as the previous ordnance.

An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team has been notified, and it is thought that the bomb may be exploded at sea as soon as tomorrow.

Read more here.

Centre span falls to explosives in advance of second blast on Friday.

The bridge, which connected N.D. Highway 66 with Minnesota Highway 11 over the Red River east of Drayton, N.D., was imploded shortly after 8 a.m.

The old bridge, which often was threatened by flooding, was replaced last fall with a 4,090-foot-long bridge that is considered the second longest in North Dakota. The Four Bears Bridge over Lake Sakakawea near Fort Berthold, N.D., is about 400 feet longer.

“There were no problems. It went off without a hitch,” said Richard Sampson, project engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Spectators were kept more than a quarter-mile away, as a demolition crew blew up the center portion of the steel-truss cantilever bridge, each end falling to the ice and shoreline.

Most of the charges were placed in the center portion of the bridge, to keep the ends of the bridge from breaking through the ice, according to Joel Myers, project engineer with Lunda Construction, the Wisconsin company that built the new bridge.

The two piers will be imploded Friday. The remaining steel girders will be dismantled and hauled away to be recycled.

To read more and to view a video of the implosion, please click here.

Worker pinned under falling debris “doing fine”.

A little under a week ago, we reported on a demolition worker being critically injured on the Technical High School project in Springfield. Thankfully, this demolition worker is made of pretty tough stuff as he’s back home and says he’s “doing fine” according to local newspaper reports.

Considering that just four days earlier the 51-year-old construction worker fell 12 feet and was pinned under a 7-foot by 4-foot slab of concrete during the demolition of the former Springfield Technical High School on Elliot Street, the most remarkable thing is that he is still around to feel anything.

McMurray was in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center and for a time was in medically induced coma in the hospital’s intensive care unit. He was released Saturday and is now resting at his home in Wallingford, Conn. He suffered several cracked ribs and a broken right wrist.

Read more here.

Supplier makes impassioned plea for help with insurance claim.

It is never good to see a demolition company fail, but it’s even worse when that company’s collapse threatens the livelihood of innocent suppliers. Which is why we are trying to help Yorkshire-based generator rental specialist Power-Rite to track down a pair of former Controlled Group employees who might just be able to save the company from an avoidable £20,000 loss.

Power-Rite’s Shaun Hymes says that one of his company’s generators was on Controlled Group’s Kingston House site in Liverpool when the contractor’s business collapsed but apparently went missing before administrators carried out a full inventory check. “The administrators are saying it was not on site so, in addition to losing £10,000 in revenue, I am also a £10k generator down.”

Hymes says that Controlled Group’s administrators have suggested that he claim for the loss of the generator through his own insurance, but Hymes says that his insurance excess is actually greater than the value of the equipment.

“I am trying to contact someone from the former Controlled Group who could help me prove the generator was on site when the company collapsed,” Hymes continues. “If anyone can help me to verify this, please get in touch.”

Power-Rite’s full contact details can be found here, and Shaun can be emailed direct at shaun@power-rite.co.uk.

DemolitionNews backs Armac Group’s fundraising for employee hurt in horrific accident.

We know times are hard, that work is scarce and that profits are all but non-existent. But we also know that the demolition industry is notoriously generous, particularly in its support of its own.

Which is why we’re calling on you to lend your financial support to an important fundraising initiative. Organised by Armac Group, the fundraising is to aid Danny Shields, one of its promising young employees who was injured in a road accident while on duty for the company.

You can read Danny’s full story here but we’ll warn you in advance – It is written by his mother and is deeply moving.

So where do you come in? Quite simply, we want your money. But we’re also pleased to offer something in return.

Any company or individual making a contribution of £20 or more to the fund will be given a FREE LISTING on our Business Directory (normally priced at £50). Furthermore, as we will be working with the Armac Group and following the progress of this fundraising closely, we will also highlight here on our front page any companies or individuals that have made a contribution, no matter how small.

To find out how to make a pledge, please visit the Pledge Appeal page on the Armac Group website now.

As we said at the beginning, we know times are hard. But we would ask you to dig deep to help this brave individual. Give the fund a little, and we’ll do our best to give you a lot in return.

Never mind what your careers advisor says, demolition is not always a bed of roses.

We openly admit that we’re susceptible to a touch of the Monday Morning Blues here at Demolition News Towers. A weekend of quiet reflection, followed by the compiling of our This Week in Demolition email newsletter generally just leaves us on the verge of a Falling Down moment.

So rather than stewing quietly to ourselves, we thought that this week – by way of a change – we would vent our collective spleens to shed some light on the true pros and cons of a career in demolition.

Demolition Pros & Cons

But this is by no means a definitive list. So we are throwing it open to you to use the comments area below to tell us what’s great (and what’s not so great) about a life in demolition.

We look forward to reading your contributions.