Watch this space for Demolition Summit and Awards news and views.

We’re just over 24 hours away from the start of our Demolition Awards coverage and (partly to celebrate and partly to reacquaint ourselves with the technology) we have just posted a brief audio message.

We will be using this technology to bring you the latest news from the event, together with photos, interviews and ultimately post-award videos too.

So take a listen below and please be sure to check back on Friday 5 November when we’ll be coming to you LIVE from Amsterdam.

Demolition of pub in Yate delayed because of the discovery of asbestos.

Contractors charged with knocking down The Swan pub had to postpone work when a small amount of asbestos fibres were found, according to The Gazette.

The 19th century pub is being demolished as part of Tesco’s redevelopment of its shopping centre store. Spokesman Dan Bramwell said: “A small amount of asbestos was found.

“We had to go through South Gloucestershire Council’s statutory procedure which is why there was a delay. It has all now been cleared and the pub has been demolished.”

Read more here.

Clare County Council approves demolition of toilet with unparalleled sea views.

There are so many strange things about the following story that we barely know where to begin. But here goes.

Clare County Council has granted permission for the demolition of a public convenience with “unparalleled sea views”. (I have to be honest – On the thankfully rare occasions I am forced to use a public loo, the views are usually the last thing on my mind).

The loo is owned by John and Breda Galvin to demolish the toilets and replace them with two retail units and two apartments. (OK, so we must be talking about some pretty big loos here, right).

Mr Galvin paid the Council €400,000 of the “property” after his nearest bidder declined to go over the €400,000 mark for the property. (Wait, what? €400,000 for a public toilet and no guarantee of planning permission??)

Asked if he was happy with the price paid, Galvin said: “I would be happy if I got it for cheaper, but that’s the way it goes.” (Yep, that’s exactly the way €400,000 goes when you but a loo with sea views).

If that’s not strange enough for you, you can read more here.

Fallout from death of delusional woman comes to light five years late.

Managers at this Philadelphia Housing Authority development knew that Mildred Barnes was delusional. They also knew she was stubborn and wanted to stay in her home of 39 years, one that was slated for demolition.

But crews failed to make sure her building was empty before the excavator’s metal claw tore it into rubble.
Barnes died alone at the age of 65, buried under a mountain of steel, stone and rubble in what was the only refuge that looked familiar to her. PHA workers didn’t realise their fatal error until the next morning, July 15, 2005, when they arrived with a backhoe to chop up the debris.

The family of Mildred Barnes filed suit against PHA, and on the eve of the trial, in July 2008, relatives settled with PHA for $115,000.

But PHA’s Board of Commissioners was never told of the settlement, according to an internal report presented to the board last month. Mildred Barnes’ death, if widely known, would have put a blemish on PHA’s national success story of sprucing up public housing. But, according to website philly.com, former PHA Executive Director Carl R. Greene wanted nothing to taint his legacy.

Read the full story here.

One man killed another injured as demolition team storms house.

No sooner do we bring you one story demonstrating the slightly less serious side of enforced Chinese demolition than news reaches us of a far more sinister and tragic outcome.

According to the Shanghai Daily, police in northern Shanxi Province have detained five men who allegedly beat a villager to death and seriously injured another on Saturday night after breaking into their house to carry out demolition.

Nearly 10 people armed with spades, sticks and pickaxes smashed the windows and stormed into the house where the two victims, Meng Fugui and Wu Wenyuan, were sleeping in Guzhai Village near Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

Without a word, the five men started beating the two villagers until they passed out, Beijing News reported today. After dumping them on a road away from the village, the group tore down their house by excavators.
Meng died on the spot and Wu, the house owner, is still being treated in hospital.

Read the full story here.

Demolition officials and Chinese resident engaged in water-borne brinkmanship.

Most demolition contractors that have been around for a while will have come across the stubborn resident that, despite everything, refuses to leave their home, causing programme delays and intense frustration all round. But few demolition companies would vent that frustration by first demolishing all the neighbouring properties and then building a seven metre wide and four metre deep moat around the remaining property.

But then, they seem to do things rather differently in China, as Kunming resident Zhao Xing has found to his cost. It has been a week since Xing and his family have had difficulty getting in and out of their home, which is surrounded by a water-filled trench.

Located within the second ring road of Kunming, capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan province, Zhao’s house is the last remaining one in the village of Zhaojiadui, which has been flattened for a redevelopment project.

He has held out because a compensation deal has yet to be agreed between the 53-year-old homeowner and the demolition authorities since the project was announced at the end of 2009.

Read more here.

Contract to demolish Rensselaer train station awarded

Jackson Demolition Services Inc. of Schenectady, New York, has been awarded the contract to demolish two old buildings at Albany/Rensselaer train station in Rensselaer. The company will start the work in early November and take about 10 weeks to raze the structures.

The buildings, one a former administrative office building and the other a former rail station, were built in 1968 and 1980, respectively.

The demolition, for which Jackson Demolition will be paid $187,500, is the first component of a longer-range plan that includes adding a fourth track to ease bottlenecks and extending the rail station’s existing platform.

Read more here.

Demolition company sued over landfill violations just months before fire broke out.

Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection sued the owner of a local landfill months before a fire broke out, but the case ended in September when the owner died.

The fire began in October and has covered nearby neighborhoods with smoke almost every day since Oct. 15, leaving locals fretting about health conditions and unable, at times, to go outdoors. However, that was not the first time fire had been an issue at the landfill.

In April, the DEP submitted a complaint and petition for enforcement against Demolition Disposal Inc. The petition alleges the landfill workers “accepted and then failed to segregate and properly dispose of waste other than construction and demolition disposal debris” in violation of the landfill’s permit. The landfill also did not have a “trained spotter” on duty while waste was being received and workers did not “prohibit open burning of solid waste.”

“The facility has not demonstrated that the fire has been extinguished … and that one or all three components of fire (fuel, oxygen, temperature) have been removed or controlled,” Kirk White, an assistant general counsel, wrote in DEP’s complaint.

But fire was not the only problem at the facility, White wrote. Landfill officials also failed to monitor ground water or control stormwater at the facility.

Read full story here.

Coincidental post-implosion sunbeams or divine intervention?

I am not a religious man. It is my belief that, if there were a benevolent God smiling down upon us, my beloved West Ham wouldn’t be propping up the English premier league table.

However, even with my total lack of spirituality, there is something vaguely divine about the following video.

As you may recall, we reported last week that the First Baptist Church in Dallas was to implode several neighbouring buildings this weekend to kick-start the development of a new 21st century campus. However, there was considerable local concern that these implosions – which were to take place less than 50 feet from the church – might inflict damage on the 120-year old church itself.

Judging by the closing frames of the following video, they needn’t have worried. For, as the dust clears, celestial sunbeams bathe the undamaged church in what I can only describe as a celestial glow.

So God bless you all.

Delicate Dallas demolition scheduled for this weekend.

This Saturday, the First Baptist Church in Dallas is set to implode 56,000 square metres (600,000 square feet) of buildings without scratching its 120-year-old sanctuary. Heavy equipment is ready to roll on Federal Street and back hoes and dynamite will bring down six buildings for First Baptist Dallas. The landmark sanctuary from 1890 will remain.

“I was saved in this building when I was five, baptized here,” said Pastor Robert Jeffress. “[I] preached my first sermon here, and many of our members have that kind of connection.”

Jeffress made it clear the worship center is to be saved at all costs, which presented an interesting challenge for Dallas demolition since one of the buildings is attached with common walls and reinforced steel.

“It will really be dismantling, kind of a piece by piece process to remove the Truett building from the existing sanctuary,” Jeffress said.

The implosion could kick up eight to 12 inches of dust across several blocks. Plywood will protect the stained glass from flying debris, and heavy felt drapes and plastic wraps should prevent the dust from coating the church pews.

“Everything has been well thought out and well planned and it looks like we are good to go,” Jeffress said.

Read more here or view the video below.