Midlands-based demolition company starts work on major framework project.

Armoury Group has commenced work on a multi-million pound framework agreement which will see run-down areas of North Solihull receive a much needed face-lift. The Regenerating North Solihull project is set to help over 40,000 people living in Chelmsley Wood, Smith’s Wood, and Kingshurst & Fordbridge by providing new housing and improved community facilities.

The 15-year re-vamp plan for the city was devised through a partnership between Whitefriars Housing Group and Solihull Council, which awarded Armoury the three year agreement for mass housing clearance based on a competitive tender and an impressive portfolio of past residential demolitions.

Up to 40 tower blocks from across the area, ranging from three to 16 storeys, have been earmarked for demolition, with Armoury having already having cleared in excess of 300 residences to make way for new social housing.

Tony McLean, managing director of Armoury Group commented: “The schedule for work across the area of regeneration is extremely tight and has been planned with the utmost precision,” says Armoury MD Tony McLean. “Armoury commenced demolition almost immediately after the properties are vacated, with the developer then beginning building works on that site as soon as it is clear.

“Because of the bison panel construction and lack of as-built drawings it was important that we employed structural engineers to conduct a full HSE approved structural survey, and agree a stringent process of demolition,” he continues. “Aside from this, we have also had to conduct specialist asbestos removal and a soft-strip before each demolition has taken place, and have been very conscious not to disrupt the surrounding community by protecting buildings with fencing and scaffolding, closing footpaths when and where required, and putting an extensive traffic management system put into place.”

New time-lapse video shows high reach excavator in action.

Just over a week ago, we exclusively brought you video footage from the initial stages of demolition of Gateshead’s famous “Get Carter” car park. A week on and contractor Thompsons of Prudhoe is making superb progress with the work, as are the company’s video crew who have just supplied us with their footage from Week 2 of the contract.

Get Carter Car Park Demolition – Week 2 from Thompsons of Prudhoe on Vimeo.

Australian company has been demolishing for 118 years.

Can anyone beat this?

Threat of legal action throws pier demolition bidding process wide open again.

The City of Gulf Breeze is relaunching its search for a company to demolish the defunct Gulf Breeze fishing pier to head off a threatened lawsuit over a bidding dispute.

This comes after the City Council on Monday took the advice of its attorney, Matt Dannheisser, and voted unanimously to rescind a previous decision to accept a bid from Alabama contractor Virginia Wrecking. The firm was the second-lowest bidder.

Gulf Breeze officials said they bypassed the lowest bidder, National Salvage & Service, because they believed National did not plan to dispose of the pier rubble as an offshore reef as outlined in the project documents. But National threatened legal action, saying its bid proposal did outline disposing of the rubble in the manner the city outlined.

Virginia Wrecking’s attorney, Davisson Dunlap III, was at the council meeting and argued that it would be unfair to rescind his client’s bid. He indicated, in doing so, it could lead to a lawsuit for breach of contract.
“Virginia Wrecking was compliant and played by the rules,” Dunlap said.

After the council’s decision, Dunlap declined to comment on whether or not he would take legal action against the city. He said he and his client needed to discuss the issue first.

Virginia Wrecking Vice President Daniel Schambeau said he was “disappointed” about the city’s action.

Read more here.

“It was louder than I expected” says project manager as judicial building falls.

Explosives reduced the old Colorado Judicial Building to rubble. Some parents saw this as a rare spectacle to share with their children. “I figure [my daughter] is at the stage where she likes to knock things down. She’s going to enjoy this after it scares her!” parent Tony Schwietzer said.

Some have a curious fascination that keeps them wanting to watch the tumbling of a building over and over again. If you blinked during the demolition, you missed it. However most of downtown heard its roar.

As for the after shock, those in the downtown area who didn’t know it was coming seemed to experience the most shock. One viewer wrote to 9NEWS saying, “Explosion! At 8:00 today, there was a large boom, and a concussion wave that hit the second after.”

The sound was even startling to those who planned the demolition.

“Well, it was a little louder than I thought, but it went as planned,” Project Manager Bill Mosher with Trammell Crow Company said. He says it was time for the building to come down. “[Buildings back then] just weren’t very well constructed; lots of leakage issues, water issues, lack of quality materials,” Mosher said of the 33-year-old building.

Read more here or view the video below.

Man’s body found at former asphalt plant.

A 59-year-old Mississippi man was pronounced dead at the scene after falling from a catwalk at a demolition site three miles north of Detroit Lakes on Saturday.

Becker County sheriff’s deputies were contacted by the man’s wife Saturday night after her husband didn’t check in with her that evening as he usually did.

Deputies found the man’s body at the site where he’d been working: a former asphalt plant that was being disassembled. According to a press release, the victim “had apparently … fallen from a catwalk of a substantial height.”

Read more here.

Our thanks to the guys at Hy-Safe Technology for bringing this one to our attention.

C&D Consultancy’s main man is top of the league.

Although Manchester United are still to play, the first weekend of our Demolition Fantasy Premier League is all but over. The points have been checked and verified. And we can exclusively reveal that C&D Consultancy’s John Woodward is currently in pole position with an impressive 65 points.

Woodward’s early season success is doubly remarkable. His team contains no real big name players; and it has three players from his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers, surely contenders for relegation by this time next year!!

To make things even more frustrating for those of us competing with John “Shankly” Woodward is the fact that he was actually texting and tweeting about his success whilst at the Wolves v Stoke game with Genesis’ Arne Marx on Saturday.

We would like to say that this is merely an early season blip and that the cream will rise to the top but, having seen the cream of my own beloved West Ham sink to the bottom for most of the past 20 years, we’re already adjusting our expectations and praying for mid-table mediocrity.

And it’s not too late for you to join the league. Just click here for more details on how to create and register your team.

Oshkosh company set to sue for additional works at water treatment plant.

In the latest example of the demolition extras trend, Miron Construction Co. and the city of Oshkosh could be headed to civil court over the cost of a revision to a water treatment plant demolition contract.

In an Aug. 2 claim filed with the city, Miron’s attorneys said the city owes the company $340,318 for having to re-stabilize ground equipment, perform additional excavation and remove an underground, concrete retaining wall at the water treatment plant. Engineers and city staff did not discover the wall until September 2009, more than a year after Miron began work demolishing the old water tower and other structures at the city water treatment plant.

The city and the project engineer, CH2M Hill, have said Miron is only entitled to an additional $26,034 — the cost to remove the retaining wall.

In its claim, Miron said CH2M Hill instructed its crews to begin removing the retaining wall immediately, promising that cost adjustments would be dealt with later. CH2M Hill said it would recommend the city charge Miron for any project delays if Miron did not promptly proceed with work.

When Miron submitted a $340,318 bill that included the cost of ground stabilization and additional excavation on Dec. 16, CH2M rejected it and recommended the city only increase the payout by the amount it cost to remove the wall, $26,034. In its claim, Miron states it has tried to settle the dispute with the city in earnest since December, but said the city has refused to offer any more than the $26,034 CH2M recommended.

Read more here.

Undiscovered asbestos to balloon costs.

The cost of the Quincy Fair Mall demolition project could more than double after even more asbestos was found in the building.

It was thought last week the material was contained to only one section of a hidden floor that had asbestos tiling. But the city was informed this week that it’s more widespread, pushing the demolition several months behind schedule into the fall.

“It’s turned out to be about as bad as it can be,” said Dennis Harrington, Quincy’s planning director. “Not from a public health standpoint, but from a cost standpoint. It turned out there are lots of hidden floors with asbestos material.”

The situation is expected to balloon the project cost from $500,000 to about $1.1 million, Harrington said. That said, the added expense won’t come out at city taxpayers’ expense, and instead will be paid with surplus federal stimulus funds.

The state department of environmental protection has determined asbestos is all around the building, making it more difficult, delicate and costly to get rid of the materials. Nonetheless, officials stress that the asbestos is not a public health threat because it hasn’t been disturbed and become airborne.

“They don’t know how much flooring is false, because this building is partially demolished and they can no longer send people to walk around in there (due to asbestos),” Harrington said. “They’ve decided to assume it all has to come out.”

Read more here.

Up to half of all country’s residential properties in need of demolition & rebuilding.

Chinese officials announced recently that they estimate up to half of the country’s existing residential structures will need to be demolished and rebuilt in the next 20 years in part because of poor quality building work – but also because many of the buildings were built without planning permission.

China annually sees more construction than any other country. In recent years, the nation has had up to 2 billion square metres of development annually. Each year, China uses 40 percent of the world’s cement and steel, the main ingredients of the construction industry.

But both experts and industry watchers have questioned the rapid speed of demolition and reconstruction, criticising poor building practices and a lack of consistent urban planning, along with a blind pursuit of economic gain on the part of developers.

In April, Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of the ministry, said during an industry forum that Chinese buildings can only stand for between 25 and 30 years. In contrast, the average life expectancy of a building in Britain is 132 years and they last around 74 years in the United States.

Read more here.