Landmark Coke bottling plant to be demolished; work starts Monday.

A former Coke bottling plant in North Carolina will welcome demolition crews on Monday. The following video captures the story.

Work finally starts on demolition of South Tyneside eyesore.

The massive Reyrolle office building in Hebburn, which towers over the town’s Metro station, has stood empty for four years, sparking calls from angry residents and councillors for the seven-storey complex to be flattened.

But asbestos had to be stripped from the 1960s building, and there were also complex negotiations between owners Persimmon Homes and transport officials, because of the close proximity of railway lines.

Earlier this year, police warned that youngsters were dicing with death by trespassing in the building, with four teenagers even spotted on the roof of the property, which was once home to more than 200 members of staff of the Department of Work and Pensions.

Coun Joe Abbott, for the Hebburn North ward, who has pressed for demolition of the building for several years, said: “I’m glad that the work has at long last started.

“Various issues have slowed down the work, and red panels on the building, which are fixed with asbestos-based cement, have still to be removed.

“This work will not happen overnight, and I should think it could take more than three months before the whole building is flattened, but at least demolition has started.

Read more here.

Second blast fails to fell remaining section of Allegheny Bridge.

An attempt to implode the remaining sections of the old turnpike bridge over the Allegheny River this morning left a part of the structure still standing.

Most of the old bridge was imploded back on July 13, but there were two remaining sections of the Allegheny River Bridge left standing.

Crews tried to bring down those sections at 10 a.m. today. Initial reports suggest that while one side came down as planned, the other side did not.

A raw video of the apparently failed implosion can be found here, while a more detailed and telling video can be viewed here.

NFDC president David Darsey to address EDA conference in Stockholm.

Together with Erith colleague Stuart Accleton, Darsey will be presenting a paper on how his company tackled what was Europe’s largest demolition project; the deconstruction of the former Lafarge cement works in Northfleet, Kent.

“The clearance of this huge cement works on the banks of the River Thames provided a real opportunity for Erith to demonstrate its skills in demolition, recycling and remediation,” Darsey says. “In addition to the safe removal of 4,000 tonnes of asbestos and the dramatic blow down of three redundant chimneys, Erith obtained the maximum value for Lafarge from the reuse and recycling of plant and materials worldwide, achieving £9 million of recycling benefit our client.”

Darsey and Accleton join an impressive line-up of high profile industry speakers at the event that is scheduled to coincide with the DemCon exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden at the beginning of September.

Further details of the packed programme can be found here.

Brothers fined over accident that left worker with horrific injuries.

Alan Hind, from Corrie Common near Lockerbie, was helping to demolish an industrial building in Carlisle when he fell six metres to the concrete floor below. The 28-year-old’s sight, hearing and personality have been permanently affected.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Robert and Eric Murray following the incident at Watts Yard on London Road in Carlisle on 27 February 2008. Carlisle Crown Court heard that Robert Murray was in overall control of the project, and that his brother, Eric, was in charge of dismantling the building Mr Hind was working on.

In the fall, Alan Hind suffered 16 skull fractures, broke his jaw in three places, fractured his wrist, damaged a kidney and is now deaf in his right ear and blind in his left eye. Parts of his brain were so badly damaged that they had to be removed.

“Mr Hind is lucky to be alive following his fall, which could and should have been prevented. He sustained multiple injuries which will affect him for the rest of his life,” said David Charnock, HSE Construction Inspector in Cumbria. “Unfortunately neither Robert nor Eric Murray took the necessary safety precautions and Mr Hind suffered horrific injuries as a consequence. The workers they employed were casual labourers and did not have the skills or experience to work on industrial roofs. As this incident demonstrates, carrying out work at height can result in serious injury and even death if not properly planned. Steps must be taken to prevent people falling, and everyone involved in the work must be properly trained.”

Read the full story here.

Rhode Island Airport and contractors fined for violations at TF Green Airport.

Rhode Island Airport Corporation and its demolition contractors, O.R. Colan Associates of Florida, LLC and The Jones Payne Group, Inc., of Mass., have agreed to pay $25,000 for alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act and National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Asbestos.

Jones Payne will pay the full amount of the $25,000 penalty for its failure to provide EPA with prior written notification of its intent to demolish 146 residences during a Noise Management Program and voluntary land acquisition at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I.

Read more here.

Brazilian government sets date for Fonte Nova stadium implosion.

With the dust barely settled on the 2010 World Cup, soccer chiefs are already turning their attention to the 2014 tournament in Brazil. And in preparation, the Brazilian government has set the date for the implosion of Salvador’s Fonte Nova stadium.

Controlled Demolition Inc., the US-based explosives specialist charged with handling the implosion, will bring down the remaining parts of the former stadium on 29 August. The implosion sequence is anticipated to last approximately 17 seconds which, coincidentally, is the same time the French national team took to implode at the 2010 World Cup. The lower tier and part of the higher tier have already been demolished by mechanical means; the implosion will accelerate the removal of the remaining higher tier.

The old Fonte Nova has been closed since 2007, after the structure collapsed killing eight people.

Read more here.

Campaigners protest over eyesore on former Bowstring Bridge site.

A group of campaigners who failed to save a Leicester bridge from demolition in November 2009 have called the development site “an eyesore”.

Bowstring Bridge and a nearby pub in the city’s West End were dismantled to make way for a new leisure centre. De Montfort University have not yet submitted a planning application for the sporting facility, but say it is set to be filed by autumn 2010.

Leicester City Council say they have no definite plans for the remaining area. Derek Hollingworth from Leicester Civic Society is concerned about the visual progress taking place at the site. “You’ve got part of the viaduct still here, it’s covered in graffiti, you’ve got the site where the pub was and there’s still bricks here. Nothing’s happened; it’s just been cordoned off with some second-hand railing that came from Mill Lane and that’s it, that’s what we’ve got.”

Read full story here.

Quarter million dollars to remove 100 tonnes of burnt, contaminated corn?

About six truckloads of stored, wet and fire-scorched seed corn will add an estimated $175,000 to the cost of demolishing the flood-and-fire-damaged, former Sinclair meatpacking plant.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the demolition, now nearing completion, at a cost that could reach $15 million,Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood-recovery director, said Thursday.

Eyerly said he sees no reason why FEMA would not pay for the additional new cost related to the seed corn, which had been stored at the plant, though he said FEMA has not yet agreed to pay the cost.

The corn belongs to BFC Gas and Electric Co., which operates a gasification plant in southwest Cedar Rapids that burns, among other items, outdated seed corn.

Eyerly said about six truckloads of corn is now mingled with about 25,000 tons of asbestos-containing material at the demolition site.

Read the full story here.

Permit problems put overdue demolition works on indefinite suspension.

The demolition of the former Chrysler plant in Fenton has been suspended indefinitely.

News 4 has exclusively learned the St. Louis County Health Department shut the project down because the company doing the demolition did not have the proper permits.

There could be asbestos in the buildings which requires a 10 day waiting period to receive permits. The company doing the demolition only applied for permits Tuesday.

Read more here or view the video below.