Waterfront Mall to fall under Wrecking Corp spell.

Wrecking Corporation of America has been awarded a contract for the demolition Waterfront Mall at 4th and M Streets in southwest DC. The project also includes excavation for a new structure for the site. The general contractor for the project is the Clark Construction Group LLC of Bethesda.

“This is the largest single building in the District to be razed,” says Terry Anderson, Wrecking Corp executive vice president, “and it’s part of the master plan for the renewal of the DC waterfront. The building is a massive concrete structure that has to be hand-separated from the buildings that are to remain. Wrecking Corp has razed hundreds of buildings in cramped urban areas, and is skilled in the dealing with the unique challenges such projects represent.”

Read more here.

Fijian Ministry of Works sets aside $1 million budget for dismantling of Rewa Bridge.

Fijian ministry spokesman Iliesa Sokia said following the tender process, the project would be carried out by United Kingdom company Roughton International.

“They have presented us with their preliminary report,” Mr Sokia said. “It explains the procedures for dismantling the bridge and the cost.”

He said once the company declares its cost, representatives would meet senior officers from their office and present a paper to the Major Tenders Board. Mr Sokia said the presentation would be evaluated by the board and once approved, funds would be released for the project.

Read more here.

Summer camp seeks to start them young with explosives engineer training.

On this side of the Atlantic, the question of where the next generation of blasters and explosives engineers will come from is a source of constant debate. In the US (or Missouri to be precise) they’re addressing the challenge with a summer camp to expose children to the career opportunities of the blasting sector.

For the fifth year, Missouri S&T is holding an explosives camp for students thinking of becoming a demolition engineer.

Many of the students are considering a career in this field, like Kirstin Bier who’s a high schooler from Columbia, MO. “The camp would be a really good way of seeing how they do their program and what it’s like and it’s been a lot of fun,” Bier said. “And you get to blow stuff up… That’s always fun!”

Along with blowing stuff up, the students get to learn the different types of charges, and techniques behind demolition.

Read more here or view the video below.

UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ launch major event.

Open you diary, flick through to 12 October 2010 and put a large red cross through the entire day as that has been officially designated NFDC Demolition day.

The Federation is taking its message to the industry with its first ever conference/seminar that is designed to illustrate why main contractors and other potential clients should choose NFDC members over other demolition companies. Among the organisations supporting this unique event is the Health & Safety Executive, WRAP and BRE. The event is also being co-sponsored by some of the leading names in the demolition equipment field including Kocurek, Rusch, Sandvik Mining and Construction and Trevi Benne.

To provide delegates, speakers and other stakeholders with up-to-the-minute information on this important event, the Federation has also set aside a special area of its website which can be viewed here.

The first ever National Federation of Demolition Contractors’ Demolition day event will take place on 12 October 2010 at the Britannia International Hotel, Marsh Wall, London Docklands, E14 9SJ. Tickets are priced at (£50 + VAT) per delegate and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. To book your tickets, please call 01442 217144 or email info@demolition-nfdc.com NOW.

To show our support for this important national event, DemolitionNews.com has created a Facebook event listing so, if you’re a Facebook user and you’re planning to attend, please click here and let us know.

Atlas Copco aids low-emission demolition work on hospital grounds

At present the grounds of the city hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, are a major construction site. Right next to the Katharinenhospital the new gynaecological and paediatric clinic is under construction. This new building is currently the Germany’s biggest hospital construction site.

But before work could start, the former administration and storage building of the hospital had to be torn down. This demolition work had to comply with special restrictions curtailing the amount of dust, noise and vibrations produced during demolition work because normal hospital work has to be continued unhindered.

FWA Fischer Weilheim Abbruch (FWA), part of the Fischer Group from Weilheim/Teck, was entrusted with this large-scale demolition job by the provincial capital Stuttgart. Work started with extensive gutting and sanitation activities including asbestos removal.

FWA put their trust in Caterpillar heavy-duty demolition excavators and Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers and silent demolition tools. In order to reduce the amount of dust produced during demolition FWA used their own water spray systems directly attached to the excavators to bind the dust near the sport where it is produced.

The latest addition to FWA’s equipment fleet is the Atlas Copco CC 6000 U hydraulic CombiCutter launched at Bauma 2010. Just one day after the exhibition ended, the cutter was on site it Stuttgart. “With its large jaw and enormous power, the new CC 6000 U is a big reinforcement for our machine pool,“ says Joachim Schmid, technical manager of the Fischer Group, says. “And just like all other silent demolition tools it is quite silent and can therefore be used without problem in town centres.“

Read more here.

Nothing to be built on Deutsche Bank site for decade says outgoing deputy mayor.

The cursed site of the former Deutsche Bank building in Lower Manhattan that lay dormant for almost 10 years after it was damaged in the 9/11 terror attacks could remain unused for another decade.

Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber said the city and state should leave the World Trade Center Tower 5 site vacant until lower Manhattan’s office market recovers over the next 10 years, rather than build a mixed-use development there sooner.

“There will be [demand] for office space in lower Manhattan,” said Lieber, who is leaving city government later this summer. “[But] it’s going to take place a decade from now.”

But Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin said she sees no reason to wait 10 years when residential and hotel developers are interested in the Deutsche site now.

“To have another blighted plot of land, another hole in the community, makes no sense,” Menin said at a meeting of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, of which she and Lieber are board members. We’re sitting on this and we don’t have a plan.”

The demolition of the Deutsche Bank building, which was heavily damaged by the collapse of the Twin Towers, has been plagued by tragedy and delays.

Read more here.

Lifting the lid on project relieve administrative burden on demolition companies.

A Europe-wide research project is underway to analyse and hopefully alleviate some of the administrative burden placed upon demolition contractors by the European Union, national governments and a variety of other organisations and legislative bodies. DemolitionNews.com’s Mark Anthony met Martha Bird, one of the team behind the research and accompanied her on one of her many fact-finding missions.

In the pantheon of thankless tasks, the job facing EU Affairs consultant Martha Bird is right up there with that of the England football team manager and BP public relations officer. Employed by Danish management consultancy Ramboll, Bird has been handed the poison chalice of researching the administrative burdens facing a variety of industry sectors including demolition.

In this exclusive audio interview, Martha Bird explains the thinking behind the project, why she belies that smaller demolition companies are disproportionately hit with administrative burdens, and how she hopes that her initial work will ultimately benefit the industry in the coming years.

To listen to this exclusive audio interview, please just hit the play button below or visit iTunes and download the podcast.

Have Your Say: Which administrative burdens cause you the greatest headache? Share your thoughts here.

Chinese man takes to tree-house to protest demolition order.

A man who protested by nesting in a tree for three months straight due to compensation disputes over his demolished house was charged for assembling a crowd that disrupted traffic and tried in Chongqing Monday.

The man, Chen Maoguo, pleaded not guilty. His family said he has no other way to protect his legal rights.

The indictment states that 61-year-old Chen grew discontented with the local authorities and the compensation package. He then moved to a makeshift shelter in a tree using a speaker to instigate his fellow villagers to block passing vehicles.

The indictment said Chen’s behavior attracted a large crowd that severely disturbed traffic order.

The saga started in October 2008 when Chen’s 1,200-square-meter courtyard house was demolished to make way for a highway project. Authorities promised to pay him about 500,000 yuan ($73,556).

Since one of his houses was used as a grocery store and he also ran the wine-brewing business in the family, Chen demanded an additional compensation of 220,000 yuan for his business loss but failed to get it, the West China Metropolis Daily reported.

Chen then started petitioning the authorities, but achieved no results in almost a year.

A frustrated Chen climbed up to a 15-meter-high tree sitting next to his house debris to stage a protest. He had lived in a makeshift shelter on the tree since August 3, 2009.

Read more here.

Local TV cameras given unique insight on major station redevelopment.

Work on transforming Birmingham New Street Station is now well underway and Central Regional News cameras have been allowed in to see the story so far.

Unfortunately, the resulting video cannot be embedded here; but it is worth clicking this link to view it on their website.

Worker lost one side of his head and suffered brain damage after demolition work fall.

According to reports in the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper and the Construction Enquirer website, Alan Hind,28, has been left with life changing features following the accident which saw his former boss convicted in court last week

The Daily Mail reported that Hind suffered massive head injuries, including extensive skull fractures, a badly broken jaw, a severed optic nerve that left him blind in one eye and irreparable brain damage.

He also suffered kidney damage and was left deaf in one ear following the February 2008 accident.

Surgeons carried out three complex operations and six months after his fall used a titanium plate to replace a large section of shattered skull.

Parts of his brain were so damaged they had to be removed.

At Carlisle Crown Court, a jury convicted Mr Hind’s supervisor Eric Murray, 63, who allowed him to work on the roof of a building at Watt’s Yard, off London Road, Carlisle, without safety equipment or training.

Read more here.