Police investigate following grisly discovery in Finnish chimney.

Workers at a factory being demolished in Vantaa, Finland have turned up a mummified body stuck inside a chimney. He was born 1953 according to information in his wallet. He had gone missing in 1991, and by the early 2000s he was pronounced dead.

Workers were tearing down the chimney Sunday when they made the gruesome discovery. According to Juha Juurinen, a criminal investigator, “The police are investigating whether the man was placed in the chimney or went there himself.”

Read more here.

Video captures Vancouver double collapse from a different angle.

The dust is barely settled and the investigation is only just underway. But a new video of the double near- miss in Vancouver last week shows just how lucky demolition workers and pedestrians were to remain uninjured in the unplanned collapses.

Excavator operator survives collapse after ordering other off collapsing bridge.

A worker injured when a Naugatuck bridge that was under construction collapsed Tuesday morning is being hailed a hero. A portion of the Salem Bridge, which carries Route 63 over the Naugatuck River, collapsed during demolition before 7 a.m., police said.

Preliminary investigations by Connecticut State Police determined that just prior to the collapse, the excavator operator had some concerns. Police said the operator, identified as Anthony Mariano, 55, of Middlebury, cleared the bridge of all co-workers and reported his concerns to his supervisor, Mariano was preparing to remove the machine when the bridge collapsed, according to police.

Mariano was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, then was then moved to Yale New Haven Hospital. He remained in critical condition Tuesday evening.

Read more here.

Work begins on former 100-acre fertiliser production site near Bristol.

In November 2009, a highly complex programme of plant decommissioning, isolation, demolition and ground remediation drew to a close at GrowHow UK Limited’s Severnside site, under the guidance of project management consultants RVA Group.

Now, having successfully supervised more than 60,000 man-hours during the initial project, RVA has been engaged by both GrowHow and American assets company Sigma Investment Holdings, L.L.C to co-ordinate the safe and precise dismantling and packaging of two remaining LCA (leading concept ammonia) plants and a utilities area, bought by Sigma for resale outside of the UK.

Following two months of RVA planning, specialist dismantling contractor EDS has been appointed by Sigma to begin the meticulous process of coding, extracting and preserving every single vessel and associated pipework for exportation. With work on site due to complete in August, this exacting project will then result in the shipping of 4,500 tonnes of ammonia production plant, in no less than 120 containers, 60 enclosed crates, 80 open stillages plus 30 outsize items of deck cargo, all ready for reassembly and return to production once it reaches its overseas destination.

RVA Group managing director Richard Vann said: “We have been employed in two capacities at Severnside. GrowHow has engaged us as specialist project managers to ensure that the high standards adopted on site to date are maintained, with no cut corners and no safety compromises.

Once this intricate removal operation is complete, RVA will bring its three years at Severnside to a close by supervising the filling of a number of underground chambers and finally the demolition of a wooden cooling tower – the final remaining structure.

Beware wobbly buildings and drive like a bat out of hell!

Following the double demolition near-miss in Vancouver last Thursday, we have been scouring the Internet, calling upon contacts, and making phone calls to find out more about the twin incidents. Having drawn a blank with all our avenues of enquiry, we have decided to recreate a conversation that may (or may not) have taken place between a driver using an adjacent road and the traffic controller charged with limiting access to the “danger zone”.

Driver: Excuse me but why are we stopped?
Traffic Controller: Sorry ma’am but there’s a demolition taking place up the block
Driver: Will we be stopped long?
Traffic Controller: No. We’re just waiting for the building to stop wobbling and then you can be on your way.
Driver: Wobbling?
Traffic Controller: Standard demolition procedure ma’am. Nothing to be alarmed about.
Driver: But a wobbling building? Isn’t that dangerous?
Traffic Controller: Not for me. I’m stood well back.
Driver: So, just so I understand this fully, you’re expecting me to drive down this street past a building that is wobbling?
Traffic Controller: You’ll be fine so long as you follow the three basic rules
Driver: Which are…?
Traffic Controller: Keep your windows rolled up to keep the dust out; close your sunshine roof to keep falling debris out; and if that big building up there on the left starts to wobble, pin the accelerator pedal to the floor and drive like a bat out of hell.
Driver: I think I’ll find a shortcut
Traffic Controller: Just be careful which route you choose ma’am; there’s another wobbly bit just round the corner.

Work underway on demolition of Billybanks estate in Penarth.

It was recently voted the ugliest eyesore in Wales and yesterday work began on demolishing a prominent derelict housing estate.

The former Billybanks estate in Penarth has been empty for more than 10 years and is regarded by many as a depressing example of the failed social housing experiments of the 1960s and 1970s. The estate was voted Wales’ ugliest eyesore, and eighth most unsightly in Britain by Beautiful Britain magazine in March.

After lengthy delays resulting from the economic downturn and the crisis in the housing market, developers Crest Nicholson and demolition specialist Lawson Demolition began work on the Royal Close section of the estate yesterday.

The £100m project involves demolishing the existing 329 flats and building 377 new apartments.

Read more here or view the video below.

Timing of blast will hinge upon local weather conditions.

The West Virginia Division of Highways says it plans to demolish the old 5th Avenue bridge into Guyandotte this Friday.

Officials made the announcement Monday morning during a media briefing on various road projects across the region. Right now, officials do not have a time for the demolition; they say it depends on the weather.

Crews have already removed the bridge’s deck in preparation for the demolition.

Built in 1926, the bridge was closed to vehicles in January 2007.

Read more here.

Convert, renovate or demolish – Either way, taxpayers will foot the bill.

Following the recent implosion of the Texas Stadium and the planned demolition of the Houston Astrodome, it appears that the great state of Texas has declared a moratorium on sporting stadia. Or has it?

No sooner had news of the planned demolition of the former home of the Houston Oilers hit the streets than two further options were thrown into the ring. The first is to convert and renovate the structure into a science and convention centre at a cost of around $588 million; the second is to simply convert it in a more basic fashion, reducing the bill to around $350 million. The third option is an outright demolition, the cost of which is estimated at $128 million.

Regardless of the outcome, it seems likely that taxpayers will be left to foot the bill. All the above options’ costs include the $40M which originated from a bond passed to make renovations while the Oilers still made use of the facility. Reliant officials say just removing the dome and replacing it with a simple field would still cost about $88M.

Read the full story here or watch the video below.

Company involved in double near-miss in Vancouver has record of safety violations.

The company responsible for a demolition that went dangerously wrong last week has been ordered to stop all work in Vancouver, and it’s not the first time the company has faced questions about safety.

Videos of the two walls collapsing were posted on YouTube, and the video of the first collapse has already reached more than 180,000 views. It is also one of the most widely viewed videos here on DemolitionNews.com.

The company responsible is Global Excavating and Demolition, based in Surrey and run by Karmjeet and Jagjeet Panesar. The company reportedly has a history with WorkSafe BC; in the past three years, it’s received six compliance orders, including one for an excavation.

Read more here.

UK contractor Keanes has appointed George Mackey to its board of directors.

Demolition veteran George Mackey, who was previously on the board of Wembley-based demolition specialist McGee, will play a crucial role in developing Keanes’ demolition business as the industry begins to emerge from recession, said managing director David Keane.

“George is very highly respected within the demolition industry where he’s known especially for his estimating skills. He’s worked on some major projects, including the demolition of the old Wembley Stadium,” Keane says. “Like all sectors of the construction industry, demolition took a nose-dive in late 2008. Everybody’s now working hard to win work and build the industry back up. We’re determined to ensure that we remain ahead of the game, and George has a central role in helping us do that”, he continued.

“Keanes has been in demolition for a long time and has a lot of satisfied customers. It is my job now to help build up this side of the business and bring in some new clients,” Mackey concludes. “I look forward to my new role; I’m working with an excellent team and I have every confidence that we can increase turnover in the demolition sector.”