Iowa demolition crew unearths what they fear to be a bomb at munitions plant.

Waterloo police have asked the military for advice in disposing of a suspected bomb found in a former munitions plant.

Workers with Active Thermal Concepts, which is involved in the demolition of the former Chamberlain Manufacturing compound, found the suspected bomb Wednesday afternoon.

The device was found out in the open on what appeared to be a water heater in the northern section of the plant. Authorities say the workers moved it an area by a door so they could see it better.

Work is underway to demolish a number of grain silos in King’s Lynn.

Derelict grain silos that are considered “a blot on King’s Lynn’s landscape” are being knocked down.
Work to demolish the silos and associated buildings on South Quay in the Norfolk town began on Monday.

West Norfolk Council said the buildings had deteriorated and become a haven for rough sleeping and “undesirable activity”.

A Section 215 notice was issued last year, requiring the site to be tidied up with various areas demolished.

Jason Law, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The site has become a real eyesore and the buildings have become unsafe, resulting in Devils Alley being fenced off.

“This will tidy up the site and make the whole area along the waterfront more attractive for visitors and more pleasant for local residents.”

Read the full story here.

Building collapse kills demolition worker in New Delhi.

A demolition operative was killed on Tuesday while demolishing a dangerous building in the Mori Gate area. The incident occurred when labourers working for a private contractor who had been engaged by Municipal Corporation of Delhi were demolishing a two-storey building in the area. Meanwhile, police has registered a case of death due to negligence and are investigating the matter.

According to eyewitnesses, while the demolition action was on, the victim, Ramvir, toppled over something and fell down. Said an eyewitness, Hira Singh, (name changed), “Before he got a chance to get up, a part of the building collapsed on him.” He was then rushed to the Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital at Tara Chand Mathur Marg, where he died.”

Soon after the incident, MCD announced a probe into the matter.

Read the full story here.

You can now send us your demolition photos via Facebook.

With a growing and thriving community of fans over on our Facebook page, we are now offering DemolitionNews.com readers to share their demolition photos with the world.

For those familiar with Facebook, it’s simply a matter of visiting www.facebook.com/demolitionnews, hitting the wall tab and then selecting the photo option. You will then be allowed to upload photos direct from your computer’s hard drive.

If, however, you’re less familiar with the inner workings of the world’s largest social media website, then the video below might prove useful.

Either way, please send us your best demolition photos (and any of you on a demolition site) and we’ll chose the best and feature them here on DemolitionNews.com.

22 August named as the date Cape Town cooling towers will come down.

After extensive consultation and planning, South Africa’s Athlone cooling towers are to be demolished on Sunday 22 August 2010 at 12:00.

Both towers, which are nearly 20 years old, form part of the decommissioned Athlone coal-fired power station and have become unsafe following the collapse of the strengthening rings around one of them in February. They now need to be demolished in the interests of public safety.

The City’s Disaster Risk Management team is monitoring wind speeds, which could cause the towers to collapse, on a daily basis and has a plan in place should they become excessive.

It was decided last week that the towers will come down on Sunday 22 August, as this is a realistic date by which all safety measures can be in place and by when Jet Demolition indicated they will have all their preparation work for the demolition completed. The demolition is not weather dependent and can go ahead even if it rains on the day.

Various City Departments have worked together closely to ensure the demolition will be safe for the public, the surrounding areas and City services.

All the required permits and approvals have been obtained and the necessary site preparation is underway, with particular attention being given to the protection of existing services and safety of both the public and workers involved.

Read more here.

New Zealand contractor fined over illegal dumping of demolition waste.

A Christchurch demolition company has been fined $6,000 and ordered to pay costs to Environment Canterbury after being found guilty of dumping demolition waste into a pit at a farm in Yaldhurst. The farm was located above an unconfined aquifer, and there was no resource consent allowing the dumping of the demolition waste at that location.

J Mould Demolition pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally dumping waste material on the property of Andrew John Pattullo at 81-83 Conservators Road, Yaldhurst, west of Christchurch. On July 7, 2009, Environment Canterbury officers investigated a report that trucks containing waste had entered Mr Pattullo’s property and intercepted a truck belonging to J Mould Demolition.

The driver admitted that he had deposited three truckloads of demolition material earlier that day. Upon inspecting the property, officers observed that the pit where it had been dumped contained treated timber and other waste material which Mr Pattullo admitted had been deposited on his land by the demolition company. Mr Pattullo was prosecuted and fined for unauthorised discharges to air and land in late 2009 in a separate case.

Read more here.

Unstable smokestack is being manually demolished.

The Cedar Rapids smokestack that garnered so much attention in recent months began coming down yesterday morning with little fanfare.

Two workers from D.W. Zinser of Walford sprayed water and used a pneumatic jackhammer to dismantle the 55 metre (180-foot) tall smokestack at the former Sinclair meatpacking plant.

At a rate of about one foot an hour, the century-old brick structure began falling, beginning about 9:30 a.m. Only a handful of reporters and city staff watched, with one observer who had known workers at the plant, also known as Wilson & Co. and Farmstead Foods.

“They’re moving right along now,” said John Riggs, the city’s project manager for flood demolition.

Riggs said the entire Sinclair site, flooded in 2008 and damaged by two subsequent fires, is treated as if contains hazardous materials, such as asbestos.

Read more here or view the video below.

AED’s Eric Kelly issues open letter on Bellaire Bridge debacle.

Having crossed swords with AED’s Eric Kelly in the past, we knew it was only a matter of time before we received his side of events over the Bellaire Bridge blasting contract that is currently being disputed with Delta Demolition. And we didn’t have to wait for long.

Until now, Kelly has retained a professional silence over the dispute that has apparently led to Delta offering the blasting portion of the work to alternative companies. However, following one local newspaper article entitled “Reality Show Blasters No Blowing Up Bridge”, Kelly has issued an open letter to the local and trade media which we have replicated in its entirety below:

Recent articles and reports in the media contain statements that require a response from AED. The confidentiality agreement signed June 01, 2010 by KDC Investments, Delta Demolition and AED states that no communication regarding the contracts of the above parties is to be discussed with any other parties. However at the approval of our counsel Art Bistline, AED submits the following information to dispute the comments made in the July 13, 2010 article titled “Reality Show Blasters Not Blowing Up Bridge”.

AED has been working with the previous owner of the bridge and the City of Benwood since 2008 and has extended every professional effort to bring the demolition to fruition. The delays by Delta Demolition and KDC Investments have been well documented by the City of Benwood and have no reflection on AED. Future statements will be forth coming from counsel once the contracts for ownership and demolition are processed through the judicial system. Once again AED would like to thank the citizens of Benwood and the Benwood City Officials for their support and professional response.

We’ve not heard the last of this one.

Demolition delays caused by presence of nesting birds.

Work to demolish a UK tower block was delayed after a pair of peregrine falcons set up home on the building’s roof. The parents and three chicks flew their nest last week at Bayley Tower in Bromford, Birmingham.

Birmingham City Council housing spokesman John Lines said: “I don’t normally like it when tenants move into my properties and don’t pay rent, but in this case I’ll make an exception.

“We believe this is the first successful breeding of falcons in Birmingham for many years.”

Read the full story here.

Canadian demolition back in the news for all the wrong reasons…again.

There was a time, just a few short months ago, when China was well on its way to securing the DemolitionNews.com Worst Demolition Nation award for its ongoing contributions to the irreversible tarnishing of this business of ours.

But, just as we were starting to think that the Chinese had established an unassailable lead, up steps Canada with a last-ditch attempt to snatch a surprise victory. First we had an impressive (and we use the word loosely) double near-miss on a single Vancouver site. Then, last week, we had an Edmonton company throwing its weight behind the country’s bid for poor demolition world dominance by dumping another building in a busy street.

And now, just to prove that there’s more to the Canadians than unexpected and unplanned collapses, along comes Avenue Construction which proceeds to demolish a former meat packing plant without a permit, depositing asbestos about the place like maple leaves in a national procession.

The Chinese had better watch their backs; the Canadians are coming!