Demolition contractor loses a month while city issues permit.

It’s taken almost 20 years to find someone to demolish the Bellaire Toll Bridge. It will take a mere 8 seconds for it to disappear into the Ohio River. And if all goes as planned, the bridge will come down sometime “just before” or “just after” Labor Day weekend, the lead contractor for the project said Monday. Preliminary work is set to begin after July 5.

Lee Chaklos of Delta Demolition Inc. had hoped to already have efforts under way to remove the concrete approach to the span that looms over Eighth Street in Benwood. However, work cannot begin until city officials issue the company a permit.

Chaklos said city officials threw him “a curveball” by requiring he provide about 16 pieces of documentation before issuing that permit. “They backed us up about 30 days,” he said.

City leaders are seeking proof of bonding and workers’ compensation payments from Delta Demolition, as well as a copy of the company’s plans for at least the initial phase of work and a list of subcontractors. In addition, Delta Demolition must secure a right-of-way permit from CSX, with all the information being provided to the city, according to Benwood Police Chief Frank Longwell.

Read more here.

The BBC’s top-rated motoring show is back this Sunday with a demolition secret.

Fed up with football? Weary with Wimbledon? Still seeking some manly-type TV viewing that doesn’t involve grown men chasing balls about the place.

Then UK readers will be delighted to learn that the new series of BBC motoring show Top Gear is back this weekend. And together with Messrs Clarkson, Captain Slow and The Hamster, the new series is promising a demolition secret for the series opener.

The producers are playing their cards very close to their chests and are giving nothing away about what the secret might be. But we have booked our Sky+ for BBC2 at 8 pm on Sunday 27 June to look out for a few familiar faces.

Canadian run of demolition “bad luck continues”

A Toronto man has been found alive after spending three days under the debris of his demolished garage.

The man, in his 50s, became trapped under the debris while he was using a power saw to demolish his garage in Saint-Lambert-de-Desmeloizes, in northwestern Quebec, officials said.

The man lives alone and after friends couldn’t reach him, he was reported missing Saturday morning, officials said.

Read more here.

Dozens gather to watch the implosion of the Guyandotte Bridge.

Crews have today imploded the Guyandotte Bridge. The bridge, which used to connect Fifth Avenue to the Guyandotte neighborhood, has been closed to traffic for several years.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation is preparing to build a new larger bridge in the same location. See the (very) raw video below.

July deadline set for second major Rio de Janeiro implosion.

One of the most impressive implosions we have seen took place in Brazil back in March this year when our good friend Fabio Bruno Pinto shot the Presidio Frei Caneca, formerly Rio’s oldest prison.

Well Fabio is now planning to repeat that exercise with the implosion of a 3,700 square metre, four storey structure that is located just a few metres away from the site of his earlier triumph.

Word is that UK broadcaster, the BBC, is sending a film crew to capture what promises to be another Brazillian spectacular when Fabio hots the button on 3 July. (We’d love to be there too but, frankly, we do’t quite have the travel budget afforded to these major TV companies so we’ll be watching from a distance).

Before then, we’re hoping to bring you a video of the computer simulation used to predict and control how the 61 metre long building will fall.

Watch this space.

Cement giant announces imminent decommissioning and demolition of site.

With demolition work drawing to a close on the Lafarge cement works in Northfleet, Kent – formerly Europe’s largest demolition project – plans are being made to decommission and demolish another Lafarge facility, this time at Westbury in Wiltshire.

Cement manufacturing at the site was fully mothballed in February last year. The company is now working with the council to consider future uses for both the site, and the chalk and clay quarries which supplied raw materials. The distribution depot will remain at the site, and jobs there and in logistics will not be affected.

Erdogan Pekenc, the company’s managing director, said: “We are aware that there has been some speculation about the works, so we are making an early announcement of our intentions.”

The company will also consult with the Ministry of Defence which owns the land where the chalk quarry is located.

Read more here.

Demolition crew takes down more than planned

According to the beautifully-named Beaver County Times newspaper, federal authorities are investigating a Wednesday afternoon demolition accident that took out some power lines in Aliquippa.

Aliquippa Police Chief Ralph Pallante said workers with Parchman’s Hauling and Excavating of New Castle had started demolishing the old Neighborhood Legal Services Inc. building at 266 Franklin Ave. when bricks fell from the building, taking power lines down with them. “They needed a 10-foot clearance and didn’t quite have it,” said Pallante, who blocked off traffic on Sheffield Avenue between Cochran Street to School Way.

Aliquippa fire officials and a safety specialist with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were called around 12:30 p.m. because of live wires behind the building on Sheffield Avenue.

Robert Szymanski, area director for OSHA’s Pittsburgh office, said no workers were injured when part of the rear wall came down. He said OSHA officials responded because there were a number of safety issues that needed to be addressed. Depending on what OSHA finds, it could impose fines on Parchman’s. “It’s too early to tell, but if there are violations where people could have been injured, there will certainly be proposed penalties.”

Read more here.

Canadian police arrest man accused of selling stolen fixtures and fittings.

It’s not been a good week for Canadian demolition. Not content with “going viral” with the wobbly building video from Vancouver, the industry is now associated with a fraud.

A man posing as a demolition worker in what police say is an elaborate attempt to hock house fixtures and decorative flagstone from homes under construction has been arrested.

Investigators received a complaint in September about a fraudster posing as an employee of a demolition company.

The man was offering buyers the chance to purchase items at unoccupied Forest Hill homes under construction, though he has no connection to the property, investigators say. He is currently facing charges related to one case in which $69,000 worth of flagstone was stolen from one site.

“He meets legitimate people that are interested in buying and they don’t know that this guy doesn’t have the right to sell it,” said Detective Constable Craig McFarquhar, days prior to the man’s arrest.

Read more here.

Midtown Plaza set to fall as Ontario wins contract.

Ontario Specialty Contracting Inc. has been awarded the demolition and site preparation contract for downtown Rochester’s oft-discussed Midtown Plaza project.

Ontario Specialty bid $9.6 million for the work. The contract was awarded Tuesday by the Empire State Development Corp.’s board of directors.

The Midtown Plaza is being razed to make way for a $90 million project anchored by the headquarters Paetec Holding Corp. and the Rochester Broadway Theater League’s performing arts centre.

Read more here.

Just receiving reports of fire at demolition site in Shrewsbury, UK.

A fire has this lunchtime broken out at the scene of the Shrewsbury explosion in January.

Smoke can be seen rising above Shrewsbury town centre from the site on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road. Shrewsbury police are asking motorists to avoid the town centre, whilst the fire is dealt with.

Further news updates can be found here.