Rigid Paper mill factory chimney blast

Dick green has sent us some video and images of his latest blast. It was a joint venture between IndEx and SES with the work carried out by CAJ Services.

The target of the blast was the Rigid Paper mill factory at Selby, North Yorkshire. Dick said the chimney came down nicely as can be seen from the two videos included here.

CEMEX Plant Chimney base brought down

Things didn't go entireley to plan with the CEMEX plant chimney demolition leaving part of the chimney still standing in September. At the time Dick Green explained what happened:

The charges detonated OK and the mouth formed, as it started to topple forward the top section detached (unusually) before the bottom section went over its centre of gravity, and there was then not enough leverage to bring it over before the heel failed. It was only 300mm thick at the base.

It is in a safe stable condition, so the High reach we had as a contingency on site is going to ramp up 5m and nibble it down.

Now the rest of the chimney has finally come down. According to the description on the YouTube page men were hoisted up in a man cage to place large strops around the chimney remains. You can see the last moments of the weakened chimney base in the video above.

Source: Demolition News

CEMEX plant chimney blowdown first footage

Below is the first footage that has appeared of the CEMEX plant chimney blowdown that happened yesterday in Rochester. Unfortunately things didn't go entireley to plan leaving part of the chimney still standing.



Dick Green, who carried out the blowdown, explained what happened:

"The charges detonated OK and the mouth formed, as it started to topple forward the top section detached (unusually) before the bottom section went over its centre of gravity, and there was then not enough leverage to bring it over before the heel failed. It was only 300mm thick at the base.

It is in a safe stable condition, so the High reach we had as a contingency on site is going to ramp up 5m and nibble it down."

There's more video footage and news on what will happen to the site over at the BBC.

Northfleet Chimney blowdown videos

On Sunday Erith Contractors Ltd. carried out the implosion of two large chimneys in Northfleet. Above and below you can see different views of the demolition taking place.

The job was carried out for Lafarge by Erith, with Dick Green and Phil Lowe as explosive engineers, Rob Clarke as structural engineer, and our own John Woodward as blowdown consultant.

There's more coverage and videos at the Demolition News and BBC News websites.

Chimney and Water Tower demolition at Courtaulds, Coventry

Over the weekend Lee Demolition carried out the demolition of a chimney and water tower at Courtaulds in Coventry.



The button was pressed 97-year-old, ex-employee Odie Edmonds, and Central News had coverage of the job during its Sunday evening show. You can watch it here: ITV Central News

Courtaulds was built in the 1920s, and was at its most prominent in the 1950s and 60s. The site has been closed for the last 3 years, however, and now may be re-developed.

Two chimneys blown up for charity

thisisleicestershire.co.uk, part of the Leicester Mercury, has a great post and video up about the Desford Steel Tubes factory chimney demolition that didn't go to plan.

Our own John Woodward is quoted as saying:

This has never happened before, we've never even had one tower standing after a blast. The odds of one tower remaining up is 100 to one, the odds of that happening to two towers is about 10,000 to one.

You can read the full story here over at thisisleicestershire.co.uk

GHA Blowdown Sunday 30 August at Noon

Coleman and Company of Birmingham will be carrying out the explosive demolition of 124 & 142 Shawbridge Street, Pollockshaws, Glasgow at noon on Sunday 30 August.

The 2 tower blocks being demolished in one controlled explosion are extremely close to two nurseries and have required partial debuild of one of the blocks prior to the explosive demolition.

This blowdown is the 2nd phase of the work being carried out by Coleman for GHA and follows on from the successful explosive demolition of 2 tower blocks at Riverford Road last summer.

C&D are pleased to be involved as part of the Coleman team in our role as CDM Co-ordinators for this scheme as well as other GHA tower blocks demolitions at Sighthill, Glasgow.

Anyone wishing to view the blowdown on Sunday can do so from the viewing area in Pleasance Street and Shawhill Road or from the Aldi car park in Riverbank Street.

Video footage of the blast will be published on this site and www.demolitionnews.com immediately after the blast.

Chimney Blowdown reminder

In case you missed our coverage a couple of weeks ago tickets are still available:

Bloom Plant Ltd of Askham Road, East Markham, Newark, NG22 0RG are hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity by selling tickets to “push the button” to demolish a chimney by explosives.

The NFDC company are carrying out the blowdown of two 170 ft chimneys at their site at Haworth, next to Haworth Colliery on Friday 28th August at noon.

Tickets are £20 each or a book of 5 for £100 and you can yours by emailing raffletickets@bloomplant.co.uk