China implodes 19 buildings in 10 seconds

China tends to do everything on a large scale, and that clearly includes demolition. The video above shows the implosion of 19 buildings at once located in Wuhan.

How do you implode so many buildings at the same time and in less than 10 seconds? By using 5 tonnes of explosives!

Tallest concrete structure ever demolished is coming down on September 7th in Kent

Contractor Brown & Mason is set to go into the history books next Wednesday when it implodes the chimney at Grain Power Station in Kent. Standing at 244 meters tall, it's two-and-a-half times taller than Big Ben and taller than 55 stacked double-decker buses. It's basically really really tall.

The site is owned by energy company Uniper who intends to turn the old power station into a new, 1,275MW gas-fired modern power station. So far 5 demolition contracts have been carried out to clear the site, with the chimney implosion being the 6th. In total, 84,000 tons of material has been removed and recycled.

Source: Kent News

C&D appointed explosive demolition consultants on Oldham car park

C&D are delighted to have been appointed as explosive demolition consultants to DSR Limited for their work to demolish a failed car park in Oldham.

This particularly difficult implosion was carried out as the car park was in serious danger of collapse which prevented the use of more conventional demolition techniques.

Mike Kehoe and Matty Bardgett were the C&D team for the project.

C&D customer ADM Regeneration make short work of Durban Mill chimney

Durban Mill chimney has stood for 110 years, but on October 25th it was imploded by ADM Regeneration.

The chimney was located at Hollinwood, Oldham having been built by Durban Mill Co. and stood 130 feet tall, weighing an estimated 650 tons. Lancashire Cotton Corporation took control of the mill in 1957, but production there ceased in 1962 with the main building being used mostly as warehouse space since then. However, since 2008 it has been unused and the chimney implosion is part of a regeneration project that will see 80 houses built.

Source: Oldham Evening Chronicle

C&D customer DSM Demolition bring the house down in Hockley

C&D customer DSM Demolition have successfully carried out the explosive demolition of a tower block in Hockley, Birmingham, which you can watch above.

The Hockley block is the first of eight blocks within the Birmingham area marked for demolition as part of a £26 million Birmingham City Council programme. The reason for the removal of the blocks is one of efficiency. Council Housing is removing properties that would otherwise require a large amount of investment in the near future. It also frees up the land for redevelopment and the creation of new housing stock.

For more information and images of the Hockley block demolition please visit the Birmingham Updates website.

Controlled explosion takes down 5 buildings at Kingsnorth Power Station

The video you see above is the implosion of 5 buildings located at the old Kingsnorth Power Station. The site was closed in March 2013 due to not reaching EU standards on pollution. Since then, demolition has been planned and scheduled, with the implosion above happening on October 23rd.

Source: Kent Online

Explosives are being replaced as cities get more crowded

Using explosives to demolish tall buildings has been done for decades, but a number of factors are making them an increasingly difficult and undesirable solution. The reason for this is our cities becoming every more crowded meaning much more precise demolition is needed. The other reason is ever tighter controls on debris, recycling, and dust levels.

The solution surprisingly isn't the better use of explosives, it's actually replacing them completely. The Economist has a fascinating article about this subject which you can read at the link below. It seems gas canisters and remote-controlled hydraulic jacks are the future.

Source The Economist

Quadcopter used to capture building implosion from the air

You may have noticed an increasing number of drones in the skies above us and for sale at electronics retailers. These so-called quadcopters are remote-controlled flying machines with enough battery juice to keep them in the air for no more than 20 minutes.

And yet, they hold the key to revolutionising the way we view building implosions in the future, because quite simply, they can get very close to the action without fear of anyone getting hurt.

Here's a case in point:

As you can see, the quadcopter captured high-definition video of the building going down. It's quite a distance away, but for future implosions it could be hovered right over the building if desired.

The building in question is the Sir John Carling Building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was demolished at 7am on July 13th. For comparison, here's a video of the implosion captured from ground level.

A very lucky escape

The man holding the camera and the couple in front of him can count themselves very lucky not to have been hurt.

Oxfordshire's Didcot A Power Station demolition confirmed for July 27th

The date for the demolition of the three southern cooling towers at Oxfordshire's Didcot A Power Station has been confirmed by RWE Npower as happening on July 27th. The implosion will take place on the Sunday morning and it is expected to take no more than a minute for the towers to come down.

The coal-fired power station was closed down in March 2013, but has been a part of the local community for the past 43 years. When the towers come down next month it will mark a significant change to the landscape, and is certain to be a day filled with memories for those who used to work there or have lived near the station for any length of time.

Once the site has been cleared completely new owners Clowes Developments plans to redevelop the site for both commercial and residential use.

Source: BBC News

Watch a 100-year-old dam implode with water still behind it

Usually on this website we share the odd implosion video of a building or bridge collapsing. It's not often we see a dam imploded, and especially when it still holds back the water it has kept at bay for 100 years.

Above you can watch a time lapse of the century-old dam on the White Salmon River in Washington state being imploded. The explosives are positioned at the base, so as to allow the water to flow through without the entire dam breaking up and being washed down the valley. It took about 2 hours for the reservoir to drain and the river restoration to commence.

The video was shot back in 2011, but work has continued to return the river to how it was before the dam was erected.

Imploding 8 steel cables on a huge dragline crane boom

When you think implosions, it's typically an explosive demolition involving a building, or even a bridge. But sometimes the implosion jobs are a little more specialized, as is the case in this instance.

Controlled Demolition Inc. were subcontracted for implosion duties by Southern Salvage Inc. of Florida to perform an explosive severance of steel cabling. These cables, 8 of them, were holding up the dragline boom on a fairly sizable crane. By breaking them, the boom could fall safely to the ground for a future salvage operation.

As you can see, the implosion went off without a hitch.

20-storey apartment block in Colombia imploded following 12 deaths

In October last year a building in the city of Medellin, Colombia collapsed killing 12 people in the process. It also made one of the neighbouring buildings unsafe, and ultimately it had to come down.

That didn't happen until last week, but it was captured on video, which you can watch above.

CUDDY Demolition & Dick Green demolish the Capitol car park in Newport South Wales in less than 20 seconds

C&D congratulate CUDDY Group and our old friend Dick Green on a successful demolition last Sunday.

Plenty of footage of the Newport Capitol car park demolition can be seen over at the South Wales Argus, and we've also included a video below of the implosion as it happened.

Cockenzie Power Station's first two structures will be imploded today

The Cockenzie Power Station is set to be demolished, with today being the day that the two 34-metre high and 300-tonne steel precipitator structures are being imploded as part of an 18-month job to completely remove the station from the site.

The controlled explosion is set to happen at 2pm today by specialists Brown and Mason. Once down, a further 14 precipitator structures remain and will also face implosion. However, the most exciting part of the demolition is yet to come. Those two chimneys you see in the image above are also set to be demolished, but not until early next year.

There's no date set for the chimneys to come down yet, but it might be an event you want to attend. They are a local landmark having stood for 45 years, and this will clearly change the skyline forever.

Source: Edinburgh News

Safedem implodes 25-storey block of flats in Glasgow

Safedem has successfully completed the demolition of a 25-storey block of flats in Roystonhill, north Glasgow, which have been standing since 1968.

The implosion can be watched above and used 40kg of explosives to bring the block down in just 5 seconds. The clean up operation involving the removal of 10,000 tonnes of debris will be completed by the middle of 2014.

The demolition was greenlit by the Glasgow Housing Association, which has already invested £1.3 billion regenerating the area and housing across the entire city. In place of these flats 100 new homes will be built as well as around 300 more homes planned for the Sighthill and Barmulloch areas of the city.

Source: KHL

Explosives used to topple 50m pylon in North Wales

The video you see above is of a 50m-tall pylon being demolished in the Dwyrd estuary, North Wales. The reason for its destruction was one of safety. The pylon had begun to lean dangerously, which triggered an investigation and ultimately demolition with explosives. It turned out the water covering its base had eroded the foundations and there was a concern about the knock on effect with regards to overhead cables if it wasn't dealt with swiftly.

Local residents shouldn't be worried about a lack of power. The National Grid said it wouldn't take long to remove the pylon and erect a new one to replace it. Hopefully this time its metal feet will be kept clear of the water.

Source: Mail Online

Watch a gold mine implode

We know very little about the location or work involved in the demolition above. What we do know is LOI Demolition Services of Portland, Oregon was awarded the contract and experienced the pleasure of imploding what used to be a gold mining facility.

I wonder if they had a look around before and after to see if they'd uncovered anything valuable.

Liaoning Province Meteorological Station caught on camera going down

The image you see above is of the Liaoning Province Meteorological Station building in Shenyang, Liaoning as it collapses. The building was notable for having a 45-meter-tall thermometer attached to the exterior, which you can see closest to the camera.

The building has been demolishied to make way for redevelopment, which will take the form of a large residential area to help cope with China's billion-plus population.

Source: Yahoo! News

87-year-old Masontown Bridge imploded

The video above, records the implosion of the 87-year-old Masontown Bridge located in southwest Pennsylvania which used to provide passage across the Monogahala River.

Source: CBS News