Disastrous Demolitions and Dodgy Detonations…
That old adage, ‘failing to plan, is planning to fail’ certainly has merit – but sometimes, no matter how well planned, things don’t go to plan.
You know how it goes… that coffee machine you installed, instructions so carefully followed, gurgles and empties it’s contents on the floor, your meticulously prepared presentation goes awry because of connection issues…
or the office printer keeps printing in a foreign language! “konnichiwhaaa..t?”
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Things do go wrong, sometimes catastrophically… but there’s very little that’ll top a disastrous demolition. Imagine watching your carefully laid plans fail and instead of a spectacular demolition, you're forced to stand by as the multi-story building topples over and starts rolling – towards another development!! An 80-foot-tall factory building in Cankiri, Turkey topples over like a giant somersault instead of being demolished as expected. |
Should I stay, or should I go…?
This 22-floor apartment building in Liuzhou, China was demolished to make room for a new real estate project in the city.
However, (who would have thought?) things didn't go exactly as planned.
Seconds after the initial blast, half of the building crashed to the ground as planned... but the other half remained standing, leaning ever so slightly to the side.
The second half has since been demolished with a crane.
Almost!
The Red Road flats – Glasgow City.
Built in the 1960’s the Red Road flats in Glasgow City were earmarked for demolition in 2015.
Two of the six buildings in Red Road estate remained standing after they proved too resilient for planned demolitions.
Disruptions were caused for about 2500 residents living in the exclusion zone, who then faced delays in returning to their homes.
The demolition contractors confirmed the remaining two blocks were stable and would be demolished using routine machine demolitions.
Say again? Repeating in Russia.
Trying – and failing – to demolish a building in Crimea Sevastopol.
In a botch job of bad exploding, demolitionists rigged a 16-story building in Sevastopol, Crimea to blow, and could only make it lean.
Undaunted, the demolition team set another charge and succeeded in a second failed attempt.
The building was left teetering at a 70-degree angle.
The crew responsible for the controlled demo blamed the presence of nearby civilians for the failure, saying the structure was too close to a residential area, and the team couldn't use quite as much BOOM as they'd wanted, whereas another report from RT.com, a worker stated the reason being reinforced concrete, claiming the building could withstand a 10-magnitude earthquake.
Ultimately, a third explosion finished the job.
Wow - talk about a bad day at the office!
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Hello Google…?: Opening up a whole new keg of dynamite are home demolitions. In this next scenario, they were following instructions… literally, to the book; Coming a close second to worst-scenario demolitions is getting a call from your neighbor… to say your house is being demolished! Turns out the demolition company was misdirected by Google Maps… |
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It’s not an easy job for a demolition company, demolition work is one the most dangerous jobs in construction, with the highest injury rates. It’s never an exact science and difficulties arise from various factors, one being older developments, where there’s not a lot of historical information on the building.
Structural principals of the building are key for planning a demolition, the type of structure, where the supports are based, what types of demolition to best use, etc.
Deconstructing a building and allowing the contents to be sold for recycling or removing fixed machinery are factors that need be taken into consideration. Added to this, explosions can be caused by accidental detonations, gas build up (especially in the case of plants) or leaks from pipes.
Yip, there’s lot’s that can go wrong with demolitions… should you ever need a demolition job done, make sure you use a reputable company, so you won’t feature in the host of ‘Demolition fail’ videos on YouTube!
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About Lee Finch
I started my journey at Leads 2 Business in 2004 as an account executive. In 2006 I moved over to MAPRO (Marketing, Advertising and PRO), and in 2012 I became a Director. It’s exceptionally rewarding being a part of the Leads 2 Business team. I’m incredibly proud of the achievements and business ethos and I’ve always firmly believed we offer a valuable service, fine-tuned to our subscriber needs. I am a Mom of two beautiful children, a lover of human interaction, laughter and light, sprinkled with a generous dose of fun.
Michael B.
As a demo contractor, worst nightmares here!
Sasha Anderson
Good Day Michael,
Thanks for your comment and getting in touch with us. We value your feedback.
Brian Dave
How this happen? well if we back to the basic requirement of a B C Demolition, the procedure must be observed with great care, the plans, ways, even the machine, and the man-power involve must be equipped with the knowledge how to do this kind of job. Zero mistakes are the motto here.