Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday removed Martin Tower, the vacant 21-story building that was once the world headquarters of Bethlehem Steel, from the list of historic landmarks the city aims to protect under a proposed anti-demolition law.

While he hopes Martin Tower the tallest building in the Lehigh Valley can one day be reused, Councilman Michael Recchiuti said the anti-demolition law could hinder redevelopment of the 52-acre site.

"We, as a council, should be looking to remove barriers to redevelop that parcel," Recchiuti said.

Martin Tower was built in 1972 as a symbol of Steel's might, and then became an emblem of the mismanagement that led to its demise. After Steel declared bankruptcy in 2001, there was little demand for 600,000 square feet of offices for one company, and the tower's shape and size weren't attractive to investors. It needs a lot of work, possibly $16.5 million alone for asbestos removal and a sprinkler system.

Developers Lewis Ronca of Wind Drift Real Estate in Bethlehem Township and media mogul Norton Herrick of Morristown, N.J., own the building and plan to turn it into a residential community with retail development.

Council passed an ordinance in 2006 that requires the tower be saved if the developers build residences. Meanwhile, the developers secured the tower a place on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that positions the developers for lucrative tax credits if they restore the tower to historic standards.

But progress on the tower's redevelopment stalled after the economy tanked and when approval of a special financing district stalled before the Bethlehem Area School Board.

Mayor John Callahan, who has lobbied for the financing to restore the tower, said he supported council's decision to take Martin Tower off the anti-demolition list.

"There are plenty of other incentives to keep Martin Tower," he said.

The developers were not at the council meeting and could not be reached Tuesday night.

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Bethlehem strikes Martin Tower from anti- demolition list

Photo courtesy of Ward Demolition Co.

Local contractor Ward Demolition brings down an unsafe building.

Courtesy of Ward Demolition Co.

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Demolition experts say one of the lessons learned in the ongoing recovery efforts after the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, is that contractors should have more involvement in emergency preparedness.

Meeting on March 23-26 in San Diegoin a state that potentially has much to learn from the New Zealand experiencethe National Demolition Association (NDA) released a six-point guide to improve disaster recovery and preparedness. "There were a lot of good takeaways that we can apply in California," says Stephen Sellers, assistant secretary with the California Emergency Management Agency.

However, NDA representatives questioned whether governments in disaster-prone areas are fully prepared. "There is no doubt in my mind that a major earthquake in a highly urbanized area will be the ultimate test for any city, state or the U.S. government," says Mark Loizeaux, president of Phoenix, Md.-based Controlled Demolition Inc.

While Christchurch experienced a magnitude-6.3 quake, relatively low on the Richter scale, its shallow depth and the area's sandy soil led to the second-highest level of peak ground acceleration ever recorded, second only to the 2011 quake in Fukushima, Japan.

"I was not prepared for what I saw in Christchurch," says John Weber, retired president of ICONCO/LVI Demolitions Services, Oakland. In March 2011, Weber was part of a team assembled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assist the New Zealand government with recovery. Christchurch was virtually shut down. The entire central business district of 1,000 city blocks was fenced off and restricted, he says.

While 1,200 commercial buildings have been demolished to date, a large chunk of the central business district is still off-limits and several hundred more commercial buildings and thousands of residences wait to be demolished.

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Demolition Contractors Ask for a Larger Role in Disaster Planning

Demolition begins at 11.2m RNLI centre

8:57am Wednesday 3rd April 2013 in News By Paula Roberts

A DEMOLITION programme has begun at the RNLI headquarters in Poole to pave the way for an all-weather lifeboat centre.

The facility will allow the charity to build lifeboats in-house for the very first time saving millions of pounds each year and creating 90 new jobs.

The 11.2million project will see the demolition of various buildings on the site and this stage is expected to last around 15 weeks.

BAM Nuttall has been appointed as the RNLIs marine contractor and will carry out the demolition work, along with the work to strengthen the quay wall adjacent to the RNLIs site prior to the construction of the new building.

Howard Richings, head of estates management for the RNLI, said: Wed like to apologise in advance for any disturbance our neighbours suffer as a result of this necessary work.

We are aware we have private residents, businesses and a supermarket near to our site and sincerely hope the measures weve put in place will minimise any inconvenience they may experience.

These measures include restricting heavy plant operations to between 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8.30am to 1pm on Saturdays. Screening will be used to reduce the noise and water sprinklers will dampen dust from the concrete as its broken down and stockpiled.

Mr Richings added: Environmental considerations are a key part of this project and we aim to keep costs down, so well be recycling and reusing materials from the old buildings wherever possible. This is why were breaking down the concrete on site. It means we dont have to transport waste material away to landfill sites, or have HGVs on local roads delivering new materials to the site at extra cost.

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Demolition begins at £11.2m RNLI centre

Demolition bids for the Horace Mann building came in at a total cost of $375,980, under the projected $596,000 budget estimate.

"The city had the property for 12 years, and got nine years of use from the property and the building has also provided a value to the community and its citizens as long as we were able to maintain it," City Manager Ron Neibert said. "We were fortunate the bids came in some $200,000 under the budgeted projection."

There were seven bidders for the demolition potion of the project, and six bidders for the asbestos abatement portion. One demolition bid, from Dora & Associates, was disqualified due to lack of required documentation and certification as required in the bid specifications. The low bid on asbestos abatement was awarded to Talbert ICS in the amount of $205,000; the demolition bid was awarded to Green Trac, at a cost of $170,980.

According to Neibert, the project was bid in two components in order to get lower bids.

"To do the asbestos portion of the demolition, a contractor must be certified in the State of Illinois under the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency guidelines," Neibert explained. "If we had bid the project as one component, we wouldn't have gotten as competitive bids, as we would have been limiting the bidding to those companies which could do both the asbestos and the demolition."

Bids include taking the property, located on Perkins Avenue, back to a green space and seeded. In addition, some structural elements will be removed during demolition for the Jefferson County Historical Society as well as Mt. Vernon City Schools District 80.

"There is going to be a group of former students and teachers that will have a get-together before demolition to share their memories," Mayor Mary Jane Chesley reported. "There will be bricks from the building available in a secure area of the property, and they will be able to take a brick to remember the school. ... There are good memories of that school and it has served us well. A lot of fine people went through those halls."

The building will be taken down completely and the lot will be a green space once demolition is completed.

"We have talked about the issue of community input on what takes place to the property after it has been seeded and made a green space, such as what could be put up to replace it and what may go there," City Councilman Ron Lash reminded the council.

In other business, the council:

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Demolition bids approved by council

FITCHBURG -- The oft-vandalized former Central Steam Plant is one step closer to demolition thanks to the city being awarded a $500,000 brownfields remediation grant from MassDevelopment.

According to Mayor Lisa Wong, the grant funds will be used for asbestos abatement at the plant and demolition of the building. The city applied for the grant last spring and received confirmation of the award last week, she said.

"The Central Steam Plant is one of the last major sites in the city that was abandoned and left for the community to cleanup," Wong said Saturday. "The state has been wonderful in providing the funds necessary for Fitchburg to turn an eyesore into a community space for nature lovers. With significant transportation projects underway in West Fitchburg, this is a great way to spruce up an area where we anticipate future growth and investment."

Wong expects the project to cost about $500,000, but the final amount won't be known until bids come in. If they come in a great deal higher than that, the city may opt to do only a partial demolition or supplement the project with Community Development Block Grant funds set aside for demolition purposes, she said.

The Central Steam Plant, built in 1928, used to supply steam and electricity to power the mills along the Nashua River in West Fitchburg. It was last used in the 1980s, when it was damaged by a fire, Wong said. The city took control of the plant in 2004 and built the Steamline Trail in 2006,

The Central Steam Plant has been the target of repeated vandalism over the years, due to the presence of brass and copper items that thieves sell for scrap metal. Much of the machinery in the building still contains oil, and June break-in caused a large amount of that oil to leak into the Nashua River.

Over the next few weeks, the city will sign the agreement with the state and then develop a bid package, Wong said. She expects it will take several months to bid the project and said a contractor should be secured by early summer.

The project will start with asbestos abatement. That portion alone may take up to two to three months, she said, due to the layout of the building and a series of catwalks that may or may not be safe for workers to stand on.

Follow Alana Melanson at facebook.com/alanasentinel or on Twitter @alanamelanson.

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Grant will pay for demolition of Fitchburg plant

MT. VERNON The city council will hear bid results for the demolition of Horace Mann School during its meeting tonight.

The council approved seeking bids for the demolition of the former grade school in February. Bid specifications include the abatement of friable asbestos and black mold.

The school was deeded to the city for $1 in 2002 after the consolidation of District 80 schools into the Primary Center, J.L. Buford Intermediate Center and Casey Middle School.

The facility, under the ownership of the city, was used as a community center, with several fundraisers held under its roof and as a meeting place for the Heartland Young Marines. In addition, the building was used as a storage facility for the city.

In 2009, the city had to close the facility to the public after finding black mold. An environmental report released last year indicated the building not only has black mold, but friable asbestos, which is asbestos that is more easily released into the air and requires specific abatement procedures during demolition under Illinois Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

Once plans for the building demolition were finalized, city officials and officials from Mt. Vernon City Schools District 80 toured the facility so any momentos could be salvaged prior to demolition.

In other business, the council will:

Hear bid results for the demolition of five residential homes;

Hold a second reading on an ordinance to revise the liquor ordinances to allow for alcoholic liquor sales under the winery license;

Hold a second reading on the transfer of surplus property;

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Council to discuss demolition bids

CINCINNATI (AP) - Demolition has begun on the historic Cincinnati home of the inventor of Ivory soap after a 4-year battle to save it.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/10opdTg ) that the demolition of the Gamble house in Cincinnati began Monday morning.

James N. Gamble, the son of 1 the founders of Procter & Gamble, lived in the 13-room Victorian mansion from 1875 until his 1932 death. He invented Ivory soap and turned his father's company into an international powerhouse during that time.

Preservationists and neighbors fought the demolition since 2009 through lawsuits, protests and other means.

The home's owner, the Greenacres Foundation, applied for a permit to demolish the house. The foundation had said the house was beyond repair.

The company handling the demolition expected the entire mansion to be pulled down Monday.

Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Demolition begins on historic Cincinnati home

New Reality TV Series Kings of Crash features demolition derby competitions and a look at the lives of Ryan and Katy Sweat, parents of 5 who share a dangerous hobby with their family.

Heber, UT (PRWEB) March 30, 2013

The Utah based husband and wife team balance the priorities of an active family, working full time jobs, and running their 40 acre family ranch with a tremendously exciting and dangerous hobby and passion, demolition derby. Now the nation has tuned in to watch weekly episodes with the objective of smash or be smashed and feature Sweat family clips with their home and kids along with derby night drama.

Katy and Ryan Sweats TV fame started last year when they were approached by a production company that wanted to make a reality series about the demolition derby and its drivers. The Sweats drive in six demolition derby shows during the summer and work all year around their full time jobs and their childrens busy schedules to prepare. They agreed to let a camera a crew follow them through the competitive derby season so more people could enjoy the sport.

Demolition Derby is dangerous but not nearly as dangerous as it may seem. The Derby cars are built with the drivers safety in mind and the Derby rules also focus on safe competition, said Ryan Sweat. The film crew followed us through Derby season to show how and why we do what we do. Demolition Derby is our passion and is also a way of life for my wife and our kids.

Demolition Derby cars are expensive to build. They are stripped of fixtures, lights and glass and numbered. Drivers wearing at least a seat belt and a helmet race in heats that require them to hit another car every two minutes. The last running car that makes contact with another driver wins. As a team, Ryan and Katy Sweat drive for prize money that hardly covers the cost of repairing their demolition cars from event to event as they travel to county fairs and competitions in Utah each summer. Ryan and his wife, Utah natives, have been competing for 22 years.

Ryan Sweat who has had a knack for working on cars since he was a kid is also known for his aggressive driving style which has destroyed most of the cars he has built.

Preparing for the summers derby season is an expensive and takes all year, said Ryan Sweat, well known driver of car #57. We build the cars in our garage over the year and then in one wild crazy race the hard work could be smashed to bits and then we are back to rebuilding and finding parts for the next heat.

Katy says having the cameras following her family around their home and at the derbies took some getting used to but at the end of the season she hardly noticed them. She says between the kids and their school and sports and each of their jobs they just did what they normally did and got accustomed to being followed by a film crew while their family pursued their hobby.

My focus is my family and as a family we love to demolition derby. Thats what we do! said Katy Sweat. People ask me why we do something so dangerous when we have 5 kids, and I say that it really inspires us to see our kids cheering for us. We work together to build the cars and then we cheer each other on to destroy them! Plus hitting cars hard is a great stress relief I am a less grumpy mom after I rage in competition. Demolition derby is a dangerous hobby yet it makes us a stronger family!

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Demolition Derby Drivers and Parents of 5, Ryan and Katy Sweat are Fearless in New Reality TV Series

WESTWOOD, OH (FOX19) -

A four-year battle to save the historic Gamble House is almost over with demolition expected in just a few days.

The house, built in the 1830's, was the home of James Gamble for nearly six decades. Gamble was the inventor of Ivory Soap.

Since 2009, preservationists have been trying to save the Gamble House.

The house stands as a legacy to Gamble' devotion to community and philanthropy. Gamble lived a life of service and donated large sums of money to build Cincinnati's Christ Hospital and Nippert Stadium.

"I hate to see anything of the past, you know, go away because this is something that's irreplaceable," explained Westwood resident Rick Kesterman. "Once it's gone, it's gone and you need to have some of the past to know where you've been."

President of the Westwood Historical Society, Liz Kissel, says demolition of the Gamble House will be a needless loss.

"This is a clearly historic building for our community in particular because part of that building goes back to the 1840's," said Kissel. "[It's] very sad that people had it in their ability to help us save this and they chose not to."

Kissel says that preservationists offered to buy or renovate the Gamble House but were turned down by the Greenacres Foundation which owns the property.

FOX19 attempted to reach out to the Greenacres Foundation to get their side of the story but they have not responded.

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Demolition of historic Westwood house nears

Beginning Monday, April 1, crews will mobilize equipment in the filled lakebed area of the Ashland waterfront between the Ashland Marina and Kreher Park to prepare for the demolition of the Citys former wastewater treatment plant.

Following a plan approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, crews will install security fencing around the building and begin demolition, which may take 2-3 weeks.

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Demolition to begin on abandoned wastewater building