Explosive demolition of old buildings is always worth watching for the destruction and noise but just occasionally you get lucky and see what happens when things don’t quite go as planned.

This morning in Sheffield, DSR Demolition finished the removal of the front wall and stair well of a huge Art Deco factory building, once occupied by Osborn-Mushets.

Unfortunately, as you will see below, things didn’t quite go as planned with the last little bit when the stairwell refused to break up, sliding back on the rubble pile into the side of the adjacent factory unit.

Waiting for the bang – the klaxon has just sounded and you can see the stairwell block on the left – more of that later.

And we are off – very nice to hear the sound of cordtex echoing around the valley.

Front wall falling as planned.

The wall is now all on the ground with just the stairwell to go.

And after another wave of explosions, the stairwell starts to topple onto the rubble pile.

When all the dust had finally settled we headed off to get a better view of the damage only to find that the adjacent building wasn’t looking too healthy.

You can see from this view that the cladding and roofline of the new factory is looking a little the worse for wear.

And, after negotiating road closures, a view from the front where you can see where the stairwell has run back down the rubble pile and removed a large part of the end wall of the factory unit as well as substantially rearranging the cladding and roof.

Oops!

I am sure the owner of the property had the claim forms filled in before the dust had finished settling.

All in all, well worth getting out of bed early.