For the last 37 years, Homrich, Inc., a third-generation, family-owned firm, has been leading Detroit, step by step, into the future.

On April 29, 2001, Homrich did its part in leading Detroit farther into the future. The firm was chosen to remove four, 15-story Edward J. Jeffries Housing Projects buildings in downtown Detroit. The Jeffries projects once consisted of eight, 15-story buildings, four that were razed by Homrich, two that have been renovated, and two more that are now undergoing renovation.

After earlier performing extensive environmental removals from all the structures and underground tunnels, Homrich chose as implosion sub-contractor fellow NADC member Dykon Explosive Demolition Corporation from Tulsa, Okla. Homrich chose to implode the structures because they wanted to cause as little disturbance to the elderly city residents remaining within the complex.

In only three days, and roughly 230 lbs of explosives later, the buildings were ready to come down. The explosives were set in selected columns in the basements, first, second, fifth, and tenth floors of the buildings.

The charges were detonated. Then all the pressure came rushing downward as, one after the other, all four buildings found their way safely to the ground.

The next step was to begin processing, segregating, and loading out the materials. This was the longest and most tedious task of the project and took nearly two months.

The picturesque, 108-year-old Grain Belt Brewery in north Minneapolis became a popular landmark during the last century, attracting beer lovers, tourists and curiosity seekers from all over the Upper Midwest. Unfortunately for many, the brewery went dry and the building became vacant, when the company was sold more than 25 years ago.

Finally, after many development schemes had come and gone, a solid plan was put together by a leading contractor/developer, the city's own development agency and a leading architectural firm, who will become the building's primary tenant. Their plan is to retain the brewery's charming exterior appearance, but re-construct the interior of the seven-story behemoth into an upscale office complex. The remodeled structure would also serve to attract other businesses and multiple housing units, as part of a larger development plan to improve an area along the Mississippi River just north of downtown Minneapolis.

The $20.3-million project got underway in October, 2000 with a $3-million contract for environmental remediation and selective demolition.

Spearheading the charge, as it has for so many milestone development projects in the Twin Cities, was Veit & Company, a leading excavation, demolition and utility contractor. It was joined by Veit Environmental, Inc., an asbestos, lead and microbial abatement company. Both are units of Veit Companies, which is headquartered in nearby Rogers, Minn.

Veit Environmental removed large quantities of asbestos-containing materials, such as thermal insulation from the brew house, and unearthed and disposed of asbestos-containing materials that were buried on the property years earlier. The asbestos removal included stripping the boilers located in a three-story boiler house.

Lead-based paint, which was located throughout the 104,000-sq-ft facility, was removed by using sandblasting and waterblasting techniques. Microbial abatement was accomplished by Veit employees in boson chairs moving up and down the walls of the brewery's six huge granaries.

Entire floors constructed of concrete with steel perlins were deteriorated and needed to be removed by Veit. Interior cat walks and mezzanines for monitoring beer-processing equipment were demolished. Plaster and limestone finishes were removed from interior walls to reveal the building's elaborate architecture.

Veit also removed additions to the building that were outside the footprint of the facility in order to make way for modern conveniences. Wall and floor openings were made for new stairwells and elevators. Acetylene torches, saws and brute force were needed to remove 14 fermenting tanks, two 20,000-gallon stainless steel holding tanks, three 10,000-gallon tanks, three massive boilers, and thousands of feet of pipe.

Ryan Companies recently awarded Veit Companies with its Subcontractor of the Year Safety Award. Veit's outstanding safety record over the years was also recognized earlier this year with the Governor's Safety Award from the Minnesota Safety Council.

The project, at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) in downtown Atlanta, is part of an approximately $300-million expansion.
The existing structure is a 100-ft-tall parking garage, consisting of 11 alternating levels of cast-in-place concrete. The scope of the project includes the removal of all but two full levels of the structure. Concrete beams and joists ranging from 2 ft by 6 in. to 2 ft by 4 ft thick need to be removed, while leaving the existing structural concrete columns intact. These columns support an area above that will remain occupied throughout the project.

A typical demolition project generally requires awareness of at least one exposure, such as an adjacent building, a street, or pedestrian access. This project, however, is surrounded on all six sides with 2 in. of expansion joint being the farthest distance to the adjacent structure, literally in a box-thus providing limited ingress and egress to the site.

Planning for the project began several years prior to mobilization; it involved some of the top structural engineers and architects in the world .

AMC also installed specific shoring for the 22-in.-deep pan deck concrete floors and floor beams during the removal process. AMC in-house engineers determined that the use of small, light, extremely powerful demolition equipment would be required.

AMC developed a plan that included the use of robotic, hydraulic, pneumatic equipment that they altered and developed. These means and methods were used throughout the project to assist in dealing with the structural constraints of the parking structure.

AMC's unique primary methods of demolition were a million dollars less than the next closest bidders using traditional concrete and wire sawing methods and techniques.

But actually it is CST Environmental, Inc.'s Demolition Division that is clearing this 160-acre, 4.5 million-sq-ft site in Pico Rivera, Calif.
Originally a Ford manufacturing plant, in the early 1980s Northrop Grumman converted the facility to a defense establishment for the United States. It is here that the famous B-2 Stealth bomber was produced for two decades.

The northern 90 acres of the site had to be cleared within the first ten weeks to meet delivery dates required by the owner. This section included over one million sq ft of concrete and steel buildings, slabs, footings, underground utilities, tunnels and hazardous building materials. CST completed the work within 60 days, a critical milestone in the overall project. On-time completion was accomplished by several means: comprehensive planning, efficient utilization of CST's manpower and equipment resources, and daily oversight by CST's senior management.

CST developed a strategy that segregated the site into 10 major demolition zones. Zones were then established with clear dividing lines so that each area could be safely completed.

Work commenced with up to 90 multi-tasked and cross-trained employees on site at a time. One team performs the environmental remediation while the other team focuses on recycling and recovery services. CST is utilizing up to 40 pieces of heavy demolition equipment on the site.

CST anticipates it will recycle close to 300,000 tons of concrete by the end of the project, along with 4 million sq ft of asphalt that will be pulverized in place. In total, CST will accomplish approximately 85% total recycling on this project.

In the rush to get fighter planes into production during the early years of the Korean War, Douglass Aircraft Co. converted a former aluminum production facility into an aircraft assembly plant. Thirty-eight days after converting the facility, they began producing airplanes.

In the process, they built over the foundation pits and other underground concrete on the site. When the facility's current owner, Boeing Realty Co., retained NADC members Viking Equipment Corp. and J&G Industries to demolish the plant, the memories and records of details of this wartime conversion had long been lost.

During the demolition of the two million sq ft of buildings on the 57-acre site, Viking and J&G began to uncover unexpected concrete. A search of facility archives uncovered a picture of the old ALCOA plant, which revealed the extent of concrete on the site. Before the project was completed, an additional 31,000 yds of concrete from this previous use on the site was excavated. In total, over 250,000 tons of concrete were crushed on site to be sold as road base.

During the same period, the partners demolished a larger project at the nearby former Long Beach Naval Shipyard and a former plumbing fixture facility on fifty acres, also in Southern California. In all three of these similar projects, concrete and steel recycled reached over 90% of the total materials on the jobs.

The Brokk now allows the operator complete mobility to move the diesel-driven machine while controlling the operation using a radio remote control box.

James Brady, vice president for BCA Equipment Corporation in the Bronx, NY, sees the diesel machine becoming a tool that is used for many exterior applications including utilities, transportation and bridge projects. "This machine can do the job of a 20,000- to 30,000-lb excavator at one-third the size-when you're working in a heavily populated area like New York, size is a huge consideration."

There are many NADC members who own the Brokk and have incorporated it into their day-to-day equipment operations. Many contractors have used the Brokk to solve complicated interior demolition projects from floor-to-floor soft guts in a high rise, to spillways inside a dam. Many have found it an answer to the growing problem of manpower on the job. The cost of workers using hand tools versus the Brokk with skilled operator can see a 6 to 1 advantage. This lowers overall cost, increases production and, at the end of the day, increases bottom line profits.

The uniqueness of the Brokk product is what has propelled it to the front of the market. Most contractors are looking for something that can help them create profit in areas that their competition has not penetrated.

Big R Construction Company, located in Elizabeth, Colo., was recently awarded the demolition of the Hyatt Regency Hotel Parking Garage in Denver. Big R was confronted with a variety of different challenges as they began the project. First and foremost was the fact the garage was attached to a high-end hotel, the Hyatt Regency, and the company had to work within established noise constraints so the hotel's guests were not disturbed. In addition, the garage was close to a 6-in. gas main.

Big R built protective cages for the gas main. This insured that there would be no problems or accidents with the line. All the concrete from the parking garage was recycled. It was used as a 4-ft base course for the new garage planned for the site. The main reason the existing garage had to be demolished in the first place was because the original base was not properly prepared and the floor had started to heave.

Big R Construction has been involved with the recent redevelopment of Fitzsimons, an old Army medical base. They did a great part of the demolition of a number of old barracks and medical buildings. Other major projects that they worked on include Denver's North Side Treatment Plant. After all the demolition work was completed, the plant was turned into a city park. The company is also finishing up a large project at the old Stapleton Airport, Denver International Airport's predecessor.

R. Baker & Son recently completed the demolition of JFK'S American Airlines Concourse "C" and terminal in Queens, NY. Begun in December, 2000 and completed by the end of June, 2001, this high-profile project called for very tight security and stringent safety precautions.

The project was made up of five integrated phases:

Phase One involved the interior demolition of Concourse "C". This consisted of removing all ceiling tiles, sheetrock, wood, electrical conduit, electrical wiring and fiberglass insulation. The owner, the Port Authority of NY & NJ, severely restricted any generation of dust or debris that might have found its way into the engines of the jet planes.

Phase Two consisted of the separation of Concourse "C" from the terminal building and the demolition of the concourse. The separation of the concourse had to be done with the utmost care as the terminal area was occupied and remained in use during the demolition.

Phase Three involved the interim demolition of the center portion of the terminal that connected Terminal No. 8 to Terminal No. 9. During the entire hand-separation phase, terminal communication lines were required to remain operational.

Phase Four involved the complete interior demolition of the two ends of the terminal connecting Terminal No. 8 and Terminal No. 9. A portion of this work had to be done between midnight and 6:00 am to minimize exposure to the public.

In Phase Five, the demolition consisted of the removal of the remainder of the terminal connector along with the baggage handling areas, roof structures and any remaining walls and materials in the basement area.

All metals and concrete generated by this project were separated and shipped to the appropriate recycler.

All equipment manufacturers test their products and recently Allied-Gator was given a rare opportunity to put its new Multi-Tool (MT) processor shear to the test on a monumental industrial stripout project side by side with several of its competitor products. A total of 14 shears were chosen to stripout and process for recycling over 15,000 tons of steel structure and equipment from an area more than two million sq ft in size in just four weeks. The equipment included three new Allied-Gator MT70s, two Allied-Gator 2000 Series (2022 and 2029 models) and shears from two other leading manufacturers.

When put to the test, the Allied-Gator MT70 units proved to be versatile enough to precisely reach and efficiently shear the unwanted steel structure and equipment without damaging surrounding lines or building supports. The compact MT70s were easily maneuvered into place, and the units demonstrated enhanced power due to the enclosed single-cylinder link system that delivered increasing power throughout the full cycle of the cut. Everything from conveyors and equipment to structural steel presented no problem for the MT70s. In addition, the MT's revolutionary design allowed the operator to clearly see the actual cut, a feature that increased safety. Endurance and reliability were also tested on site. All units were required to operate on a grueling 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week schedule for the 4-week dismantling project. The MT's minimal maintenance requirements minimized downtime as compared to the competitors.

Even though previous field testing of the MT70 units indicated their great potential, the challenges presented at this project-the shear magnitude of the job, the tight working conditions, and the complete spectrum of materials that had to be removed-clearly proved that these radically different Multi-Tool Series far surpass the performance of traditional shears.

Allied-Gator is planning nine sizes in the MT Series and additional jaw sets for crackers and crusher/pulverizers will be available soon.

Beginning in the spring of 2000 at Kellogg's Cereal Plant in Battle Creek, Mich., the sounds of Snap! Crackle! Pop! were not just coming from its famous cereal. Kellogg's hired Bierlein to demolish and remove an outdated 2,000,000-sq-ft cereal manufacturing plant. This plant was replaced with a state-of-the-art plant on the same site.

Portions of the facility being demolished were the first structures built by Kellogg's for its cereal manufacturing plant. Now obsolete, these buildings were nestled in a cluster of newer buildings and needed to be removed with the other structures remaining intact and operational. Bierlein also had to leave intact certain elements that were attached to the outside of the surrounding buildings. They covered the live lines and equipment with crane mats to protect them from falling debris as work progressed.

The train unloading docks for grains required for cereal production were less than 20 ft away from the demolition. Bierlein was required to make certain that no dust or other contaminants got into the grain while it was being unloaded.

Over 100,000 linear ft of asbestos insulation was abated prior to the commencement of demolition activities. A large quantity of PCBs were collected and disposed of according to EPA specifications, minimizing Kellogg's liability exposure and improving the quality of the environment.

Like so many customers in the past, Kellogg's has been extremely pleased with the contracted demolition work. The project is scheduled for an early completion in November, leaving Kellogg's personnel saying, Bierlein Companies-They're GR-R-RREAT!!