At
exactly 9:00 am on Saturday November 29, 2003, NADC members
D.H. Griffin of Texas, Inc. (DHGT) and Demolition Dynamics,
Inc. imploded the Education and the Land & Natural Resources
Buildings located in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the
State of Louisiana's Department of Facility Planning and Control.
The
"Education" Building was a 14-story steel structure
that was 180 feet tall. The "Land & Natural Resources"
Building was a 14-story steel structure that had a 6-story
penthouse on top and stood 220 feet tall. Workers prepared
the structures for the explosives by precutting the steel
members and loading 592 explosive charges in 388 positions.
The implosions were initiated to go off four seconds apart,
the Education Building first and the Land & Natural Resources
four seconds later. The separation in the implosions lessened
the concussion.
Prior to the implosion, D.H. Griffin of Texas, Inc., the General
Contractor for the project, oversaw the removal of all asbestos-containing
materials, which required the project be manned with approximately
90 asbestos workers for three months.
During the asbestos abatement portion of the project it was
discovered that for some unknown reason there was asbestos
materials between the concrete floor slabs and the metal pan
decking. This discovery meant that the pan decking had to
be removed by torch cutting around the beams, pressure washing
the underside of the floor slabs and then encapsulating the
slabs to lock in any possible loose fibers. This process was
performed throughout both buildings and totaled over 300.000
square feet of area. The process required an engineering design
of innovative solutions for building and floor access after
the pan decking was removed, since the structural integrity
of the building floors had been severely compromised.
The
project ran the gamut of tasks that demolition contractors
routinely perform. As always, community relations were a very
important part of the project due to its location. The project
site was in the central part of the state capitol with a historic
residential area as well as other historic buildings in close
proximity. The Project Manager was required to perform as
a public relations manager a well as a construction project
administrator.
Extensive regulatory interface was required since there were
other environmental issues in addition to asbestos. The Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality literally "oversaw"
the project since their offices were located in a high-rise
office building adjacent to the site. The project required
extensive planning and coordination with a very diverse group
of concerned parties. As with their recent New Orleans project,
DHGT executed the work in a "good neighbor" manner,
keeping in mind that the site was located in the heart of
the City of Baton Rouge and at the center of the state's government.
To further address the community's concerns, DHGT and Demolition
Dynamics contracted NADC-member Protec Documentation Services
to perform pre and post-blast structure inspections at dozens
of neighboring buildings.
Of particular concern was St. Joseph Cathedral, the oldest
church in all of Louisiana. The historic complex stood less
then 80 feet from the demolition site, and required multiple
condition inspections prior to the blast and throughout the
demolition process to verify that no structural or cosmetic
changes had occurred.
On
the day of the implosion, Protec teams installed more than
two dozen seismic and photographic monitors to document ground
vibration levels and overall project execution.
Griffin, as the General Contractor, oversaw the installation
of new construction such as new CMU walls, rerouting of utilities,
the installation of new electrical switchgear and transformer.
An underground parking garage connected both structures and
passed under Fourth Street which is the main street leading
to the State Capital Building. In order to maintain the flow
of traffic and provide for structural integrity, Griffin installed
CMU walls with steel bracing and filled in the void under
the street with flow able fill and concrete.
It is expected that the entire project will produce approximately
60,000 tons of concrete/masonry debris and 6,000 tons of scrap
iron and metals. All of these materials will be recycled.
Other than asbestos-containing material the project generated
very limited amounts of material requiring land filling.
Once the site is cleared of all debris, Griffin will oversee
the backfilling and re-grading of the entire site in preparation
for new construction. Before the site is graded, piles and
pile caps will be located, exposed and tested. These piles
and pile caps will be used for the new buildings to be constructed.
The reuse of the piles will save the state considerable expense
during new construction.
During the implosion, Griffin worked with the Dream Day Foundation
and had one of their children push the button to initiate
the implosion of the Education Building. A State employee
won a raffle to push the button to initiate the implosion
of the Land & Natural Resources Building.
