Explosive Demolition

PHOTO: BROWN AND MASON

BROWN AND MASON

COUNTRY United Kingdom

PROJECT Redcar Power Plant

CLIENT South Tees Development Corp

Brown and Mason Group (BMG) was contracted in 2022 to demolish the Redcar Power Station.

A key part of Europe’s largest freeport development by the South Tees Development Corporation.

The project involved demolishing large structures, including a 100m Flare Stack, a 115m Multi-flue Chimney, a 22,000 cu m De-aerator Structure, and a 100m Gas Holder, using controlled explosives.

The complex event required technical expertise and safety management.

BMG’s team managed everything, from exclusion zone safety to media coordination, ensuring a seamless and safe demolition while supporting the area’s regeneration. The contract was completed in September 2023. ■

PHOTO: CONTROLLED DEMOLITION INC

CONTROLLED DEMOLITION INC

COUNTRY United States

PROJECT Francis Scott Key Bridge

CLIENT Resolve Marine

On March 26, 2024, the MV Dali container vessel impacted the southern channel pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing collapse of the pier and progressive failure of the entire 774-m continuous truss. Controlled Demolition Inc (CDI) used explosive charges to isolate the structural members in a 60-foot-wide portion of the fallen truss on the Port side of the vessel, to remove the load imposed on the bow by the 600-foot-long truss.

The team prepared and loaded 151 pieces of linear shaped charge explosives at 52 cut points on the truss. On May 13, a non-electric system detonated 312.69 lbs of explosives over 9.6 milliseconds, just before low tide, per schedule, resulting in no damage to the vessel or its cargo. ■

PHOTO: LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL

LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL

COUNTRY Australia

PROJECT Northern Producer Decommissioning

CLIENT Qualimar Shipping/Northern Offshore UK

Built in 1976 and decommissioned in 2021, the Northern Producer platform was delivered to Liberty Industrial at Kishorn Port, Scotland, in 2023.

The project adopted a first-of-itskind approach for such an asset, with decommissioning in a dry dock.

The Northern Producer platform, weighing 11,200 tonnes with a complex steel structure, required 650 tonnes of hazardous materials to be removed prior to blowdown.

The plan required explosive techniques to protect dry dock infrastructure.

Liberty Industrial designed a precise demolition that controlled the structure’s fall in a safe and controlled manner. ■

PHOTO: LINDAMOOD

LINDAMOOD

COUNTRY United States

PROJECT UT Southwester Implosion

CLIENT Batson Cook

Lindamood was contracted to manage the demolition of the Paul M. Bass Administrative and Clinical Center at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center.

This project, one of the largest demolition contracts in Texas history, involved demolishing three high-rise towers, support facilities, thermal energy plant, and parking structures without interrupting sensitive campus operations. Lindamood began environmental remediation and conventional demolition in May 2022, clearing over 11,600 sq m of low-rise structures. The subsequent implosion of the 14-storey Tower 3, the 15-storey Tower 2, and the 13-storey Tower 1, required meticulous planning. Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI) was brought in for this phase, designing an implosion sequence that used 600 pounds of dynamite and 980 linear feet of steel-cutting charges. ■

PHOTO: TARGET CONTRACTORS

TARGET CONTRACTORS

COUNTRY United States

PROJECT Lashkowitze High Rise Apartment Complex

CLIENT Fargo Housing & Redevelopment Authority

Located in a highly urban area and near a major river and flood wall, the Lashkowitz

High Rise Apartment Complex was a 22-storey, 14,000-sq-m facility that provided 200 units of affordable housing for the local community.

Target conducted extensive planning and performed abatement of 56,280 sq m of asbestos containing materials, and removed tens of thousands of bulbs, ballasts, and other various types of regulated material, as well as aboveground and underground storage tanks. Following abatement and interior demolition, Target, and its explosives subcontractor Dykon, successfully conducted an implosion that took approximately 15 seconds. ■ >