ROSSLYN - bergdemo.com

7 • DEMOLITION • JULY/AUG 2005

ROSSLYN, VA

No matter what region of the

country you hail from, and regardless

if you are a large or small concern,

there are certain truisms to any

demolition business. There are never

enough dump trucks available when

you need them. You can never find

enough talented operators. No city

has more than one crane operator

capable of balling a building and he

is invariably 80 years old, grouchy

and has made plans to go hunting

every day you need him, and finally, your company is always presented with its greatest opportunities when

you are crushed with other work.

No matter what region of the country you hail from, and regardless if you are a large or small

concern, there are certain truisms to any demolition business. There are never enough dump trucks

available when you need them. You can never find enough talented operators. No city has more than one

crane operator capable of balling a building and he is invariably 80 years old, grouchy and has made plans

to go hunting every day you need him, and finally, your company is always presented with its greatest

opportunities when you are crushed with other work.

Facelift forRosslyn

Berg Style


Clark Construction, exceeding their profit

margin projections, and surviving a

Virginia Occupational Safety and Health

Administration inspection with absolutely no

infractions.

Berg developed two control crucial

documents. First came a schedule denoting a

start and completion point for every task on

the project. The second was a budget that

tracked all direct costs on a daily basis. The

importance of these seemingly innocuous

spreadsheets cannot be overstated. They kept

the goals of a multifaceted project consistent

and in focus. Berg used them to efficiently

review the project on a daily basis. They were

able to right any deviations from schedule or

budget immediately.

The gut for this project would have to

be the most thorough The Berg Group had

ever performed in order to facilitate efficient

and timely balling of the structures. They

were also required under the

contract to use the 11,000 cubic

yards of the concrete from the

demolished structures to build

a bench system to be utilized

for pile driving. Anything less

than a pure concrete product

left behind would damage their

reputation with their new

This past December it was 15 degrees outside but inside,

The Berg Group’s business was on fire. They were packed with

work and scrambling to get it done. Then the phone rang. Clark

Construction, one of the nation’s premier general contractors, was

on the line soliciting bids on what is was become one of the largest

projects the Baltimore-based Berg Group would ever tackled and

with a time frame for completion so aggressive that Berg’s man-

agement team unanimously felt was impossible. So Berg did what

anybody in the demolition

business would do. They took

the job!

The Berg Group had

five months and one week to

gut out, ball down, load out,

process and construct a bench

for three high-rise towers

totaling 400,000 square feet

and a 125 foot pedestrian

bridge transversing a six lane

artery leading into the

nation’s capitol. There could

be no poor decisions or wasted days to accomplish this feat.

Berg had come to the conclusion as an organization that

their success or failure in the field was a product of their plan-

ning and preparedness long before they physically set foot on a

project site. Their preplanning for this project was integral to

meeting and, ultimately, beating the schedule demanded by


client. To effectuate a gut to these strict standards

within the timeframe prescribed would necessitate

having adequate and capable staff to work on five

floors simultaneously and to complete each floor in

no more than four days.

The five independent crews gutting the

structures had to be managed and supported to

ensure no team exceeded their four-day window.

One team exceeding their time frame would set off

a chain reaction of additional crane costs or under-

utilized assets in an attempt to get the teams back

in sync.

First, The Berg Group assigned one of their

division vice presidents to be a permanent fixture

on site, personally overseeing every aspect of the

project. Their senior operational management con-

tingent would join him each morning at the site to

review adherence to their budget and schedule.

They would also scrutinize their short-term

goals and brainstorm to guarantee optimum effi-

ciency. Their heavy demolition contingent was

fully engaged in the planning and administration of

the gutting facet of the project adding input and

direction to help ensure a superior final product.

Secondly, Berg used a combination of their

own staff, augmented with a crack team of skid-

steer operators from a small interior demolition

company.

Another integral element to success was a

field designed chute system to get demolition

waste and tin to the ground in the most expeditious

fashion possible. This design was aggressive and

pushed the envelope of acceptable chute systems.

The chute design allowed for maximum unfettered

egress. The system ultimately met the scrutiny of

our client as well as the Virginia Occupational

Safety and Health Administration.

The Berg Group’s gutting team was also

charged with removing the façade from the struc-

tures. Left to come down with the buildings, this


debris had the potential to sail into the heavy flow of nearby traf-

fic or into neighboring structures. The final piece of the puzzle

for the gutting contingent was the removal of a 125-foot pedestri-

an bridge over one of the busiest arteries in the nation.

Before they started Berg had to produce a lane closure and

ultimate road closure plan to remove this structure with no periph-

eral damage or injuries. Actual removal was

broken down into three elements; the exposure

of the steel skeletal system that supported

the physical bridge. A Brokk 250 Robotic

Demolition tool and a John Deere 595D outfit-

ted with a 3,000 pound hammer were utilized

for this task. There were three beams weighing

26,000 pounds each supporting the bridge

deck.

With the assistance of a 150-ton crane

the company closed the road, cut the beams at

the support pillars and removed them at night.

They prepared the beams and sold them for

salvage. Finally, Berg employed their John

Deere in removing the concrete pillars that

supported the bridge.

Most notable was the result of a sur-

prise inspection by Virginia Occupational


upcoming 11th Annual Safety Summit in

October ‘05 in Baltimore to focus on proper

preparation and appropriate actions when

faced with a surprise OSHA inspection.

Immediately upon completion of

gutting activities on the first building,

balling operations commenced with the

company’s 85-ton P&H crane. It took

approximately a week to fell the seven-

story structure that sat about ten feet

from its closest neighbor and eight feet

from the roadway. Seventy feet of the

structure fell at once in implosion-like

unison, a pure masterpiece in the demoli-

tion genre. Simultaneously, Berg initiated

on the ground demolition and separation

activities with three PC 300’s and a PC

400 equipped with buckets, grapples,

shears, and pulverizers.

The PC 300 started to tear down

a concrete three-story parking garage.

The 400 began bailing back the debris on

the peripheral of the balling operation.

The entire seven-story structure and

parking garage, totaling 116,000 square

feet, was processed and loaded out in

three weeks.

Safety and Health Administration. During the inspec-

tion, Berg’s workforce was fully engaged in torching out

the penthouses, gutting multiple floors of one 12-story

structure, balling a second 12-story structure, loading

out a contingent of ten tri-axles and three demolition

trailers.

There were no VOSHA infractions. This was

phenomenal. The Berg Group’s experience with this

inspection and subsequent discussions with the Health

and Safety Committee of the National Demolition

Association has prompted a one-day seminar at the


This process was repeated on the two remaining 12-story

structures. The phenomenal production of the heavy demolition

contingent definitely fueled the project. They were constantly

nipping at the heels of the gutting operations, adding a sense of

urgency to the process.

The balling of one of the 12-story structures presented a

unique challenge as it fronted a six-lane highway. The building

stood a mere eight feet from traffic. Anything less than a flawless

textbook balling sequence would have meant disaster.

The building was felled to its core with not a speck of dust

leaving the footprint of the structure. The Berg Group’s clients

and the owners of the project were present to witness the final

crescendo and were “blown away” with the precision and pre-

dictability of the event.

The final eight weeks of the project were focused on the

processing of the two 12-story structures, underground parking

garage and interior foundation walls. All the material was con-

crete processed. All of the rebar was loaded out for salvage.

Much of the concrete was incorporated into the bench design,

with the remainder shipped out as fill material to a nearby project.

The Rosslyn project was completed a full month ahead of

schedule. The Berg Group’s new client has invited them to bid on

three subsequent projects. The management of The Berg Group

credits all of their employees involved in making the Waterview,

VA project such a grand success.

PROJECT DATASHEET

EQUIPMENT UTILIZED:

BROKK 250 RoboticDemolition Tool

8 – BOBCAT S-160Skidsteer Loaders

with Grapple / HammerAttachments

JOHN DEERE 595Dwith 3,000 Pound Hammer

Attachment

KOMATSU PC 220

3 – KOMATSU PC 300’S

KOMATSU PC 400

P & H 85 TON CRANE

CONSTRUCTION /DEMOLITION DEBRISTONNAGE HAULED:

2,800 TONS

CONCRETE LOADSHAULED OFFSITE:

45,000 TONS

REBAR PROCESSED& HAULED OFFSITE:

1,000 TONS

PLATE & STRUCTURALHAULED OFFSITE:

23 TONS

TIN HAULED OFFSITE:

640 TONS

DEMOLITION

ROSSLYN - bergdemo.com

Documents

Transcript of ROSSLYN - bergdemo.com