Koppers Tar Plant, Middlesbrough

This project involved the removal of asbestos pipe lagging, the remote demolition of 12 steel tanks these were approximately 16 metres in height and the removal and crushing of all concrete bases. The project was valued at approximately £1,000,000 and the time scale was estimated at 24 weeks.

A 2-metre-high boundary was placed around the site using palisade fencing, CCTV security cameras were also put on site to ensure full security. The site compound, which was set up prior to work commencing as per CDM regs 2015, consisted of parking for up to 10 vehicles, 2 welfare units and 1 site office.

The licensed asbestos removal was under- taken by HAR over a 6-week period with approximately 6 operatives. All asbestos works were carried out as per control of asbestos regulations 2012, with separate muster points in place in case of emergency.

The steel tanks and associated pipe work were purged, and the site manager was issued with a gas free certificate prior to removal. To avoid working at height and minimise hot works, the method decided upon was to shear the steelwork using a Komatsu 350 high reach demolition rig.

With safe working zones in place and communication between the banksman and operator via 2 way radio, the high reach sheared sections of the tanks and pipework until reduced in height sufficiently. This then allowed our Doosan 420 to complete the rest of the task. The high reach then proceeded to undergo works on the next tank.

Once the first tank had been demolished, we used two of our Doosan 300s with various attachments to process the arising materials.

The steel was loaded onto Metropolitan’s 8 wheeler skip wagon and removed from site and transported to Wards Metals for recycling. The total amount of recycled steel was in the region of 3500 tons. Only 300 tons of waste, which consisted of felt and Perspex, found its way to landfill.

We monitored all on-site vehicle movements with trained banksmen and one-way systems were put in place with segregated pedestrian walkways to reduce the risk of injury to personnel.

All safe working and pedestrian zones and the boundary fencing were logged on the temporary works register and checked as per TW 2019.

Once the demolition had been completed, the next phase was the removal of the concrete base and associated foundations. The 2 Doosan 300s with hydraulic breaker attachments “popped” the base paving the way for the Doosan 420 to begin lifting and loading onto the 30t dump truck. The material was then tipped into a segregated area where the Doosan 350 with pulveriser attachment processed the concrete ready to be crushed.

Once all the material was processed the Doosan 420 loaded it into the Pegson XR400 crusher, where the material was reduced to 60 mm.

A Volvo L150 loading shovel removed the finished product to an agreed area to be re-used along with the steel, this meant approximately 96% of all materials were recycled or re-used. Dust suppression was in place throughout the project via 2 screen pod dust cannons. Daily briefings were carried out by the site manager and regular progress meetings were held with the client. Originally, we had 10 demolition operatives on site: 5 plant operators and 5 bankmen/ labourers.

Due to the Covid -19 pandemic the numbers were reduced to 4 plant operators and 2 banksmen. We also had an outdoor canopy erected to enable daily briefings and site meetings to continue to take place while adhering to the 2 metre rule. The site manager was issued with a thermometer and all personnel entering the site had their temperatures checked.

The project was completed 3 weeks ahead of schedule.