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MARCOR Remediation Demolishes Massive Titan Rocket Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral
Includes Rollover of 1,200-Ton Wall Section Using Innovative Approach
1/2/2008–Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL–Where workers once toiled, building four Titan rockets at one time in a mammoth Vertical Integration Building (VIB) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a pile of rubble now sits waiting for recycling and disposal. Crews from MARCOR Remediation, Inc., a national environmental contracting firm, have just completed the rollover of the 245-ft.-high structure, making way for new uses of the site by space-related commercial or government concerns.
The intact VIB measured 245 ft. high by 300 wide by 100 ft. deep in the main section of the building where the rockets were assembled. It also comprised five paneled doors measuring 40 ft. by 50 ft. and several low bays in the back of the structure where parts and equipment were kept for rocket assembly.
The VIB demolition is the latest project MARCOR is handling for AMEC and the U.S. Air Force. It includes the rollover of a 191-ft.-high by 100- ft.-deep by 24-ft.-wide wall section that weighs between 1,200 to 1,300 tons. "I’ve been working this industry for 27 years and it is the heaviest rollover I’ve ever done," noted Mark Klotzbach, MARCOR Senior Project Manager. To achieve the dramatic rollover of the section, the MARCOR crew, under Klotzbach’s direction, notch-cut each of the six columns supporting the structure in one column line and attached wire rope slings from column to column. With the wire rope attached to 300- and 400-series excavators, the excavators pulled the wire rope until it was taut, and then popped out the supporting column. "We then pulled the wire rope attached to the next column until it was taut, and then popped that support out. This proceeded until the huge structure remained standing upright, but was supported by only one column at the end of the column line," Klotzbach explained. "A structure of that size standing on one column, on one side, was quite a sight to see. The purpose of using this process," Klotzbach said, "is to control the demolition of the structure in a predictable manner."
Concurrent with the VIB demolition, MARCOR crews have been busy working with the debris, using excavators with shears to cut up the steel and load it for recycling and disposal. Previously, MARCOR removed the structural components of two Atlas rocket launch complexes at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which included two Mobile Service Towers that moved the rockets into position; two 190-ft. Umbilical Towers, which stabilized and fed propellants to the rockets prior to launch; and several other structures, including a Launch System Facility and a concrete "flame bucket" designed to direct the rocket launch heat and flames.
MARCOR Remediation, a specialty contracting company founded in 1980 with a current staff of 700 and headquarters in Hunt Valley, MD, performs a full range of environmental contracting services. These include industrial cleaning, MRSA decontamination, asbestos and lead hazard abatement, mold remediation, plant/process decommissioning and demolition, soil and groundwater remediation, emergency spill response, gun range remediation, storage tank management, and restorative cleaning projects. Customers typically include commercial and industrial firms, government agencies, the hospitality industry, educational institutions, health care facilities, industrial hygienists, environmental consultants, real estate development and property management firms, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), and others. Each of the company’s 14 offices is staffed with the necessary mix of senior technical management, regulatory compliance experts, and experienced HAZMAT labor force. For more information, the Web site is www.marcor.com.
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