In the article “4
Ways to Demolish a Building”, Rodriguez (2018) states that there are many
considerations to take before resolving the way to demolish a building, and the
method used must be safe for the demolition crew and surroundings. He mentions
4 ways to demolish buildings. The author mentions the first technique implosion
uses explosives to demolish large structures in urban area and it requires comprehensive
planning by the blaster crews before carrying out. The second one is the high
reach arm method which is used to tear down tall buildings from the top by
operating machine arm. The third one is wrecking ball method which demolishes
buildings by swinging a heavy ball into the structure. The building size is
limited by using this method. Moreover, it requires professional crane operator
and will cause pollutions. Lastly, selective demolition is an environmentally
friendly and cost saving method as it allows the demolition crew to recycle
materials. However, it requires manpower and it is not efficient for
light-framed buildings.
Rodriguez mentions that large structures are commonly
demolished by using implosion technique in the urban areas. However, bringing
down a building by explosives is not applicable when the buildings are close
together. Moreover, it will cause danger to the surroundings and demolition
becomes even harder. Under these circumstances, implosion is not suitable to be
implemented in urban area.
First of all, the use of implosion technique is not always effective
and safe in urban areas. In the news article “No explosives or swinging balls:
How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore” (2017) reported by Aqil Haziq,
a local award-winning demolition contractor, Mr Lim states that it is not a
good idea to implement implosion method in Singapore. As Singapore is a city
with buildings closely built with one another, thus the explosion will affect
the neighboring structures. What can be the worst scenario? It can be when the
demolition crews did not plan the explosives precise enough, the explosion
might not be strong enough to bring down the building completely at once. Then,
it will become very troublesome and dangerous for the demolition workers to
deal with afterwards, because the structure of the building is already damaged
and may collapses itself in any second. In addition, based on the article
“Pontiac Silverdome implosion fail: What went wrong and what happens now”
(2017), Dave Bartkowiak stated: “The detonations went off as planned, but
nothing fell and the implosion was a failure.” Based on these points, implosion
method is not recommended to be use in the urban area, as this method might
create danger for the demolition crew.
Secondly, the outcome of using implosion method to ground a
building cannot really be predicted. Based on the news article “‘You can’t
really test explosives’ – why demolitions go wrong.” (2015), Thompson, a safety
officer at DSR Demolition in South Yorkshire, stated: “The building does what
it wants to do in the end.” The demolition of Red Road flats in Glasgow has
failed, not because the demolition crew make the mistakes. The reason is, even
though everything is prepared very well, the result cannot always be according
to what has been planned. As the final stage of implosion cannot be one hundred
percent guaranteed. "You can't really test explosives" Thompson
elaborated. Although everything goes smoothly, the explosives cannot be really
tested before the second they are detonated. Thus, there is a chance of
malfunctioning of the explosives. Due to these uncertainties, implosion should
not be practiced in urban area.
Lastly, implosion creates a risk of collision of the
structure to the surrounding buildings. This can be supported by the news
article “22-Floor Residential Tower in China Demolished, Partially” (2010),
where the demolition of a 22-floor building in LiZhou has almost cause a
disaster. Instead of going all the way down to the ground, the building broke
into two parts with one side smash sideways while the other remain standing
unstably. Through this report, it’s proved that it is not sure what will
actually be happened after detonation. In this case, implementing implosion
method to demolish a building in urban area is not wise as it may result in
catastrophe such as endanger the surrounding buildings and even the residents.
References
Aqil Haziq Mahmud. (2017). No explosives or swinging balls:
How high-rise demolitions go down in Singapore. Channelnewsasia. Retrieved from
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/no-explosives-or-swinging-balls-how-high-rise-demolitions-go-9425362
Dave Bartkowiak Jr. (2017). Pontiac Silverdome implosion
fail: What went wrong and what happens now. Clickondetroit. Retrieved from https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/pontiac-silverdome-implosion-fail-what-went-wrong-and-what-happens-now-
IndiaTVnews. (2010). 22-Floor Residential Tower In China
Demolished, Partially. Retrieved, September 30, 2018, from https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/masala/22-floor-residential-tower-in-china-demolished-partially-210.html
Ramaswamy.C . (2015). ‘You can’t really test explosives’ –
why demolitions go wrong. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2015/oct/12/explosives-demolitions-go-wrong-red-road-flats-glasgow-controlled
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