Syracuse, NY - June 28, 2007 – Bianchi Industrial Services, a nationally renowned demolition contractor who has been working on projects for Eastman Kodak Company over the past year, will do what it does best this weekend to help Kodak to clear away one of its obsolete buildings and make way for the imaging company's digital future.
And it will take all of about 10 seconds.
On Sunday morning, Bianchi will ignite over 350 pounds of explosives using stick dynamite and linear shaped charges similar to those used by NASA for severing fuel tanks on the space shuttle. The explosives have been carefully placed using nearly 2 miles of detonating wire to strategic stress points throughout the base of the 487,000 square foot, eight-story building. As many as 140 workers, including workers from the International Union of Operating Engineers (Local 832) and the Laborers International Union (Local 435), have been working on the building non-stop over the past few months to prepare the site – removing asbestos, glass, and all metal materials that could be recycled. Following the implosion, all concrete and brick rubble will be crushed into fill and used to level the site. When the job is completed and cleaned up, 98% of the building materials will be recycled or reused.
“When done correctly, implosion can not only allow for a faster demolition, but also provide a safer way to complete the demolition,” said managing partner David Bianchi. “It's not just a matter of blowing up the building. Everything has to be carefully planned and executed so that the clean up can go smoothly,” he added. Bianchi Industrial Services has taken down five buildings for Kodak over the past year, and is scheduled to demolish at least three more at the site over the next several months. “We've used implosion on hundreds of industrial projects throughout the United States , and have never missed a deadline,” said Bill Bianchi, managing partner. “We've worked thousands of man-hours during the past month preparing for this,” he added.
The demolition of Building 23 is part of Kodak's major restructuring of traditional photographic products operations, which will be completed this year, as the company transforms to a digitally oriented one. More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at http://www.kodak.com .
Bianchi is also currently working on the demolition of the Mortimer Street garage in downtown Rochester . That project is smaller in scale but equally important, since it's wedged between an historical building and another active parking garage.
Originally established in 1950 as a local demolition company, Bianchi Industrial Services remains a family-owned business with national reach, providing a full range of environmental abatement and whole-building recycling services to clients in nearly 20 states. The company owns a large fleet of specialty demolition equipment, including an ultra-high reach hydraulic excavator, which is one of only a few in the country. Bianchi has worked nationwide on large projects for chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, power and cogeneration facilities, paper plants, aerospace facilities, warehouses, schools, retail locations, sporting arenas and hospitals. Bianchi maintains one of the best safety records in the industry. Bianchi Industrial Services was the first to use implosion as a method of demolition in Upstate New York on projects including the Strand Parking Garage, W.T. Grant and Daniels' buildings, and Midtown Plaza in Syracuse . |
