Blasting into the record books
By: Mark Anthony
Tags: Abu Dhabi, Demolition, Explosive, Construction, Demolition Contractor

Blasting into the record books

It was years in the planning and months in preparation. But when a Scottish contractor wrote itself into the demolition record books, it took a little under 10 seconds. Mark Anthony Dec 9, 2020·4 min read

The record books will show that on 27 November 2020, Dundee-based Safedem broke the world record for the tallest building felled by explosive demolition. Those same record books will detail the fact that a new record of 165.032 metres set a benchmark by which all future high-rise explosive demolition projects will be judged. The record books will also recount how the Meena Plaza complex in Abu Dhabi fell in under 10 seconds and, thereby, surpassed a previous world record that had stood for more than two decades.

What the record books will not mention, however, is the fact that this blast took place amidst a global pandemic that forced much of the world into an enforced lockdown. Nor will it mention the fact that, as a result, the Safedem team effectively lived in Abu Dhabi for some three months, unable to return home due to travel restrictions. Only the suntan sported by Safedem’s William Sinclair in the post-blast photographs will hint at the team’s temporary relocation to the Middle East. Those same record books will also likely overlook the engineering feat that brought a combined total of 144-storeys crashing to the ground precisely as planned.

Complex and Challenging

Even setting aside logistics, language barriers and cultural differences, the sheer scale of Meena Plaza represented a formidable challenge. “Dealing with one high-rise structure is a challenge. But dealing with four that were built on a fifth structure — the nine-storey podium — presented a series of very specific engineering challenges. Most of the high- rise structures we demolish are 40 to 60 years old, and they tend to be traditionally designed by architects and engineers at drawing boards following established principles of construction. What we normally find is larger structural members at the base to carry the load, and with members reducing in size as you go up the building and the load reduces. Meena Plaza was designed and constructed in the last decade or so. It was designed by computer software rather than architects. And that software maximised open plan-floor spaces and minimised column sizes to take advantage of the great views of downtown Abu Dhabi and turquoise waters of the Gulf. And this design translated into incredibly complex load paths in each of the four towers,” William Sinclair explains. “Complex load paths equate to unpredictable behaviour through the collapse sequence. So we spent some considerable time getting our heads around exactly how the structures would behave, and how they would want to behave, and even more time on our design of delay sequences to influence and control those structures. And to make sure they did what we wanted them to do, rather than what they wanted to do.”

Battling Lockdown

If the structure itself was challenging, then the global Coronavirus pandemic must have seemed — at times — virtually insurmountable. “2020 presented us with a series of unprecedented challenges. And our biggest challenge was international travel. In March and April, I was in Abu Dhabi on a regular visit, just looking into site surveying. And then there was word that the pandemic was going to hit. International airspace literally shut down the day after I headed home. So that meant that we were unable to attend site for six months. We ended up conducting daily and weekly teams meetings, and they became our new normal,” Sinclair recalls. “I must confess, I was incredibly nervous of what I might find when I eventually travelled back to Abu Dhabi in September. Thankfully, our specifications and instructions had been implemented to absolute perfection. And I was pleased and relieved to find the structures prepared to the very highest international standards. So hats off to the site teams and the clients. They put in place everything we asked them to do. It was a truly collaborative project and everything was just spot on.”

Even though the ink is barely dry on Safedem’s entry in the record books, William Sinclair is remarkably pragmatic about the record’s likely longevity. “It’s a difficult time right now in the demolition market but I genuinely hope the entire industry can enjoy a much needed upturn and that there will be numerous 50-plus storey buildings to be demolished,” William Sinclair concludes. “I also hope that Safedem will be involved in at least some of them.”

An exclusive DemolitionNews interview with Safedem’s William Sinclair can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/demolitionnews