Demolition in the outer archipelago of Norway
Published 24/2, 2020 at 12:48In Ålesund in Norway, a 24m tall office building was demolished to give space to Pir: Ålesund’s first co-working space. The contractor, Idungården AS, assigned AF Decom with the task of demolishing the building which also quartered stores on its bottom floor. Idungården is also the developer of the new Pir project which will involve the creation of a new innovation centre, creative meeting point as well as being Ålesund’s first co-working space.
Demolition in Ålesund city centre
“We started interior sanitation and demolishing of easier constructions in January and completed these tasks in February 2019,” says Kenneth Eikrem, project manager at AF Decom. “Initially, the idea was to renovate the entire building, but the constructor chose to demolish the entire building after some time. After a long application period we got the permission to demolish at the end of June and mobilized our machines and equipment in the beginning of July. The demolishing work was completed in the middle of August.”
In total, 12 people worked during the sanitation phase and five people in the machine demolition phase. They used a Volvo EC 480 with a 28m long demolition boom together with a Cat Work Tools MP 30/Mp 324 concrete pulveriser, a hydraulic breaker, demolition and sorting grapples as well as a number of buckets. Additionally, they used a Liebherr R 936 with Cat Work Tools demolition and sorting grapple with all of the demolition waste being delivered to a certified recycling plant. Heavier demolition waste, such as concrete, bricks and foundation rocks, was reused on the site. According to plan, an adjacent gas station, which shared a wall with the demolished office building, remained complete and unscathed after the successful demolition. During the project, the Ramudden Company helped out with the traffic re-routing.
“The project was carried out right in Ålesund city centre with the city’s heaviest trafficked road on the south side,” says Kenneth Eikrem. “Heavier demolishing was also conducted during the liveliest time of the year, where, aside from traffic, there is also a large amount of tourists from the cruise ships by the embankment, some 300m from the worksite. The job was carried out without damage to staff or equipment and without a single complaint from neighbours or others in the city. The closest neighbouring office expressed sheer enthusiasm over the opportunity to get ’front row seats’ and follow the whole process.”
AF Decom, Europe’s biggest demolition contractor
AF Decom, which is a part of the Norwegian AF Gruppen, consists of a nationwide, mobile organisation focusing on safety and preservation of the outer environment. Through local front edge competence, AF Decom strives to offer solutions which meet the customers’ environmental needs and is Europe’s largest contractor involved in the demolition and environment remediation of buildings and other constructions. AF Decom provides remediation, demolition, planning, environmental remediation reports, waste plans, risk analysis and waste management services. Major projects the company has been involved in include the Skjeggestad Bridge, the stranded shipwreck Murmansk and the power plant Old Bjølvo.
The city of Ålesund is a very beautiful and picturesque fishing town. It is located in the outer archipelago of the Norwegian west coast more or less on the same latitude as the Faeroe Islands. It is a very popular Norwegian tourist destination, visited by hundred thousands of tourists every year. Cruise ships also harbour in Ålesund on their way to the North Cape of Norway.
