Author: Carol Misso

Industrial demolition is the dismantling of structures or facilities used in the production of a wide variety of “goods” and services. These projects are conducted at water treatment plants, manufacturing facilities, food and beverage sites, and more. Careful consideration should be taken in choosing a demolition and abatement subcontractor partner as complexities exist that can keep a successful project from within time and budget constraints. Below is an example of a recent Precizion project at a semiconductor manufacturing facility that highlights these complexities.

The Facility

A large semiconductor manufacturing facility in California, built in the mid-80s, recently changed ownership in an acquisition. The new owner purchased the facility with the goal of upgrading it to a new industry-specific fabrication facility to enable state-of-the-art manufacturing; this includes modern tooling, equipment, and technology. The initial stage of the facility’s rebirth required a demolition and abatement expert. 

The Opportunity 

This renovation project required major selective demolition of the fabrication floor, sub-fab, clean room, energy center, return air plenum (RAP), outdated equipment, tooling, and all the support systems that go along with it (electrical, mechanical, structural, etc.).  It also included the demolition and removal of contaminated materials and hazardous waste (i.e., contaminated chemical lines and piping). This project required remediation specialization due to the danger these hazardous contaminants pose to humans and the environment, as well as the strict regulations required to handle and dispose of them.  

These requirements were the foundation upon which the future facility would be built. A contractor was needed with the expertise and experience to handle both the demolition and remediation requirements simultaneously. Projects like this can often stall when newly discovered contaminated material is found as the project unfolds, causing delays and preventing subcontractors from meeting the strict timelines.  The timeline for this project was 4 months.  

The Challenge

The renovation of the manufacturing facility was a design-build project. At the time this project was awarded to Precizion Partners™, much of the project was still in the planning and design phase with many decisions and parameters yet to be finalized. As with any major renovation, creating a plan of action and getting started can be the most challenging part. The team worked backwards from the customer’s operational target date to create a tight and challenging demo schedule with strict timelines to keep the project on track.   

However, the scope of the design-build project blossomed quickly as new projects (i.e., the addition of electrical work and the clean room, to name a few), challenges, and unforeseen roadblocks were encountered. A corresponding increase in the timeline was not permitted. This required immediate scaling of personnel and a fast ramp of job and safety training to ensure time commitments were met. Due to some of the hard-to-access confined spaces and specific chemical compounds, the team also needed to invest in new tools to complete the job safely and efficiently. 

Leadership knew that frequent collaboration and communication with the various project stakeholders (head of facilities, industrial & environmental manager, internal construction group, etc.) would be critical. Precizion and the client instituted weekly and bi-weekly meetings to ensure knowledge was shared, creative and efficient workarounds were developed, and additional research was conducted. 

The Solution 

The project entailed leveraging in-house experts to guide the remediation team in the safe identification, tag-off, cutting, and removal of contaminated materials (i.e., piping), as well as the containment or decontamination of the material before specialty haulers took it to a disposal facility designated to receive these types of contaminants. Constant testing was conducted to identify, educate, and remediate dangerous materials, including various heavy metals, acids, caustics, and solvents.  

The demolition team often worked alongside or close behind our remediation team to do much of the heavy lifting, which helped the project run efficiently and on-schedule. The demolition team conducted substantial selective demo of three floors of piping and materials from the fab, RAP, energy center, and sub-fab (where the mechanical and electrical systems that support the cleanroom are located). Precizion’s foremen often used ingenuity and creativity to get workers into tight locations to remove and haul out the materials.

People resources were the wildcard that Precizion Partners needed to solve. As the scope of the project quickly expanded, so did the need for workers to complete the extensive tasks.  The company ramped up through weekly hiring sessions and set up daily training sessions for onsite personnel to accommodate the scope and timeline. In addition, the results of the safety training sessions, and the onsite presence of the safety team were impressive, with zero recordable safety incidents. 

Precizion Partners’ vast experience in the industrial demolition and remediation space enabled us to handle some of the unique situations, and in some instances, pivot quickly to bring experts on board to help solve the problems. For example, known contamination levels changed as additional surveys came in. Precizion Partners hired a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) to provide guidance and training on specific hazardous materials while also certifying the safety documentation. 

The synergies between W.C. Maloney and PALS were critical for the tight sequencing of jobs, and it enabled consistent sharing of information during the weekly and impromptu meetings with the customer.  

Choosing Your Industrial Demo Subcontractor

Industrial demolition projects often provide unique challenges due to the complexity of the facilities and existing conditions. Choosing a partner with demolition and abatement capabilities in-house can lead to project and communication synergies that result in more seamless integration of the myriad of tasks and overall shorter timeframes for completion.