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The installation of the exterior scaffolding has been completed. The north and south hoists have also been installed.
Bovis Lend Lease, the general contractor, has hired John Galt Corporation as the abatement and deconstruction subcontractor. Required notifications for the abatement have been submitted to the New York State Department of Labor, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Abatement and removal of materials from the building is expected to begin late next week. In the meantime, preparatory work for the abatement, which includes bringing necessary equipment and materials to the site, constructing decontamination systems for the workers, equipment and materials, and installing negative air pressure containments, will begin today (March 9th).
Looks like a different Subcontarctor than we all thought.
Earlier Friday Morning, a worker employed by a Bovis subcontractor fell from a platform at the 130 Liberty St. site. The worker was transported to a local hospital by ambulance, where he is undergoing care. LMDC personnel were notified immediately by the site safety managers, and work was suspended for the remainder of the day. A thorough investigation of the incident is underway but there was no impact on the surrounding community.
We were also notified today that one of our off-site air monitors detected an elevated level of silica on Monday. Although regulatory agencies were notified and work stopped while the problem was evaluated, we determined that the increase was not due to work at the site. This determination was made based on the following factors:
* No work was taking place at the site that could have caused silica emissions.
* Construction unrelated to 130 Liberty St. was underway on Monday immediately in front of the 1010 Fire House on Liberty St. The air monitor that detected the silica is located on the roof of the firehouse.
* A very low level of silica was found at only one other air monitor – the air monitor located on our site immediately across the street from the fire house and in the area where the non 130Liberty St. work was taking place. All of the other air monitors on and off the site did not detect any silica.
The EPA has reviewed our findings regarding the silica and has determined that work may proceed
More human remains have been found at the former Deutsche Bank building, a skyscraper adjacent to ground zero, authorities said Tuesday.
Construction workers found the remains on Friday while cleaning the building in preparation for its demolition, the office of the chief medical examiner said. The Deutsche Bank building, at 130 Liberty Street, is just southwest of the World Trade Center site.
Two pieces of what the medical examiner’s office described as ‘‘human remains’’ were found Jan. 27 on the 38th floor of the 41-story building. On Friday, two bone fragments were found on the roof.
It can sometimes take weeks to determine whether remains are human, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner. She said similar remains found recently at 7 World Trade Center were determined not to be human.
LMDC learned late last week that during an inspection of the site, the New York State Department of Labor discovered a violation of the deconstruction plan protocols in one area of the building. The LMDC immediately met with top level representatives of the contractors and reiterated that we expect all work to be completed in strict accordance with the deconstruction plan. LMDC insisted that the contractors determine how the violation was able to occur, and as a result the contractor quickly made changes to enhance their work and oversight procedures.
On Friday, inspectors again visited the site. While they recognized significant improvement, they still had some concerns about some of the materials being removed from the building. Sharing their concern that work proceed in a way that is safe for both the workers and the surrounding community, we voluntarily stopped removing material from the building until the issues could be discussed in more detail with the regulators.
Today, we had positive meetings with the EPA both on and off site, including discussions regarding the precise standards for removing cleaned materials from the building. We have asked the regulators to increase their participation in the direct oversight of abatement work in order to ensure that our contractors are fully in compliance with the approved deconstruction plan. Abatement work will continue inside of the building and we expect to resume removal of cleaned materials soon.
Work Progress
The coin vault, located below ground level, has been cleaned and is ready for demolition. The process for certifying the vault as clean included an inspection by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, as well as the use of aggressive air sampling techniques. An application for a demolition permit for the vault has been filed with the Department of Buildings and the other regulatory agencies, and last week we received comments back from the regulators. We are now in the process of responding to their comments and questions and hope to receive a demolition permit shortly. The demolition of the vault will enable us to proceed with the installation of a tower crane.
Demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building will not begin this month, as had been anticipated, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said yesterday. On Monday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency raised questions about the proposed handling of waste materials containing polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium in the heavily contaminated 41-story tower opposite ground zero.
The corporation hopes to begin demolition later this summer, a spokesman said.
Abatement Work
The contractors are currently abating the top five floors of the building. That work will take a few more weeks, and then the workers will move on to the next five floors.
In addition, the regulators have approved a protocol for cleaning the roof. The roof cleaning – which includes the search for human remains – is scheduled to resume on July 5th and should take about four weeks to complete.
Coin Vault Demolition
The coin vault has been abated and, after environmental tests were completed, the regulatory agencies inspected andcertified it as clean and ready for demolition. The New York City Department of Buildings has issued a demolition permit and the demolition of the coin vault is scheduled to begin the week of July 10. The demolition will require the use of jackhammers and other power tools and equipment, so the process may generate some noise. However, in conjunction with the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, LMDC will be monitoring noise levels and vibrations.
Over the next few weeks, a concrete pad will be poured to enable the installation of the tower crane. The subsequent installation of the tower crane will take about four weeks.
Finalization of Implementation Plan
As has been previously discussed, we have been consulting with the regulatory agencies to finalize the Implementation Plan – a detailed procedure dictating how the structure of the building will be dismantled. We will be continuing our consultation over the next several weeks as the coin vault is demolished and the tower crane is installed. We hope to have a final Implementation Plan that will enable us to begin deconstruction of the building by the end of the summer.
Site Safety
The safety of the workers and the surrounding community remains our top priority on this project. Daily safety drills are ongoing and we will continue to coordinate with and update the city’s emergency response agencies.
Yesterday, LMDC’s environmental consultant received lab results indicating that one air monitoring station on the roof of 130 Liberty St recorded a level of silica that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Trigger Level. As required by the Deconstruction Plan, work at the building was stopped and the regulatory agencies were notified.
The single elevated silica level was recorded on Friday, July 28th while workers were removing ballast from the roof of the building during a period of high temperatures. To address this problem, our contractor increased the wetting of ballast and the misting of work areas. The implementation of these increased dust suppression measures addressed the problem immediately.
While our contractor responded to the problem quickly, we have reiterated the importance of employing all necessary dust suppression measures at all times.
LMDC has consulted with the regulators and they authorized work to resume this morning.
The Environmental Protection Agency and other government regulators have approved a strategy for the methodical, floor-by-floor dismantling of the former Deutsche Bank building opposite ground zero. The approval is a key step in the long-stalled process of demolishing a 41-story eyesore that has become a grim symbol of inaction in Lower Manhattan.
The building, at 130 Liberty Street, was heavily damaged and contaminated on Sept. 11, 2001, when debris from the World Trade Center cut a 15-story gash into its north facade. The abandoned tower is supposed to be the future site of Tower 5 of a reconstructed trade center, but the cleanup and dismantling have been repeatedly delayed by concerns over contaminants in the dust and the discovery of hundreds of human remains, including tiny bone fragments.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which owns the building, has conceded that the structure is “a constant grim reminder” of 9/11. The corporation is being phased out, and is turning over responsibility for the tower to the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, a city-state entity charged with coordinating building activities downtown.
“Within about four weeks we’ll be able to start deconstruction, and the building will be down in September 2007,” a spokesman for the command center, Daniel McCormack, said yesterday.
The approval of a revised implementation plan — specifying the means and methods for the demolition work — occurred on Thursday, in a letter from Pat Evangelista, the E.P.A. coordinator for the World Trade Center site, to Max S. Lee, an acting deputy borough commissioner at the city’s Department of Buildings. The approval was reported in The Daily News yesterday.
Bonnie Bellow, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, said yesterday that the approval rested on three issues: preventing contaminants from being released into the environment during the deconstruction, ensuring proper monitoring during the dismantling, and safely disposing of hazardous waste.
Other agencies that have oversight over the cleanup and demolition of the building are the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, part of the United States Department of Labor; the state’s Department of Labor and Department of Environmental Conservation, and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The approval, however, is not the final hurdle before the dismantling of the building can begin. The development corporation or the command center must still obtain a series of permits from the Buildings Department, and before any dismantling can occur, demonstrate that the affected area has been cleaned up.
“Right now there are no plans filed for the deconstruction,” a Buildings Department spokeswoman, Ilyse Fink, said yesterday. “The intent is that the work will be done in phases and that we will not give a permit until we get clearance from the E.P.A. that the abatement on each floor has been completed.”
David M. Newman, the industrial hygienist at the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a nonprofit group that has closely monitored the abatement and demolition plans, said there had not been adequate public participation. “Does the latest approval constitute a general and credible safety endorsement?” he asked. “And how can anyone tell in the absence of a public discussion?”
The project has faced numerous hurdles. It was first tied up in litigation between Deutsche Bank, which considered the structure a total loss, and its insurers, which considered the building to be structurally sound. George J. Mitchell, a former senator from Maine, mediated the dispute so that the development corporation could acquire the building.
In September 2004, an environmental study confirmed high levels of asbestos, dioxin, lead and other contaminants in the building. The development corporation released a draft plan for the demolition in December 2004, but in February 2005, E.P.A. officials warned that the plan did not provide for adequate monitoring of air quality.
In September 2005, E.P.A. officials approved an abatement plan , but days later bone fragments were found on the building’s roof.
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