Demolition of Athlone towers a mammoth task

The demolition of Cape Town's Athlone cooling towers promises to be spectacular, but the logistics in felling the mammoth landmark structures are impressive in their own right.

More than just a case of getting the crowds out of the way and igniting some explosives, the demolition will almost certainly cost well in excess of R1 million and require infrastructure, and ground and air traffic interventions, a report in a City of Cape Town staff newsletter has said.

The city announced last month that the towers would be demolished "as soon as possible". This followed structural damage to the site in the early hours of February 14, when the stabilising rings around one of the towers fell to the ground.

Engineers concluded that although immediate collapse was unlikely, the towers could fall in high winds.

It was recommended that the towers be demolished before winter's north-wester makes its presence felt.

The city declined to comment this week on progress made on the planned demolition, which is expected to take place before the World Cup, saying that an announcement would be made next week.

But details contained in the latest staff newsletter give an indication of the scale of the operation.

The demolition will be undertaken by specialist contractors, and water and electricity services located in the vicinity of the towers will need to be disconnected temporarily and protected during the demolition period.

The newsletter said a detailed plan involving all traffic and emergency services was being prepared, and that surrounding roads, including the N2 and Jan Smuts Drive, were likely to be closed during the demolition.

The Cape Argus has learnt that there are at most a handful of outfits that have the expertise to carry out the demolition, and approached one, Ross Demolition, to get information on the scale of the operation.

Robert Ross said the most important thing to consider would be the traffic.

"Underground services running in the area also need to be considered and protected," he said.

"There are two cables that keep much of the city in electricity that will have to be protected."

Ross said the demolition would be an "explosive demolition", and that the procurement of the materials to carry out the operation could take weeks.

The airspace in the vicinity of the towers would also probably need to be closed for some minutes at the time of demolition, he said.

He estimated that traffic would need to be stopped for about 20 minutes.

Asked how large an area would need to be cordoned off to ensure the safety of the public, he said it would depend on which way the towers were going to be "folded". A "big area" would then be cleared there.

Although Ross declined to give an estimate of how much the operation would cost, he said it would "definitely" be in the "millions mark".

The city has said that public viewing would be allowed, and that further information indicating safe viewing areas would be announced in due course.

Cape Argus

Posted at 02:33PM Mar 12, 2010 by Editor in Commercial  |  Comments[4]