By Lori Lovely CEG Correspondent
Due to the prohibitive cost of operating safely and in an environmentally friendly manner in two existing plants in Lansing, Mich., General Motors Corporation constructed two new facilities (the Grand River Assembly and Delta Township plants) to replace them. The new facilities are capable of producing vehicles more efficiently, economically and safely.
Now comes the job of demolishing, recycling and removing the two old plants – the Fisher Body Plant (Plant Six) and the Oldsmobile Plant (Plant One), located approximately 1.5 mi (2.4 km) apart.
Plant One, situated on 77 acres (31 ha) adjacent to the new GM Grand River Assembly that replaces it, was built in 1906, with subsequent additions and improvements added throughout the early 1990's. It comprised 3,667,000 sq. ft. (341,604 sq m) of structure.
Plant Six, built in the late 1920's and measuring 3,345,000 sq. ft. (310,761 sq m), sat on 45 acres (18 ha) nearby.
MCM Tackles the Job
To accomplish the Herculean task, GM teamed with MCM Management Corporation out of Bloomfield Hills as the primary contractor. The agenda included removal and disposal of all asbestos-containing materials; removal of all contaminated and hazardous chemicals; disposal of all non-recyclable debris at a licensed landfill; crushing of all concrete material for reuse onsite as backfill for basements, pits and trenches; and industrial cleaning of the pits, conveyor, trenches and all equipment.
As a low-cost producer of industrial demolition and related services, MCM was a good choice for the job.
David Mardigan, MCM president, stated that MCM typically recycled between 92 and 97 percent of materials on GM projects. He anticipated recycling 94 to 96 percent of the two Lansing plants, by weight, per GM mandate. Because every truck or railcar load of material is weighed before it ships, MCM is able to record and calculate the data on recycling for precise numbers.
“Recycling of a majority of post- 1910- era industrial projects, when measured by total weight of all building materials, to a point of about 85 percent can be done just about effortlessly,” Mardigan said. “By their nature, a large fraction of these plants are made of steel, aluminum and copper.
Simply by demolishing the structure and sending the material to a buyer, the contractor is able to reach this level.”
Plant One also required demolition down to, but exclusive of, slabs on grade (basement floors), pits and trenches. Plant Six differed in that it required demolition of all structures, including slabs on grade and foundations.
After the work is completed, the site will be graded and seeded.
Project goals, said Mardigan, include creating and executing a plan to ensure worker and public safety; performing the work in a manner that protects and respects the environment and the community; working in compliance with all regulatory agencies; and employing methods that would make the project a cutting-edge showcase of safety, productivity and cost effectiveness.
MCM had plenty of experience in those areas. Despite heavy competition, Mardigan always believed there was a place for an integrated environmental, demolition and recycling contractor that specialized in high-speed, safe, quality demo operations in a schedule-sensitive format at a fixed price.
Formed in July 1993, the company focused on municipal and commercial demolition in the Michigan-Ohio area. Due to the explosive growth of big box retailers in the mid 1990s and the commercial building boom that followed in their wake, MCM expanded, with the fast-track projects in 15 states and major clients such as The Home Depot and the City of Detroit.
Mardigan, a second-generation demo contractor following in the footsteps of his father Henry, continued to feed the company's growth by reinvesting profits in order to expand his large fleet of machinery, attachments, trucks and tools.
During the nearly 10 years the company has been working with industrial environmental engineers, MCM managers had identified and addressed four major areas they believed were important to prospective industrial demolition clients but underserved by their suppliers; worker and public safety; maximization of scrap and salvage sales; integrity in contractual pricing and scheduling; and development and expansion of efficient recycling in order to conserve resources and reduce waste.
By concentrating on such issues, MCM has, in Mardigan's words, forged a reputation for “demolition services without extra charges and time delays.”
Time and Labor
The reputation – as well as a 10-year history of working with GM – may have helped win the job. As a Tier 1 supplier to GM, MCM is obligated to perform to a specific standard. To maintain that standard, MCM has taken over many of the historically sub-contracted duties such as asbestos surveying, asbestos remediation, industrial cleaning, scrap brokerage and transportation of scrap to steel mills and other buyers.
“We resisted going vertical for a while.” Mardigan explained, “but price and quality of service finally left us no choice. We do purchase or hire trucking services to supplement ours, and also rent equipment and services from some subcontractors. These include Gibson Brothers Trucking, R&R Transport, RKA Fuels, Golden Refrigerant, K-Tek Environmental and Inland Waters Pollution Control.”
GM turned over the two plant sites to MCM in January 2006, after removing all assets needed by other GM plants. Asbestos and industrial cleaning began by February; demolition began in May. Mardigan estimated that demolition is progressing at approximately 460,000 sq. ft. (42,700 sq m) per month.
Work is on schedule, with an anticipated end date in May 2007. Work stoppages due to weather – ice, heavy lightening and snow – have cost the project on a few days of reduced productivity.