CONVENTIONAL DEMOLITION PLAN 
DATE:

March 26, 2020

PROJECT:

1031 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA

CLIENT:

1031 Canal Development, LLC
Metairie, LA 70002

This is the Kolb Team’s engineered conventional demolition plan to safely remove the
subject building in its entirety. This document is a shortened outline to make it
comprehensive for all. Our final plan will include drawings and more details if and when
we are given an official “notice to proceed.”
Our team has visited the site numerous times and has already performed an engineering
investigation into multiple types of demolition. Based on the results of our initial
investigation, the Kolb Team does not support implosion of this building. These findings
are clearly explained in our report Demolition Methods dated November 18, 2019,
Addendum 1 dated November 21, 2019, and Addendum 2 dated January 13, 2020.
Safety and the recovery of human remains is the top priority of the Kolb Team and the
driving force behind the updated demolition plan. The demolition is expected to take
between 160-180 days, with the recovery of human remains occurring within the first 30
days of demolition. We expect to be able to partially open Canal St. within 90 days.
As stressed by City leaders throughout the process, putting any personnel into the
building constitutes a very high risk. This revised plan eliminates much of the risk by
removing the need to shore the structure and ensuring that only essential personnel
enter the building, prior to demolition commencement. All demolition activity will be
performed remotely or from outside and above the structure. With the implosion
method, personnel will be required to not only enter the building for extended periods
of time to set charges, but to perform pre-cutting to weaken the already unstable
structure. This creates an extremely high-risk situation for those workers.
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 Our new plan is outlined as follows:
Phase 1: Tower Crane Removal
With safety being our top priority, we see the tower crane that collapsed onto the roof of
the building as the biggest threat to our workers and our neighbors. Once we have
installed an approved crane way, we will implement our internal team of engineering and
rigging experts with equipment to safely rig and disassemble this hazard and remove it
from the site.
As stated in our previous reports, one of the concerns associated with the implosion of
an unstable structure is the large debris field that will cause damage to the surrounding
structures. The tower cranes highlight the unpredictability of implosion. Imploding the
building with such big and heavy debris balanced on it further increases the potential
hazard and will add to the danger of safely extracting it from the enormous pile of
resulting debris.
Along with crane removal, a top priority will be establishing an engineered physical
barrier around the drop zone perimeter to contain debris and protect surrounding
structures.   

Phase 2: North Rampart Street Side Debris Removal & Extraction of Victim Remains
As previously stated, with the elimination of the internal shoring, no one will be allowed
to enter any part of the compromised structure once demolition begins. All work
described below will be performed from outside the structure.
We propose to remove the remaining cantilever slab sections beginning at the corner of
Iberville and N. Rampart and moving toward Burgundy St. (Note: These cantilever slabs
are a hazard to our workers and must be dropped to a safe zone on the 8th floor level).
We may use robots or a man basket positioned at a safe distance using shears,
pulverizers, torches, and high-reach equipment to free the loose concrete and steel from
the remaining intact structural frame (floors 9 through 18). During this process, the
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 bodies trapped in the debris can be recovered as soon as it is safe to do so. Imploding the
building will render the remains unrecoverable.
We will continue with Phase 2 along N. Rampart St. toward Canal St. and include the
removal of Bravo Wall (floors 9 through 18).

Phase 3: Conventional Demolition of Steel Structure (Floors 9 Through 18)
This phase requires the complete removal of the “Red Zone” Buildings. This is due to
safety concerns which require maintaining a clear line of site by the crane operator for
the crane’s demolition activities.
Once the collapsed debris is cleared from the N. Rampart St. face of the building, we will
re-mobilize our demolition cranes to the Burgundy St. side of the site. At this time, it may
be necessary to install external bracing to the Burgundy wing to help control its
demolition and protect the adjacent structures.
By having removed the debris and hanging slabs from the N. Rampart face, we will have
room to direct the demolition debris toward N. Rampart St. and drop it into the core of
the building. In this manner, we are able to preserve the stair/elevator towers to resist
lateral forced induced by demolition procedures.
These stair/elevator towers (or moment frames) will be removed last with adjacent
column bays, so that we can take full advantage of their lateral stiffness during
demolition.

Phase 4: Demolition of Post-Tensioned Concrete Structure (Floors 1 Through 8)
The post-tensioned structural tendons will be slowly released based on engineering
recommendations, potentially using heat release or via breaking concrete at the deadend edge of the slabs.

The structure will then be demolished using concrete

breakers/pulverizers down to grade, beginning at Canal St. and terminating at Iberville
St. Concrete will be crushed utilizing hydraulic processors, nibblers, and shears, and
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 debris will be transferred to Rampart St. for sorting, processing, and removal. All debris
shall be removed and voids filled before demobilization.
Additionally, street protection for falling debris shall be designed and clearly conveyed
as to access zones. The Demolition Team will establish a HazMat process to address
materials such as Fuel, Oils, Gas, etc. The Demolition Team will use water sourced from
a hydrant for dust control and if necessary, will use portable booster pumps to push the
water to upper floors. Water will be sprayed at the source of dust generation during the
breaking of concrete. Dust Boss sprayers in multiple locations will help limit dust during
the demolition process. A safety engineer will be part of the demolition team and direct
these activities.

Summary
Implosion of this building presents a high risk of collateral damage to the surrounding
area through the potential for a large debris field, nearby buildings highly susceptible to
airblast damage, a wide-reaching dust cloud, and excessive ground vibrations. However,
the biggest danger associated with implosion is subjecting workers to pre-cutting and
installing shape charges in an already heavily compromised building. This updated
demolition plan will eliminate the need for anyone to be subjected to this risk.
The implosion of this building will not make the debris disappear. The remaining
concrete and steel will be at least 100 feet high (to the level of the existing 9th floor or
higher). Processing and removal of the waste this way will be more dangerous and time
consuming. Using conventional demolition will allow waste to be processed and hauledoff in a safe orderly fashion, and it will improve the ability to recover the victims and
evidence.

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