Selective Demolition and Rigging at Process Plant

R. Baker & Son recently performed selective demolition and equipment rigging for a process plant construction project. The selective demolition was necessary to prepare the existing facility to receive all of the new mechanical process equipment, including three 5,000 HP boilers with a deaerator, two large compressors, two chillers, boilers with associated economizers, several prefabricated platforms, and two large vertical grinders with elevators and conveyors.

Because the existing access points and doorways were not large enough to accommodate the entry of the equipment, the careful removal of block walls and the installation of steel beams and lintels would be required to allow proper access into the building.

A main challenge during the rigging phase was coordinating bringing the equipment into the building within a tight timeframe according to schedule. Some of the equipment, such as the vertical grinders and conveyors, required assembly in an adjacent outdoor area and had to be brought in vertically due to limited rigging headroom inside the building.

To achieve this, the Baker Team enlarged an existing block opening to 30 ft. wide by 24 ft. high and reinforced it with a pre-engineered support steel beam. The opening was to remain in use as the main loading dock access point. We also created two permanent openings in an interior dividing wall, each measuring 16 ft. wide by 14 ft. high, that would be utilized for forklift traffic and to facilitate the movement of materials throughout the facility. The openings were finished with concrete and prime-painted for future finishing use.

An 80-ton crane with an extended jib, two articulating boom lifts, and a large Lull were used to lift and move the mechanical and process equipment through the opening and into the building. All the equipment was moved in safely and set in place within the allotted timeframe to the client’s full satisfaction.