Hanson provides demolition services for Diamond "E" Packers

Oftentimes when clients purchase new property, they also acquire environmental concerns.  Many clients then take on the responsibility of identifying and eliminating these environmental issues.  Addressing these concerns is an integral part of the services Hanson provides to clients.

The Central National Bank of Mattoon, located in central Illinois, knows firsthand the issues associated with acquiring new property and addressing environmental considerations.  In 1996, the bank acquired property that included an aging, vacant commercial facility in Mattoon, Ill. The 101-year-old facility, which operated for more than 30 years as a frozen food plant, consisted of three buildings containing packing and processing rooms, blast freezers, receiving areas, a warehouse and loading docks.
 
The bank hired Hanson to demolish the facility and to address suspected environmental concerns at the site. This turnkey arrangement for engineering and contractor services allowed the project to proceed quickly and efficiently.
 
Workers began the first phase of the demolition by dismantling the facility from the inside out.  They removed materials including brick, concrete, glass, metals, wood and various chemicals from the former manufacturing plant.
 
As workers continued to dismantle the abandoned facility, they discovered three compressed gas cylinders which contained a hazardous chemical.  Hanson estimated it would cost $30,000 to remove and dispose of all three cylinders.  In an effort to save the client this expense, Hanson’s team of engineers and technicians contacted several distributors who possibly owned the cylinders.  Finally, they tracked down a former central Illinois distributor who had since relocated to Indiana.  After visiting the Mattoon site to verify that the cylinders belonged to the distributor, the Indiana firm arranged to have the cylinders transported off-site—at no cost to the client.


Additionally, Hanson and subcontractors salvaged the following items from the facility, and arranged to have these items transported off-site for recycling purposes:
• freight elevators
• furnace
• light fixtures
• pipes
• refrigeration units
• structural steel
 
The positive impact of recycling efforts carried out during this project affected not only the client—the Central National Bank of Mattoon—but also the local community.  Several rolls of plastic, which workers retrieved from the former manufacturing facility, were donated to a scout troop to assist them in their recycling efforts.

The final phase of the demolition project began August 1997, when a Mattoon, Ill., demolition firm began decommissioning the facility using a wrecking ball.  After demolishing the buildings, workers broke up the basement walls and flooring and backfilled the area with recycled masonry and bricks.  To enhance the newly cleared site, the demolition contractor replaced a concrete sidewalk and fertilized, seeded and mulched the property.