The location of the building – in the middle of a group of skyscrapers, and over a “hollow” surface below which is the metro, parking space, and multiple water and gas pipes – also presented problems. On top of this, heavy traffic around the site meant that the demolition had to be completed quickly to avoid disruption.
The demolition of the building began using a crawler crane to lift a platform with workers who cut and bound parts of the building, plus a second crawler to bring the pieces down to the ground.
Both cranes belonged to Grúas Peninsular of Madrid.
However, demolition specialist Demoliciones Usabiaga suggested an alternative demolition method, which reduced demolition time by half.
The superstructure of a remote controlled 944 Litronic type Liebherr hydraulic excavator was fitted with a demolition ripper hook, bolted to a special steel chassis by engineering company Imca. This was then hung from the boom of a Liebherr LR 1750 lattice boom crawler crane that Demoliciones Usabiaga ordered specifically for this job.
The LR 1750 has a 70m main boom, 70m luffing lattice jib, 220t counterweight, 95t central counterweight, and 270t ballast counterweight.
To remove debris, Demoliciones Usabiaga used a special multiple tine grappler built by Imca engineering, and hung from the LR 1750.
Meanwhile, an LG 1550 lattice boom truck crane from Tecno-Truck Cranes (Madrid) was used to lift the debris clear of the building. The configuration of this machine comprised a 70m main boom, 77m luffing lattice jib, and 200t counterweight.
