The Heat is Off

For half of a century, the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla., (known originally as the Launch Operations Directorate) was served by a three-story heat plant that contained three industrial-scale boilers as well as an incinerator.

Built in 1959, the structure provided hot water for the administration buildings that grew in number along with the space program in the 1960s and 1970s.

What is known as the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Industrial Area is about 5 miles south of the launch center from where space shuttles make their noisy, fiery takeoffs. It includes a headquarters building, and several other operations, testing, communication and tracking buildings.

The center is large enough that it operates its own short-line railroad to move large components such as booster rockets.

As the space program has changed throughout the past several decades, the scheduling of demolition projects has become a more frequent occurrence.

It was the heat plant’s turn when new water heating technology made the building obsolete. In August of 2009, NASA awarded a demolition contract package to Central Environmental Services (CES), Orlando, Fla., for work that included all or parts of 16 structures, including the three-story heat plant.

 

An Array Of Metal

According to Richard Lorenz, CEO and owner of CES, the heat plant contained a roster of metal materials and objects.

Asked which materials were most widely present in the building, Lorenz replies “heavy iron, aluminum siding, copper wire, electrical panels, large steel tanks, electrical iron pipe conduit, motors, brass fixtures and valves.”

That array of materials, fixtures and equipment includes what Lorenz and CES estimated to be 7 miles of iron pipe and 6 miles of utility wire (and poles). Not everything involving the project has involved harvesting high-value scrap metal. Lorenz also notes that lead and asbestos abatement has been a critical part of the work load.

The overall package of NASA buildings started with the heat plant and its three boilers, which Lorenz says is now “down and gone.”

Regarding work that had been completed as of mid-March, Lorenz says the project had yielded “approximately 560 tons of steel, 3 tons of aluminum, 4.5 tons of copper, 22 tons of copper power line, one ton of brass and 3 tons of stainless steel.”

As part of the process for the overall project, which Lorenz says is “one of the largest multi-demolition projects this year at NASA,” CES has been producing and maintaining an inventory of recycling activity by material for the space agency.

 

Methods And Markets

To dismantle and recycle the three-story heat center, CES relied on a fleet of equipment deployed to harvest the heavily metallic structure.

Among the machines Lorenz says the company has deployed in its work on Merritt Island include a Hyundai 360 LC-7 excavator outfitted with a second-member Genesis XP 660 shear; a Komatsu 400 excavator equipped either with a grapple or shear; and a Caterpillar 236B skid steer outfitted with different attachments.

Regarding the miles of pipe and many of the other metals present at the site, Lorenz says using the second-member shear “to chop it up and prepare it to be sold for scrap on site” was quickly identified as an appropriate option to pursue.

Lorenz credits equipment distributor U.S. Shoring & Equipment Co., which has one of its four locations in Orlando, for having provided the Hyundai machine and the attached Genesis rotating shear from the company’s rental fleet.

He says his quickly mobilized fleet of equipment helped CES “chop 200 tons of steel in those boilers in three weeks.” CES also used its cranes to remove the recyclable steel tanks from the building.

Lorenz says the heat center portion of the overall project took place at a good time within the scrap market and was accomplished speedily to fit within a positive time frame for the scrap market. “It worked out for us,” says Lorenz. “The prices we received for the scrap helped make it a good job.”

NASA has been pleased with the timetable and the work habits shown by CES as well, adds Lorenz.

On its Web site (www.centralenvironmental.com), CES includes a quotation from Mark Harkcom of project general contractor Canaveral Construction Co., who says, “CES provided all safety information and training certifications exceeding our company’s requirements and NASA’s as well.” He adds, “They have been efficient, safe and professional at every opportunity.”

 

The Proper Background

Working on major projects is nothing new for CES. The gallery of projects featured on the company’s Web site includes the demolition of hotels, supermarkets and other sizable buildings.

Lorenz has been involved in demolition work since his high school years, when he and a friend demolished a garage in Chicago in the 1960s.

The roots of CES trace to 1980, when Lorenz moved from Chicago to Orlando to work as an excavation superintendent on the Epcot Center project in the Walt Disney World complex.

When that project was complete, Lorenz decided the developing tourism economy in Orlando would bring with it opportunities in the demolition sector. He started his business working out of his Chevy station wagon, working his way up from residential work and building interior demolition projects.

Soon, the only way to grow was to incorporate and to hire additional full-time employees. There were five employees in addition to Rich when Central Environmental Services Inc. was formed. The company was then able to take on larger projects, secure a small bank loan and grow to become a demolition company with more than 45 employees, a fleet of trucks and its own heavy equipment.

At the same time Lorenz was guiding a growing business, he also devoted time to being an active member of the National Demolition Association. Since joining the organization in the early 1990s, Lorenz has served as a board member and a committee chairperson.

Lorenz says that, as he anticipated, CES has performed work for Central Florida’s theme park owners, including dismantling the “Ghost Busters” attraction for Universal Studios when it was time for the “Twister” attraction to take its place. According to Lorenz, the CES crew used torches and other equipment to dismantle the Ghost Busters attraction, including “chopping the head right off of the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man.”

Another brush with the entertainment industry for CES came in the form of being featured in a reality TV show. Lorenz and CES employees were featured in an early 2010 episode of “Demo Men,” a program that airs on the cable channel HGTV.

In the episode featuring CES, the challenges facing the crew are portrayed as it tears down a hurricane-damaged home that sits on a small lot adjacent to homes and active power lines.

Other major projects that CES has taken on as it has grown (many of which are featured on the company’s “Gallery” page on its Web site) include demolishing the multi-story Colony Plaza Hotel in Ocoee, Fla., the Langford Hotel in Orlando and taking down a sizable structure for St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach, Fla.

The projects on display demonstrate a range of demolition styles and techniques, including an implosion at the Colony Plaza Hotel and a combination of earthmoving and demolition work that kept a swimming pool intact amidst a busy job site. Other jobs in the Gallery show a fleet of hydraulic equipment dismantling a structure.

The most recent addition to the CES “Gallery” page offers nine photographs taken on the NASA heating plant job site.

Lorenz says that job occupies a proud place in the Gallery and thanks his vendors for providing good equipment and a healthy scrap metal market for making the endeavor profitable.

Lorenz adds, “There have been no [safety] incidents and we’re getting accolades from the people at NASA. So far, it has all turned out to be extremely positive.”