As a company we believe that the practice of pre-weakening structures can be inherently dangerous, so we specialise in designs that remove redundancy in structures without weakening them. Using explosive cutting charges allows final cuts to be done remotely as part of the demolition, removing the need to have workers doing the most dangerous part of the job.
Apr-Jul 2016
This job consisted of the demolition of the remaining 2 boiler houses following the premature collapse of boiler houses 1&2 (resulting in the tragic death of 4 workers). The aim of the demolition was to remove the remaining (deemed) unsafe boiler houses, from no closer than 50m, allowing for the bodies recovery to be able to take place.
The 50m exclusion zone imposed by HSE, and the fact the whole site was a crime scene (no footage/images could leave site) resulted in a totally unique approach. Remote delivery of charges, remote connection of the charges and then remote initiation – a feat no other demolition company could consider taking on.
On 17 July we successfully collapsed the remaining structure in a controlled manner allowing the recovery process to commence.
Jul-Sep 2018
Following a partial demolition (stand-up) of the Anglesea Power Station west of Geelong in Victoria, Australia, Work Safe Victoria (equivalent of UK HSE) placed the structure out of bounds to all personnel. Due to our track record at Didcot, Alford’s were contacted to see if a remote demolition would be possible.
Following a recce it was determined that a remote/semi-remote approach would be possible and Alford Technologies took on the challenge to conduction a remote demolition over 8000 miles from their home location.
In this case, the challenges were primarily those of logistics and dealing with Australian governance and regulation.
The demolition was conducted successfully with minimal impact on the local population of Anglesea, allowing the site remediation to continue and the development of a water-based nature reserve to go ahead.
Apr 2020
Hazelwood Power Station, Australia’s ‘dirtiest’ power station burning 17000 tons of brown coal each day, was decommissioned after 50 years of use. Contracted by Australia demolition giants, Delta, for Engie, our task was to bring down 8 chimneys each standing at 134m tall to the ground safely with the use of explosives.
Bringing down 8 chimneys of this height in one controlled explosion had never been attempted before, so it was an exciting challenge for us. Yet, the challenge became seemingly impossible when Covid-19 stopped us from being able to travel 10555 miles from our HQ for the scheduled blowdown. However, with help from our brilliant team in Australia we were able to train them and successfully achieve the task remotely.
With all the chimneys falling into their allocated zones and 1.6 million people watching live globally, the biggest explosive demolition job in the Southern Hemisphere was a success.
