The condemned Penhorwood Condominiums will see their last moments this week.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) has announced that preparation for the demolition of the buildings will begin today.
Site setup and mobilization to demolish the seven buildings will take three days.
“The fire department will go in, do an all clear one time, make sure there’s nothing left in the building, no people in the building and then the demolition will begin by taking it from the top down using excavators. They’ll be doing one building at a time,” said Robert Kirby, Director of Public Operations with the RMWB.
Demolition is expected to take four days per building.
The seven buildings were evacuated in the middle of the night in 2011 due to structural concerns.
Envirocon, who won the RMWB’s tender for the project describes themselves on their website as “a market leader providing full service environmental remediation for public and private sector clients across North America.”
Bidding for the project closed on Oct. 23, 2014 at 2:00 p.m, in total 11 bids were received by the RMWB.
On Nov. 25, 2014 Mayor and Council voted to allocate $3 million towards the demolition of the buildings and site rehabilitation.
A safety review report of the condemned buildings released in 2014 sited mould and water damage, and identifies hazmat material such as thermostats, fire and smoke alarms and CFL bulbs. The report recommends careful removal of the material before demolition, with only two people in a building at a time with supervision by a firefighter or similar personnel.
“Public safety throughout this process is our first priority,” said Kirby. “There are specific safety requirements for a demolition process like this and experts will be on site to ensure all requirements are met throughout the demolition. The safety of workers on site, and surrounding residences and businesses will be a focus throughout the demolition.”
Crews are expected to be working on the site until Feb. 18, 2015.
The RMWB will be providing weekly updates and posting them online at www.rmwb.ca/penhorwood.
