Challenging demolition in Essen-Altenessen

The company Hermann Bergfort GmbH currently has the contract for a really challenging demolition – this time not so much in technical terms, but because the preparation of the actual demolition was really demanding. A 22,500 m3 BRI ( gross volume) – of which 6,000 m3 was below ground level – building in Altenessen had been built in 2005 but never completed, the general contractor got into financial difficulties. Since then, homeless people have been using the building near the railway station. Now the city of Essen has ordered the demolition. For four weeks, the men from the Bergfort company, together with a pest controller, had to decontaminate the building, rid it of all the remains of the homeless people who had been living there for decades and the large colony of rats that had also been cavorting there. It was better to wear protective suits and leather gloves – drug addicts had also lived there and left their syringes and old mattresses there, among other things.
In addition, the underground car park, which had filled up in the meantime, had to be pumped out: two and a half to three million litres of water had accumulated there. At least the gutting went quickly, only the windows and screed had to be removed, as the building was not yet finished. And now it’s finally time for the actual demolition: 8,500 tonnes of building rubble are planned for recycling, and about 11,000 tonnes of material for backfilling.

Photos: Hermann Bergfort GmbH