Another One Bites the Dust
November 01, 2022
By: Larry Trojak
As NASA continues evolving into a leaner organization with a changing role in today’s space industry, vestiges of its storied past continue to meet their fate. The latest, while not as recognizable as one of the vehicle assembly structures or the Mobile Launch Platform recently spotlighted in this magazine, was, perhaps, even more pivotal in driving every major facet of the organization’s program in its history. The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Headquarters Building is a sprawling 440,000-square-foot structure that consists of a series of six, three-story “L” and “U”-shaped wings that were continually added on to accommodate the organization’s rapid growth in the early 1960s.
It was here that all the major decisions regarding the various programs that defined our dominance in the “space race” and afterward were made. Despite being named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, a mere 20 years later it was deemed outdated, oversized and beyond repair. The complex is currently being demolished, already replaced by a new eight-story KSC Headquarters Building with half the square footage that sits adjacent to it. For NDA member Frank-Lin Services of Brevard, the firm heading up the demo (as a subcontractor to Maverick Constructors), it is yet one more case of the old meeting the new as they use some innovative tools and techniques to bring down another iconic symbol of our nation’s past space program.
Different Set of Challenges
With KSC projects dating back to 1998, Frank-Lin is no stranger to working with NASA, having successfully completed work of both epic proportions (almost every structure associated with the shuttle program) and more manageable size (the Central Instrumentation Facility structure). The HQ building, while falling into the latter category, brings with it an entirely different set of challenges, according to Pete Charamut, the company’s president.
“This demo is simpler than most we’ve done at KSC,” he says. “But while the structure is coming down a lot easier, the environmental aspect of this job is another matter entirely. One of the reasons the HQ building was not considered for rehab is that it was heavily contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and asbestos. And while a full asbestos abatement was done over the course of the last year, areas such as the roof remain contaminated. So, as it comes down and gets mixed together, the entire pile of debris is considered as PCB bulk product waste.”
With that as criteria, about 90% of all the debris from the MSC Headquarters project has been slated for the landfill.
A Serious Departure
That fact weighs heavily on Charamut for several reasons. First of all, in winning the bid for the project, the company also won the right to recycle everything it could. However, with the structural and other metals deemed off-limits, the company’s bottom line was seriously impacted, prompting a revisit of the existing contract.
“And it’s about more than just the money,” he says. “We pride ourselves in regularly recycling better than an 85% of the material from most of our projects. But, while we hate to see good material taken to a landfill, I can see the point the engineers have made regarding material that is comingled as it comes down. They have allowed us, however, to take what we can before we start the actual demo of a structure. So, we are pulling material such as copper wiring, copper tubing, etc., and diverting it from the landfill. But the minute we start attacking that structure, everything is off limits.”
Starting with the CIF project done in 2018, KSC required that Frank-Lin purchase and maintain a truck scale to weigh every load of C&D debris and concrete before any material made its way to the landfill. That part of the job, says Charamut, is maintained on a daily basis by his daughter Lindsey and father-in-law Emilio Rogel. He estimates that, by project’s end, approximately 65,000 tons of general C&D debris, as well as an additional 18,000 tons of concrete — including the concrete slab — will cross those scales prior to being dumped in the KSC-owned and operated Schwartz Road landfill.
It should come as no surprise that dust suppression is a priority at the KSC job, given concerns surrounding the hazardous nature of the debris as it comes down. To address that issue, Frank-Lin’s team relies upon a pair of misting units from BossTek: a DB-60 and an Atom. They also have a 2,000-gallon water truck on-site to periodically soak the debris as it’s being brought down.
Dynamic Duo
Considering the scope of the headquarters project, Frank-Lin’s on-site crew of three operators and five dump trucks might, at first sight, appear seriously undersized. What they lack in numbers, however, they more than make up for in productivity, thanks to a pair of hydraulic attachments — an LXP 400 multi-jaw processor, third member-mounted on a Komatsu PC-490 and a GCP 610 concrete processor mounted on a Komatsu PC-360 — both from Genesis Attachments. With those at work, Frank-Lin’s team is systematically erasing remnants of NASA’s past.
“My son, Frank, is using the extended reach of that third-member unit to start at the top of each structure and work his way down, essentially collapsing each floor onto the one below,” Charamut says. “While all the wings are pretty much identical, one section featured a penthouse that housed the NASA director and upper-level management, and for that we brought in a rental excavator with a 76-foot ultra-high, three-section, Hitachi demolition package from PowerTrac Machinery. But the overwhelming bulk of the job has been handled using the two Genesis attachments.”
According to Charamut, they have two jaw sets for the LXP: a shear set and a concrete cracker set, and both have played a role at the HQ project. The composition of the building is mostly concrete and heavy rebar, material that is easily being processed by either of the two jaw sets. Charamut says his team benefits from the unit’s bolt-on piercing tip, which can be replaced in minutes without grinding or welding, as well as the full range of indexable blades that, by providing four useable cutting edges, keep productivity up.
“There’s no denying that the LXP on that Komatsu is the real workhorse out here,” he says. “The Komatsu machines, purchased from and serviced by Linder Machinery, have been outstanding for us. That LXP is easily handling any rebar we’ve encountered and can cut through pipe up to 8 inches in diameter, so we are more than covered. In fact, if we had enough time on the project, that combination could easily handle the entire job.”
Family Affair
Size and complexity of projects aside, Frank-Lin is still very much a family-based business, as evidenced by the daily presence of Pete Charamut, his son Frank, his daughter Lindsey and extended family.
“My parents started this company back in 1988 and named it after their two grandchildren, Frank and Lindsey,” said Charamut. “They are both on the HQ demo site today and are very much a part of the reason for our success. We’ve also grown that list with the addition of Frank’s wife Krystin, who, after leaving a career in restaurant management, is today a very experienced operator capable of running everything on site, including the PC-490 with the LXP-400. Not surprisingly, she fits right in.”
Tenured Performance
The Headquarters demolition will not be the last project Frank-Lin does for NASA — additional work is already either secured or being bid on. The contractor’s longevity and success working with the organization is based on an ability to combine expertise, concern for safety and an ability to bring the latest technology to bear.
“We started using high reach equipment on our demo projects back in early 2000 in order to be competitive and stay away from costly crane work, said Charamut. “Once clients — like NASA — realized how safely and quickly we could complete demolition projects, it just made sense for them to stay with us. NASA jobs are bid based on past performance, experience and a criteria called “lowest technically accepted,” which means the company bidding must prove an ability to be able to perform the work. We’ve been doing steady demo work for them since 2006, and in that time, took down about 90% of the shuttle facilities. I’d say the organization has had a comfort level with us for some time now — our ability to successfully deal with the challenges of the Headquarters building just reinforces their decision to stay with us.”
The KSC Headquarters Building demolition was slated for a Jan. 11, 2022, completion date.