Supertech demolition: Things to know about bringing down concrete colossus

Ahead of the planned demolition of the Supertech twin towers to be held at 2.30 pm in Noida on Sunday, the area has been buzzing with activity. Residents from nearby buildings and all living beings have been evacuated from the area, which has also been declared a temporary no-fly zone.

The 40-storey towers, found guilty of violating building norms, will be brought down by implosion by Edifice Engineering. 

Here are six things to know about the demolition. 

1. The towers will be brought down by what is called a waterfall implosion, which ensure that there is no instant impact on the ground. It will not come down in one go, but like a wave — from the starting point to the last point of the building, although that won’t be visible to a layman.

2. The method of demolition — either manual, through machines, or implosion — is determined keeping in mind the condition of the site and the structure’s proximity to other buildings, besides other factors. 

3. According to Uttkarsh Mehta, partner at Edifice Engineering, the two main challenges they faced were: the proximity of one of the towers to a residential building, and a gas pipeline running under one tower.

4. Edifice Engineering has collaborated with South Africa-based Jet Demolitions. 

5. In terms of protection, each and every column that will be blasted has been covered in four layers of wire mesh and four layers of geotextile cloth — a special cloth that is elastic in nature and allows the debris to be contained right at the source. 

Apart from that, each floor will be “closed” by perimeter curtains — a geotextile cloth of different thickness — to contain the debris that escapes the initial layers of protection. A fourth layer of security will be added by way of covering surrounding buildings with geotextile cloth.

6. To ensure that vibrations from the blast and the fall don’t ripple across the surrounding structures, impact cushions have been created in the basement of the towers and trenches have been dug around to arrest them.