'150 per cent' confident of safely pulling down Noida twin towers: Demolition firm Edifice boss

Noida: If the construction of Supertech's twin towers in Noida was an engineering marvel, their demolition would be no less than a feat, says Utkarsh Mehta, whose Edifice Engineering has been tasked with safely pulling down the nearly 100-metre tall structures on August 28.

The Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering has partnered with South Africa's Jet Demolitions for the high-risk job that involves razing two high-rise structures in a manner that the residential towers at barely nine-metre distance do not get affected.

Mehta says the Edifice and Jet team is “150 per cent confident” of a safe demolition and assured no structural damage except for a few “cosmetic cracks” would be felt in nearby buildings.

“We have got a Rs 100 crore insurance for damage during the event but are confident we won't have to claim it,” Mehta told PTI in an interview.   The two firms have previously collaborated on taking down the Maradu complexes in Kochi, Kerala in 2020 which were four residential buildings with 18 to 20 storeys.

In 2019, Jet Demolitions had safely brought down the 108-metre high Bank of Lisbon building in Johannesburg, South Africa where the adjacent building was just 8 metres away.

Both the eye-popping demolitions were carried out by implosion technique, literally bringing down the building like a house of cards in a matter of seconds.

The same technique is being deployed for bringing down Noida's twin towers in less than 15 seconds, in pursuance of a Supreme Court order that found them built in violation of norms.

“We – the Edifice and Jet Demolitions team – are 150 per cent confident that the structures would come down in the direction and in the precise manner as we have envisaged it.

“Implosion technique is used to make a building fall within itself while in explosion the debris goes outside. Implosion works on the principle of gravity,” Edifice Engineering Partner Mehta told PTI.

“If you remove the legs of structure in such a fashion that the centre of gravity shifts even by millimetres, with time the structure has to come down. Gravity never sleeps. It works all day and all night. That's the whole idea of implosion,” Mehta said.

On any previous experiences of implosion that they are referring to for demolition of Noida twin towers, Mehta said they are banking on the expertise of their South African partners who have been in the business for 45 years now and their own 20-year-old firm's works.

“There is no book of reference for this method of demolition. There is no specific way of doing it or any word written anywhere in the world on how to do it. It's only on the acumen of individuals and their experiences of doing it,” he said.

He said the demolition team is deploying several equipments, including high and slow speed cameras, at multiple locations to capture the fall and to study the demolition after the job is done for learning.

“We have been very precise with what we are doing. If a hole drilled in building for explosives has to be 2.634 mm, then we have been precise to the last decimal digit. If we calculated that 9,640 holes have to be drilled, it has to be 9,640. We have to be precise in order to have the fall in the manner we envisage,” he said.

“When we examine the pictures and videos afterwards, we notice if there is any piece of debris flying out, if yes, then which floor or what location and the reason for it – was it less covered, did we charge it more (with explosives), etc,” he added.

On their collaboration for the high-risk job, Mehta said sometimes it's not about money but also about reputation. “Jet Demolitions is a 40-45 year old company, we (Edifice) are a 20-year-old company. So we both would never risk our positions – we in our Indian market and they in the global market,” he said.

“I can assure the residents that none of them has to be worried. Yes, dust is the only issue which we need to cater to. Apart from that there would be no structural damages,” he said.

Mehta, however, said there can be “cosmetic cracks” in paint or plasters of close by buildings that have already weakened and some glass windows may also develop cracks.

“We have already got a contractor placed for work on the same day. Teams are going to be ready at 6 pm on that day once everything looks clear, and they will start replacing the cracked glasses,” he added.

Over 5,000 residents of Emerald Court and ATS Village – the two closest societies to twin towers – will be evacuated on Sunday by 7 am. Some 2,700 of their vehicles will also be removed from the premises and the residents will take away around 150-200 of their pet cats and dogs too with them.

An exclusion zone will be created in a radius of up to 500 metres around the twin towers where no human or animal would be allowed except for a team of Indian and foreign blasters engaged in the demolition.

Over 3,700 kgs of explosives are being used to implode the Apex and Ceyane towers.