Music city showdown: a Nashville project studies the benefits of re-using segregated and salvaged materials - Demolition Trends

Recycling Today, Feb, 2003 by Bob Brickner

When the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metro Nashville) hired a consultant to lead the bidding process for a major construction and demolition project, it expressed a desire to make sure the project was in harmony with the "Clean, Green and Lean" Waste Management Plan that Metro Nashville has enacted.

Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), Fairfax, Va., is a consultant to Metro Nashville responsible for overseeing parts of the project, including preparation of the site on which a utility company will construct a new District Energy System (DES) near downtown Nashville.

GBB sought several bids using different dismantling, demolition and construction methods to yield a process that would be environmentally responsible, while also serving the taxpayers by holding costs down.

The bid involved two major construction projects currently progressing directly to the south of the Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation (NTTC), a waste-to-energy plant that provided heating and cooling to more than 35 buildings in the downtown Nashville area for almost 30 years.

Ray Bell Construction Co. is working under contract to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to complete the new Gateway Bridge/Boulevard construction project. Also nearby, and the principal subject of this article, the new Metro Nashville District Energy System (DES) contract has been awarded to Constellation Energy Source Inc. (CES) of Baltimore, Md.

The development of these two neighboring projects required the ultimate demolition and site-related cleanup of a total of six buildings, collectively known throughout this article as the Work Zone.

GBB issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) indicating that the overall project site demolition would involve all six buildings in the Work Zone. The RFP described the overall needs of the project, but by doing so in an integrated manner with subdivided costs, assigned the respective costs to the two main parties involved--TDOT and Metro Nashville--that were funding the overall project. It was expected that the selected demolition contractor from the RFP process would sign an agreement for five building parcels with the TDOT general contractor and an additional contract with Metro for Guardian Building No. 2.

Because the two prime contractors had contracts with TDOT and Metro respectively, certain terms and conditions of their prime contracts were also included in two unique subcontracts provided as attachments or references in GBB's RFP.

THE RFP PROCESS

GBB solicited formal written proposals from a group of pre-selected contractors to demolish the current structures, while hopefully maximizing the beneficial reuse of the demolition debris to the greatest extent economically practicable. The RFP noted that both the new Metro DES facility and the new Gateway Boulevard would require certain "fill materials." The selected demolition contractors were encouraged by GBB to confirm the quantities and the specifications of the on-site "fill material" they could produce, reducing the off-site hauling and landffiling of materials and optimizing the recovery of recyclable materials from the Work Zone.

GBB issued the RFP and proposals were accepted on June 17, 2002. A table with the specific key target dates for demolition of the six buildings was included in the RFP. Bidders were required to consider and pay careful attention to this timetable in the preparation of the proposal, because the schedule and interface of Work Zone activities were critical to the schedules of the new construction to be undertaken by CES and Ray Bell, the bridge building contractor. Therefore, site activities and coordination with each of the prime contractors were important to the success of the demolition project.

The demolition contractor was required, at minimum, to achieve and maintain the performance outcomes listed in the RFP, consistent with performance standards agreed to through the two contracts resulting from the RFP process. Additionally, all salvaged materials, including an estimate of materials stockpiled or used as "fill materials" were also required to be inventoried by the demolition contractor for use by CES and Ray Bell on their respective new construction projects.

The demolition contractor was required to follow contract requirements; obtain all permits from appropriate agencies; establish site security; interface with all utility companies with service lines within the Work Zone; provide/coordinate appropriate road closures as required; provide a responsible on-site manager(s); assign qualified persons to the contracts; provide the equipment required to do the assigned task or accomplish the requirements and outcomes; maintain records of expenditures, deliverables and progress; submit required reports in a timely fashion; and maintain a clear line of communication for prompt resolution of problems. The use of explosives by the demolition contractor was not permitted for the project, and during the term of Work Zone activity by the demolition contractor, the "onsite" selling of salvaged materials was not permitted.