Construction of the first iteration of the Blackhawk Generating Station in Beloit, Wisconsin, was completed in 1907. The steam-powered, coal-fired power plant, which was renovated in seven stages throughout the first half of the 20th century, remained in operation until 2005. In 2010, plant owner Alliant Energy made the decision to decommission the facility due to a reduction in demand for power within the plant’s service territory.

While the decommissioning of a power plant normally marks its final chapter, the structure’s location and durable build got the attention of administrators at neighboring Beloit College, who identified its potential as a fitness and recreation space for students.

“The college has had an immediate need for new recreation, fitness and health space, and a longer-term need for new student union space,” Daniel Schooff, Beloit College’s chief of staff and secretary of the college, told Civil Engineering, the magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers, in 2015. “The college hired local engineering and architecture firms to examine the structure, look at the original blueprints and consider the feasibility of repurposing the facility to meet the campus’s needs. What we found is an incredibly robust structure. It is an all-steel-frame structure. In the engineering of buildings [in the early 20th century], you were typically overbuilding. The functions that the college hoped to build would place much less load on the structure than what it already supported.”

Before the work could commence, NADC was asked to provide engineering plans to protect architectural items throughout the powerhouse that needed to remain protected during the demolition phase of construction. Because the college wanted to preserve the industrial look and feel of the building, structures like Blackhawk’s coal hoppers, overhead cranes and 175-foot smokestack, among other structures, were to remain.

According to Vic Chappel, sales and marketing for NADC, the Blackhawk project required nuanced planning and coordination between parties to ensure the structure retained its integrity throughout the demolition process.

“North American Dismantling Corp. was proud and excited to be a part of the powerhouse to student center conversion project, as it allowed us to interject our decades-long experience and capabilities involving interior and selective demolition,” he says. “In planning this project, NADC coordinated with Alliant Energy and Beloit College to help ensure the project was completed safety, timely and on budget. NADC handled all permitting associated with the project including demolition and abatement permits, road closures, river work permits [for the nearby Rock River] and more. NADC also coordinated with Beloit College to create a final topographical survey which allowed for proper site drainage while leaving a suitable area for Beloit College to also build a new addition. NADC [was also charged with] executing the salvage of many items which were plotted to remain in place for historical value as planned by Beloit College.”

The project at hand

Before NADC could get to work removing structures and demoing parts of the building, the company subcontracted Environmental Demolition Inc. to perform abatement on the project. Although NADC says the majority of the abatement had been previously performed by another contractor, Environmental Demolition Inc.’s work consisted of the removal and disposal of electrical components, pipe insulation, window glazing and other friable and non-friable asbestos, and other retired plant components.

After the abatement was completed, NADC began removing all components that weren’t slated to remain, including two boilers, two turbines, circulating water piping and other retired operational components. NADC also removed two precipitators from the front of the building as part of the demolition scope of work. Chappel says the main scope of demolition activity consisted of coal handling outbuilding work, exterior structure and foundation demolition to 2 feet below grade, decommissioning of site mechanical systems, removal and disposal of all remaining oils and gases, decommissioning of discharge piping and screenhouse and intake tunnels, and removal and disposal of all universal waste.

NADC says it also contracted the removal of a seawall from the adjacent Rock River and the closure of water intakes and discharges. The building shell and all structural steel was left in place.

Between the need to preserve certain components, the age of the site and space constraints, Chappel says there were a number of obstacles that NADC had to overcome on the job.

“The way the structure was built and NADC’s specific scope of work was a challenge in itself,” he says. “NADC developed a complex work plan that varied from means and methods used on other projects. Between the construction style of the boilers; the salvage-in-place nature of many components that forced NADC to take extra precaution in execution of the work to be able to protect and save these items; and the limited egress available for concrete, garbage and scrap, NADC had to develop a well-thought-out demolition process. We were able to plan and execute with the help of all team members to create a successful demolition project.”

According to Chappel, demolition took the crew of 30 approximately seven months to complete, with the project ranging from June 2017 to January 2018. In all, 35,000 total manhours were performed without incident on the job.

The demolition produced ferrous and nonferrous metal, C&D waste and concrete. All steel from the project was recycled at a local steel recycling center, all concrete was recycled at a local concrete crushing facility and the C&D waste was sent to the local landfill.

Through NADC’s diligence on the project, the company was able to recycle 95 percent of materials derived from the Blackhawk demolition.

“NADC makes every effort to recycle all materials feasible on every project,” Chappel says. “NADC takes care to sort and prepare materials to the best of our ability so as to limit both disposal costs and environmental impact.”

A new beginning

The Powerhouse, as it’s known on campus, was officially opened in February.

The new building includes meeting rooms, gathering spaces, an indoor track, a lecture hall and theater, a pool, a café, fieldhouse, a conference center, multiple fitness spaces, outdoor decks overlooking the Rock River and a Riverwalk.

About the project, Beloit’s website states, “A glorious 21st century use for a quintessentially 20th century facility, the building provides a spectacular space for the community to come together to work, train, eat and play. It is a showcase of sustainable design and is housed in one of the state’s most important historic buildings, tying the college and the city of Beloit closer to the Rock River.”

“From the very outset, this has been both a project that was going to be enormously valuable to the college community and the city of Beloit,” Beloit College President Scott Bierman told the Wisconsin State Journal. “This project, at its core, is fundamentally a student center, and for those reasons, we expect that prospective students and their families will pay close attention to a college that has devoted this much energy and resources to improving the quality of their experience.”

With a history dating back over 100 years, the repurposing of the Blackhawk Generating Station serves as a standing monument linking the city’s past to those tasked with creating its future.

“It’s a symbol,” Schooff told the Wisconsin State Journal. “It’s an echo of our industrial heritage.”

The author is the editor of Construction & Demolition Recycling magazine and can be reached at aredling@gie.net.

For nearly 50 years, Canada-based Ecowaste Industries Ltd. has been servicing its community by providing diversion and recycling solutions for construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

In an effort to more closely align the company’s services with its mission to recycle, repurpose and sustain the products it manages, Ecowaste invested in a multi-million-dollar wood processing system in 2019 to better recycle waste wood streams into a high-quality biomass product that can be used for alternative fuels.

“In the past, we knew that we would be interested in getting into the wood business, and at the time, we had an opportunity to buy a [company] that would give us a pretty good reach into the wood recycling industry,” says Christian Dietrich, general manager for Ecowaste’s waste management division.

At the end of 2018, Ecowaste acquired the operating assets and facilities of Urban Wood Recycling and Smithers Enterprises, both based in Vancouver. Since the start of 2019, Ecowaste has been accepting former Urban and Smithers customers at its Ecowaste Landfill in Richmond, British Columbia.

To facilitate the wood processing needs of Ecowaste’s broadened customer network, the company began collaborating with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, Norwalk, Connecticut, to purchase new equipment.

“We obviously needed a good long-term system to be able to process the wood through, so we went to Van Dyk and said, ‘Hey, can you help us find some equipment to start the process and make relationships with the biomass buyers and users,’” says Dietrich.

The system

Following a proposal by a Van Dyk consultant based in Holland, Ecowaste ultimately decided to purchase a complete wood processing line by HAAS Recycling Systems, Dreisbach, Germany.

“We took a trip to look at a couple of HAAS’ sites in Germany and Holland, and then completed the final design on all the components that we felt were needed,” says Dietrich. “We then went back and did another inspection of the equipment before it shipped last summer.” The parts for the equipment were delivered in August 2019 and the system has been fully operational since October 2019.

Using a highly automated system, the wood processing line is capable of processing roughly 100,000 tons of material per year.

“The system is designed to work long hours with minimum maintenance and high availability,” says Sascha Kloft, managing director for HAAS.

According to Ecowaste, the wood processing system first starts with the shredding of inbound, clean wood, which is done by a HAAS Tryon 2000-E 2.0 shredder. The material then heads to an overbelt magnet that separates the ferrous metals before it is fed into a HAAS Arthos 1600-E hammermill. During this step, the wood fraction is further reduced in size, liberating smaller metal pieces through two or more ferrous magnets and a nonferrous magnet.

“The versatile Tyron pre-shredder and the Arthos hammermill with its ‘ballistic chute’ protection system allow the system to process all types of waste and biomass, even if bigger metal parts or stones are within the infeed product,” says Kloft. “This gives the advantage of allowing many different waste streams to be processed with one line.”

Next, a downstream neodym overband magnet separates the exposed ferrous parts, followed by an eddy current separator that sorts out nonferrous metals. The HPS 125 flat screen separates the material into four fraction sizes:

• Fraction 1 is approximately 0-10 mm
• Fraction 2 is approximately 10-25 mm
• Fraction 3 is approximately 25-80 mm
• Fraction 4 is more than 80 mm

Additional screening and sorting processes ensure the correct particle size for the end consumer, and all light plastics are removed by using an air separator.

“We’ve been running for 10 months now, and the system is pretty slick,” says Dietrich.

Dietrich also says that any fears he initially had with buying equipment outside of North America have been mitigated by Van Dyk’s handling of maintenance issues.

“Van Dyk has done a good job supplying or storing a lot of spare parts in Connecticut for this line, so, I can get something within a day or two if I really need to,” he says.

Producing biomass

Ecowaste’s clean wood output is sold as biomass fuel to customers located in Canada’s lower mainland near Vancouver, with one customer in the British Columbia interior.

Included in the company’s biomass customer base is a paper producer and recycler in New Westminster, Canada. According to Dietrich, the company burns the biomass to power their dryers.

“In paper manufacturing, drying the paper can be quite expensive if they don’t use biomass,” he says.

In addition to Ecowaste’s biomass ventures, the company plans to pursue the building of a C&D materials recovery facility (MRF) in the coming years.

“Historically, we’ve recycled roughly 20 percent of what we handle—mostly concrete, a bit of wood and some green waste, materials like that,” Dietrich says. “We made the decision a few years ago to build a large C&D MRF; so, instead of taking 80 percent and burying it, [what] we plan to do is basically flip our recycling rate.”

Ecowaste is currently in the permitting process for the construction of the C&D MRF, which would process approximately 250,000 tons of mixed material yearly. The wood processing line Ecowaste recently purchased from HAAS marks the beginnings of this part of the business.

Dietrich says, “The intention behind the [wood processing] system we bought last year was for us to get into the biomass business before we built the big MRF. So, this is kind of us dipping our toes into the business of biomass sales.”

Once this part of the business is fully operational, Dietrich says they will be able to efficiently pull clean wood out of their incoming stream, along with plastics and paper, to be further recycled or used as alternative fuels.

“There’s a tremendous amount of wood in the mixed C&D waste steam. Somewhere between 45-60 percent of the material in the C&D stream is wood,” he says. “So, if it comes into our site and it’s mixed with all other types of construction materials, like plastic, insulation, carpets and roofing materials, we can’t really do much with it today, but the big MRF will be able to separate it all into different streams resulting in 70-80 percent landfill diversion. We plan to keep the HAAS line separate in the future so customers who take the time to source separate their wood will receive a lower disposal fee than if it was mixed with other C&D materials.”

Dietrich says Ecowaste is hoping to finalize the design of the C&D MRF by next summer, with the facility expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022.

The author is the assistant editor for Construction & Demolition Recycling magazine and can be reached at hrischar@gie.net.

Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is one of the world’s leading sustainability consultancies. Founded in 1971, the company currently employs over 5,500 people in more than 42 countries around the world.

While decommissioning, decontamination and demolition (DDD) is core to the company’s services, its offerings encompass everything from feasibility and closure work to detailed permitting and climate change strategies.

As such, the company has a broad perspective when it comes to DDD since the majority of its work is part of bigger, more integrated projects that include site restoration, property redevelopment, divestiture and capital investments.

Susan Angyal, who was named ERM’s regional CEO for North America in July, says this 360-degree approach helps infuse the company’s big picture mindset into every project.

“We define our purpose as ‘shaping a sustainable future with the world’s leading organizations,’ which carries over to our tagline, ‘The Business of Sustainability,’” she says. “We operationalize these qualities by looking at all client engagements—including DDD—through the lens of sustainability. We are deliberate and purposeful in developing multifaceted solutions for our clients that address not only the conventional environmental and regulatory dimensions around a DDD project, but also bring complementary skills around both the social and governance elements, too.”

Part of the company’s ESG focus entails employing public affairs professionals to work alongside its DDD experts on every project to anticipate, communicate and manage community interests. Additionally, the company has instituted local hiring initiatives with many of its DDD projects to help enrich local communities, expand the experience base and create new career potential within a geographic region. In many cases, Angyal says, this local hiring focus translates to the company’s subcontractors retaining these hires as full-time employees.

In terms of promoting a green footprint, Angyal says ERM’s DDD teams look for opportunities to increase their landfill diversion rates on every project while prioritizing C&D recycling whenever possible. As part of this focus, the company also works with a number of clients to help them establish annual sustainability reports to track their progress.

“For the DDD sector, these reports include customary recycling (i.e., metal, concrete, glass, cardboard, reuse soil, etc.), but also, the reduction of emissions through the use of Tier 4 engines on construction equipment, [the use of] biofuels and utilizing ride sharing or crew vans to reduce single-driver vehicle usage,” Angyal explains. “Our project teams have even found enhanced reuse through utilizing recycled gray water in misting systems for dust and odor suppression or when pouring slurry walls, placing grout and performing slurry-supported excavation.”

A people-first business

Although sustainability is a top priority and selling point of the company’s business approach, Angyal notes that the company’s growth has been largely due to how it recruits its employees.

“We recruit great people, giving them the skills and equipment to do the job well, and then create an environment where they can flourish with interesting projects supported by world-class teams. The talent which is recruited from the contracting space enjoys the stability of ERM’s global footprint and client/sector diversification, as well as the ability to significantly advance their careers,” she says. “This is a marked distinction from the peaks and valleys common in the trade industry. From the top down, we have a deeply embedded social conscience about our people and our planet. More and more, we’re seeing this as a competitive differentiator in recruiting new workers who seek out companies that prioritize these values.”

And despite workers not entering the DDD space at the same rate as in previous generations, Angyal says pitching tomorrow’s workforce on the benefits of pursuing a career in the sector is essential. The challenge, she says, is making it compelling in comparison to openings at companies like Google or Amazon. To accomplish this, Angyal says that ERM tries to show how the company’s broader contributions and sustainability focus align with the next generation.

In addition to selling the company’s mission statement, she says that the industry needs to adapt to advances in technology in order to appeal to younger workers. Not only is this about leveraging new employees’ aptitude in utilizing remote tools and software, it is also part and parcel of creating a safe work site.

“We aim to provide flexibility without sacrificing safety,” she says. “In a post-COVID-19 world, particularly when it relates to safely returning to work, safety processes and protocols can often be overlooked. At ERM, we have seen an increase in the use of remote tools, such as satellites and drone technology, as well as wearables to improve safety performance. Our safety training has also increased significantly across a range of sectors.”

Angyal believes that hiring the best available talent is the cornerstone of what ERM is all about. Through the company’s due diligence, she notes ERM is able to be selective in recruiting contactors the company trusts.

“ERM’s contractor mindset definitely sets us apart,” she says. “We hire great contractors with specialized expertise, which makes a notable difference in the work we provide. ERM speaks the language of the contractor, which also helps us to communicate with all of the stakeholders and problem-solve more quickly and effectively.”

Going where the opportunities are

Angyal says ERM is coming off of three years of strong growth fueled by both organic initiatives and strategic M&A opportunities, which has helped broaden the company’s offerings and expand its client base. She notes that maintaining a well-balanced business with capabilities across the asset lifecycle has been critical to this success.

“We find many of our competitors to be primarily focused on the end of life phase (like remediation), which provides good, sustained revenues, but is becoming increasingly commoditized,” she says. “Our broader client platform also makes us more resilient as different parts of the market tend to ebb and flow. Our diversity of services and skills allows us to be more agile and flexible with the markets and economy.”

Additionally, she says the company’s “boots to boardroom” strategy has helped create opportunities for the company by allowing it to offer solutions for clients’ project implementation phase of work but also for advisory-type services.

Finally, she says the company’s global platform, and subsequent expertise, has aided in ERM’s growth by allowing it to scale its operations in a way that smaller operators on the local or regional level can’t.

Angyal says that ERM’s strongest opportunities within the asset retirement and DDD sectors include site assessments, regulatory and stakeholder engagements, and site remediation work. In terms of what type of jobs the company is trying to capitalize on, Angyal notes that the energy sector is particularly ripe with work on the horizon.

“ERM is very bullish with DDD opportunities around the energy markets, particularly coal retirements. In 2019, we rolled out a company-wide program centered on the Low Carbon Energy Transition (LCET) where we see a major reconfiguration of our country’s energy infrastructure,” she says. “The shift to a low carbon economy is forcing companies to look at their asset portfolio in light of the impact of climate change and the pressures to act being applied to businesses. This will drive significant DDD opportunities and replacement infrastructure with alternative and lower carbon energy sources. This has now expanded into the low carbon economy transition, as it is a much broader subject in which every industry plays a part.”

Although she concedes that the DDD market is highly competitive, which can make it difficult to differentiate the company during a procurement process based solely on cost, being able to look at DDD projects as part of a bigger picture has helped the company attract clients. Rather than fight for every job that comes online, Angyal says the company strives to be more discerning to corner work where the company can best leverage its expertise and experience.

“While we’re capable of competing on the open market for DDD projects, we do tend to be more disciplined around target clients and opportunities where we can add legitimate value beyond just the wrecking ball,” she says. “ERM performs DDD work for Fortune 200 companies around the world. Where ERM differentiates itself is within the structure of our DDD offerings, and our ability to create incredible value through scope, price and budget controls. Our DDD group includes significant staffing from the DDD and site remediation contracting space. Combined with engineering and other professional staff, our clients realize the benefits of true subject matter expertise from ERM.”

Asked on ERM’s plan for continued growth, Angyal says the company has a three-pronged approach.

“We want to remain focused on today and delivering in our core markets—including DDD—to keep the market share we’ve already earned,” she says. “DDD plays an important role in ensuring the portfolio is managed in a secure, safe and sustainable way. We want to build on market drivers, such as LCET, to keep ERM and our service mix relevant in new and emerging parts of our market. We have adapted our business and the services we offer to help do this, which helps us position ourselves for growth while increasing new market share. And we want to leverage the ERM brand as we continue to differentiate ourselves from the competition.”

The author is the editor of Construction & Demolition Recycling and can be reached at aredling@gie.net.

DTG Recycle names new CFO

DTG Recycle, Mill Creek, Washington, has hired Andrew Pickering as the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO). Pickering, who joined the company effective June 1, was selected after a search led by Texas-based executive recruiting firm Global Recruiters of McKinney.

“We were impressed with Andrew’s experience bringing together multiple accounting platforms into a single, cohesive reporting mechanism,” Tom Vaughn, CEO of DTG Recycle, says. “This competency is critical to DTG as we continue to expand with acquisitions and new service and product lines. Andrew’s experience rapidly scaling companies was also very attractive to DTG, and we are eager to leverage his expertise in our growth plan.”

Vaughn says that conducting an executive search during the COVID-19 pandemic presented some challenges, but Global Recruiters of McKinney President Tyler Frisbie helped expedite the process via the company’s nationwide network. This process allowed DTG to fill the role quicker than anticipated.

“Engaging Tyler Frisbie allowed us to view a variety of candidates from across the country and from a multitude of industries in a relatively short period of time. Given the COVID-19 challenges, it was impressive that Tyler was able to marshal a significant number of highly qualified candidates, particularly from our home market here in the Puget Sound region,” Vaughn says.

Earlier this year, DTG announced a $32 million minority growth equity financing led by Toronto-based Clairvest in partnership with existing shareholders.

Adrian Pasricha, a partner at Clairvest, says that the addition of Pickering will help the company as it continues to broaden its existing customer base.

“DTG has been on a high-growth trajectory for some time already, and the business plan going forward is to keep up that pace,” Pasricha says. “Recruiting a high-energy CFO with experience managing hyper-growth, tracking operational stats meticulously, and working with private-equity investors was essential to meeting [DTG founder] Dan Guimont’s and Clairvest’s value-creation objectives.”