New world record set was set recently on the other side of the globe. The tallest reinforced concrete building was demolished by controlled explosives in Abu Dhabi, UAE
The following written content from Gina Towner
.On Nov. 27, local resident David Sinclair worked alongside his son, William, and their four-man team to successfully complete an implosion of the Mina Plaza Towers in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The implosion included four high-rise towers and a nine-level car park podium. One of the towers involved set a new world record as “the tallest reinforced concrete building to be demolished by controlled explosives engineering,” according to a press release recently submitted to The Union-Recorder.
Sinclair and his son come from a long lineage in the demolition industry.
In 1917, Sinclair’s grandfather started a demolition company in Glasgow, Scotland along with his two brothers. Today, Safedem Limited is an internationally-recognized demolition company headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. Sinclair’s son, William, is the company’s managing director, while Sinclair himself is semi-retired but still does projects with Safedem. Safedem Limited has an associate company, Safedem USA, LLC, whose offices are located here in Milledgeville.
Both father and son have decades of experience as explosives engineers, with more than 50 years for David and more than 30 years for William. The pair has worked together on hundreds of demolition projects over the years. Sinclair said that Safedem has a reputation in the industry for handling large-scale demolitions like the one recently completed in Abu Dhabi.
“Safedem specializes in demolition, hazardous material abatement and disposal, the recycling of materials arising from demolition projects, retention of facades of historic buildings, and demolition of buildings and structures on an international basis by controlled explosives engineering,” said Sinclair.
The Sinclairs first visited the Mina Plaza Towers in June 2019 for an initial survey of the project. Sinclair says it takes several months to plan a demolition of this scale. His son was responsible for the final project design.
Sinclair explained that the project posed significant challenges due to the design of the buildings set for implosion.
“We found the concrete support columns, beams, floors and walls throughout the buildings and podium all reinforced with heavier than normal steel reinforcement bars, making it very much more challenging for us to work out the charge weight required for each of the strategically placed explosive charges,” said Sinclair.
The team faced another challenge with the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The project had to be delayed for eight months, but the Sinclairs and their team were finally able to return to Abu Dhabi in September to carry out their work. They spent several weeks installing the explosives before the implosion took place on Nov. 27.
Sinclair said that the previous world record was for a 436-foot building demolished in Detroit, Mich. One of the towers in the Mina Plaza complex stood at 541 feet, thus exceeding the previous record by 105 feet.
Safedem’s client in the UAE, Modern Properties, reached out to the Guinness Book of World Records about the new record about to take place. Representatives from Guinness were in attendance at the implosion on Nov. 27 and presented a certificate to the team after the successful completion of the demolition.
Sinclair is grateful for the opportunity to complete this project and share this achievement with his son.
“I am delighted to have been involved with my son with this very prestigious and rewarding project. A copy of the Guinness Book of World Record certificate will take pride of place in my home office,” said Sinclair. Read more from Union Recorder
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