Turkey's tallest challenge

The demolition of a 28 storey reinforced concrete building in Kozyatağı, Istanbul, has finally been carried out after considerable debate over what was to be done with it. The structure, which had stood uncompleted for a number of years, is the tallest building ever to be brought down in the country. The building had been sold by previous owner TMSF to the Anadolu Group, who finally decided to proceed with its demolition.

Taner Bulut, partner of the company which performed the demolition, MTKA, talked to Yikim regarding the demolition project. He said that the 94 m (308 ft) tall building, consisting of a basement and 28 floors, was surrounded with wooden protective screens. He explained: “the main aim of the wooden structures is to prevent any damage to the surroundings due to debris resulting from the demolition. We had been preparing the area for a safe demolition for around a month.” Having said that the demolition of the neighbouring office block was started at the same time, he said that the project will be completed within the next five months.

In the first phase of the project, mini excavators are being used to demolish down floor by floor to the point where demolition excavators and crushers will be able to complete the demolition. The demolition of the office block adjacent to the 28 storey building is being carried out simultaneously. Taner said; “in the preparation phase we used a 500 ton Liebherr crane to lift the mini machines onto the building. We strive to complete each procedure in full, as safety is more important than anything else.” He added that the selection of machinery to be used in the project was a sensitive issue due to floor loading limits.

For this, a compliance report was prepared by the Istanbul Technical University according to the structure and tolerances of the building. Taner explained; “people always want to use the largest machinery. Our mini machines have a capacity of 5.5 tons. We would have liked to use 8 or 10 ton machines to finish the demolition more quickly, but it is not possible to use larger machinery everywhere..”

A Hyundai mini-excavator from MTKA’s fleet is being used in the floor by floor demolition, with an additional Imer 55VX 5.5 tonne mini excavator rented from SBY İnşaat.