Officials urged to consider implosion to fell Ormond Beach hospital building.
A seven-storey building that has served Ormond Beach’s hospital needs for more than four decades could come crashing down in a matter of seconds.
Implosion is the likely method for demolishing the main tower at the former Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial, said Rich Lorenz, president and CEO of Orlando-based Central Environmental Services Inc.
Conventional demolition practices could take two or three months, while implosion would bring down the structure in seven seconds, he said.
Explosive charges would be placed near supports on the building’s lower floors. Once those supports are removed, the structure will tumble down on itself. “God does the rest — gravity,” said Lorenz, 63, who has demolished more than 11,200 buildings during his three-decade-plus career. “We’ll drop it right down in its footprint.”
Lorenz and officials for Florida Hospital said they will seek community input before deciding how to proceed.
Implosion would be less disruptive to neighbors than conventional demolition methods, which take longer and create more dust, Lorenz said.
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