CHENNAI: Clarion Hotel President, one of the landmark hotels in the city since 1978, near RK Salai is being demolished to make way for a luxury residential project by Asta Projects. The tall building is being razed using a 75-tonne crawler excavator which was imported from Volvo’s plant in South Korea.
PK Unique Projects is in charge of the operation. Volvo Construction Equipment through its partner Advanced Construction Technologies had leveraged the technology to carry out the demolition.
Demolition of high-rise buildings in the city has always been a challenge and developers keep searching for new technologies that are safe and sustainable. Founder-chairman of the Indian Demolition Association Mohan Ramanathan said that Volvo’s EC750DUHR has set a benchmark with its advanced safety features and environmentally responsible technology. This is the first such excavator used in South India to demolish a multi-storied building in the heart of a city.
The excavator can bring down buildings at a height of 33 metres and needs safety radius of less than 20 metres. Unlike the incident in Moulivakkam, where an unsafe high-storey building was brought to the ground using explosives three years ago, this machine will reduce the release of dust as well as noise, said managing director of PK Unique Projects Paulthurai Kannan.
Costing Rs 5.5 crore, only two machines of this configuration have been sold in India. The excavator has a tilting technology and has sensors to guide the operator during the demolition work, says Surat Mehta, head-manufacturing and retail development of Volvo CE.