By using five tons of explosives, 19 tower blocks in Hubei Province in China were demolished in 10 seconds. It makes record as the biggest implosion project in the country to date.
Smoke & Plumes of Dust
The explosives were spread in 120,000 locations. When it was blasted simultaneously, the tower block fell like giant dominoes. As soon as the edifices crumbled, the area was filled with smoke and plumes of dust, The Sun reported. It was the first try to demolish a large complex of buildings in a busy metropolitan area, according to Wang Xuguang, implosion expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The use of implosion instead of the traditional demolition methods reduced to rubble in an instant the 19 buildings in Hankou that ranged from seven to 12 floors each. The 19 buildings were spread in 15 hectares of land. It was the third implosion in the area, bringing to 32 the number of demolished buildings in the place.
New Business District to Rise
The buildings were imploded too provide land for a new business district in the city. According to Hubei Daily, the project has attracted over 30 billion yuan, or $4.35 million, construction investment. To rise in the area includes a 707-meter tall building making it one of the world’s tallest building, an underground complex, and a cross-harbor tunnel.
In using implosion, Hankou, which was established as a city in 1926, saved over four months of preparing the building site.