Demolition of the main stand of SV Darmstadt 98

The operating company chose Wilhelm Knepper GmbH & Co. KG as its partner for this mammoth project, relying not only on a high volume of work, but also on a high level of problem-solving expertise. The dismantling of the main stand involved a special feature that required a great deal of experience in dealing with asbestos-containing building materials and technological know-how. At the time, the concrete grandstand steps were installed with an asbestos-containing bitumen adhesive, which adhered to the steps and had to be separated from the concrete beforehand for professional recycling. In order to achieve this with as few emissions and as economically as possible, demolition and refurbishment specialist Knepper modified the BT 43 milling process sold by ASUP GmbH for this project and used it successfully. "The trial remediation in the black area was absolutely convincing under the supervision of the Darmstadt Regional Council," explains site manager Pedro Cano-Martinez. "All test measurements showed that the asbestos fibers in the indoor air were well below the limit values, meaning that there was no need to set up airlocks and work areas with negative pressure." A win-win situation for everyone involved. This procedure meant that nobody came into contact with the hazardous waste, the set-up times were shorter and the costs for the negative pressure decontamination areas and the expensive outdoor measurements could be saved.

The specialist for demolition, pollutant clean-up and industrial dismantling had calculated 12 weeks for the entire dismantling of the main stand, which was exactly adhered to. In the first step, Knepper began gutting the interior of the building on August 10, 2020. In addition to pollutants that had to be separated, such as old mineral fiber insulation and ventilation ducts made of asbestos cement, plasterboard, wood and other construction site waste were also completely removed. "We don't just do this because the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act forces us to. The construction waste with its high concrete content is ideal for producing a very high-quality recycled gravel that can later be used for base courses, for example. Foreign materials do not belong in there. Ultimately, this makes sense from an ecological and economic point of view for everyone involved," explains Dringenberg.

At the same time, a crane was used to dismantle the grandstand roof. Special care was also required here, as polystyrene was used in the construction alongside trapezoidal sheeting and roofing felt. The prudent machine operators ensured that the polystyrene was not spread over the stadium turf and contaminated it when the roof panels were lifted off. After all, SV Darmstadt 98 had to be able to continue playing unhindered while the stands were being dismantled. Once the roof and the steps underneath had been removed, the final phase began. Now the heavy equipment from Knepper's own fleet of vehicles was used to remove the remains of the structure. In total, the demolition specialists processed around 4,000 tons of rubble. In the end, all that remained of the main stand was a sunken excavation pit - and a few tears from wistful fans.