For the past four years, American Integrated Services, Inc. (AIS) has been on the job at the site of the former RAND Headquarters in Santa Monica performing hazardous waste remediation and demolition of an existing 375,000-square-foot complex including a five-story concrete office building. Along the way, many technical and construction challenges have arisen at the site that have contributed to changes in the schedule and the scope of the project. Unearthed challenges included: entire curb and gutters, a loading dock, a storm drain system, railroad tracks, storage tanks, and soil contaminated with arsenic, petroleum and other hazardous and regulated materials.

The first phase of the project for AIS—an 8(a) and Caltrans certified DBE, a full service environmental/ construction firm specializing in hazardous waste remediation, fuel system installations, waste transportation/disposal and decontamination/ demolition services—was to perform soil remediation for RAND’s new headquarters site. AIS excavated, transported and recycled and/or disposed of more than 40,000 tons of contaminated soil for the $2.4 million contract.

Once the new headquarters building was completed and RAND personnel moved out of the old building, AIS, under the direction of Senior Project Manager Razmik Gozalians, began work on the demolition of the former 375,000-square-foot Rand headquarters complex.  This $12 million phase of the project included asbestos abatement, complete demolition of the complex following the City of Santa Monica’s stringent recycling requirements, hundreds of feet of shoring, underground storage tank removal, soil remediation, import of clean soil, backfill and final grading.  The company excavated, transported, and recycled and/or disposed of more than 160,000 tons of contaminated soil from the area below the old building, and imported and backfilled 175,000 tons of clean soil.

 
 


As one might imagine in a project of this scope, there were several challenges. First, the City of Santa Monica imposed a 65% recycling goal on the demolition project, with AIS achieving 85% recycling to date. Second, the asbestos abatement involved removing hundreds of walls that were constructed on top of asbestos tiles. AIS had to develop an innovative way to remove the walls without damaging the tiles.

Third, part of the building demolition involved removing and demolishing more than 140 subsurface caissons, which had belled bottoms and were designed to support the former structure.  The caissons were up to 11 feet in diameter and 45 feet deep. Many were located adjacent to an underground storm drain constructed in the 1930s with un-reinforced red brick. The drain system was 35 feet in depth and a semi truck could drive through it.


“In order to remove the caissons without damaging the storm drain, we had to install 250 feet of shoring to a depth of 45 feet,” Gary Runnells, P.G., AIS’ Executive Vice President and co-owner says.

Finally, the City of Santa Monica mandated that 76 trees onsite were to be saved and reused. All of the trees are quite large, requiring 20 foot by 20-foot boxes. At this point, AIS has been taking care of these trees for two years. The City of Santa Monica is the new owner of the property.

AIS has several pieces of equipment on this project including the Case CX800 (180,000lb unit), Case 9050, 9040 and 9030 excavators, a Case CX47 mini excavator for specialty use in the shoring line, Case 921C wheel loaders, motor graders, rock trucks and water trucks.

  
 
 

Gary says that most of AIS’ Case equipment has been purchased from Art Jurado, D3 Equipment’s Sales Manager. “Art has made it possible for us to get into bigger and better equipment because of good prices, varied financing options and service”.

“D3 Equipment gives us lots of product education and will send someone out to the jobsite to make sure we’ve got what we need.”

Another large project that AIS is working on is the total decontamination and demolition of 16 acres of industrial metal buildings in Vernon, California. The metal buildings are contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals and asbestos. The $5 million project includes the decontamination of five million square feet of surface area, performing asbestos abatement and building demolition.

 

The decontamination process involves pressure washing all surfaces, using man-lifts.  The crews start in the 50- to 60-foot saw tooth roofing rafters and work their way down the walls to the floor.

The company’s headquarters and equipment yard is located in Wilmington California, which is located in the Los Angeles harbor area. This central location allows good access to both the northern and southern parts of the state. One of the main reasons they located there is because the area is defined as a HubZone area.  This designation is for underdeveloped and disadvantaged business zones. The Federal government has set-aside contracts specifically for businesses located in these areas. 

 
 

AIS has satellite offices in Santa Barbara, Walnut Creek and Rancho Cordova, California and Salt Lake City, Utah. The company has more than 60 full time employees.

One of the challenges for AIS is that their type of business is typically tied to the real estate market, thus rising and falling as that market does, Gary says. Gary adds.

AIS has picked up several state and federal contracts over the years that helps them to, in effect, “diversify our portfolio and client base,”The largest portion of their work is environmental construction, decontamination/demolition and hazardous/regulated waste transportation services.

Gary says it is his and David’s goal to be the most professional environmental clean-up contractor in the business. They employ geologists and engineers who have experience with construction, which they feel gives them a level of expertise
that other companies may not have.

They also institute a health/safety plan for each job and require “tailgate” meetings every morning on every job to discuss safety issues and how to prevent potential problems.

“We put a premium on the quality of our finished product and make sure we give the customer what they are looking for,” Gary explains.

AIS recently brought Kelly Slater on board as Vice President of Federal Programs. Kelly’s background is with an 8(a) company and he both markets and manages federal work for the company.

For more information look online at www.americanintegrated.com or call (310) 522-1168. Cc

 

 

 

  

 

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