Leading the Caleido Tower construction effort is OHL Desarrollos, one of Spain’s largest construction contractors. With a height of 165 meters and 50,000 square meters of floor space, the 35-story structure, located on the Paseo de la Castellana, will house the new headquarters and campus of IE University, as well as a clinic and shopping center.
Perfox, a leading Spanish demolition contractor, is heading up the demolition work on the site’s existing structure, and is employing six Brokk machines on the project: a Brokk 500, two Brokk 180s, two Brokk 160s, and a Brokk 90. These remote-controlled demolition machines are helping to break up over 1,000 cubic meters of concrete (350 hardness with three reinforcements) in the primary walls and slabs. Large 30 and 40-ton excavators are also being used, but the building has many limited-access spaces where Brokk machines have proven to be the best option for completing the project within the tight schedule.
One of the biggest challenges of the job has been the amount of extremely hard reinforced concrete to break up. The unusual power of the Brokk machines has been extraordinarily helpful in this regard, with the Brokk 500 rivalling the performance of a 30-ton excavator. And in the small, restricted spaces of the structure, safe and efficient demolition would have been impossible without the compact, remote power of the Brokk 160.
“We’re very happy with Brokk,” says Ramiro Núñez, general director of Perfox. “We’ve been working together for more than twelve years, and we’ve always received great support from them. We currently have eight Brokk machines, and we’ll be expanding our fleet soon. This job would’ve been impossible to complete without our Brokk machines. The power and performance of these robots are incredible-comparable with much larger excavators, but we can access very small spaces with them. The Brook 500 is a small monster, and it’s working in a place where we simply couldn’t bring any other excavator.”
