In a very short time, the Hagedorn Group demolished the commercial ruins in Benen and restored nearly 600,000 m³ of indoor space.
The former Woolworth logistics center in Benen was abandoned over a decade ago. Meanwhile, the building on Autobahn 2 had gained a dubious reputation as an “adventure playground” and was considered a popular lost place. Now a modern logistics hall is being built on the site.
But before that, the on-site team had to make sure that the former ruins of Woolworth were razed to the ground. From July 2021 to the beginning of February this year, the Hagedorn Group was busy with the demolition of the building and thus carried out the complex dismantling in record time.
About 600,000 m³ of enclosed space had to be dismantled. It included two automated steel-framed high-bay warehouses, modular halls with 30 m high cantilevered ceilings and precast concrete elements, and an administrative building. During peak hours, up to 80 Hagedorn employees and 20 large machines were working on the demolition at the same time.
The walls of the buildings were mostly reinforced concrete, and their total weight was 70,000 tons. According to those in charge, the reinforced concrete was so hard that ordinary concrete scissors left only scratches on the surface. The uncontaminated soil from the region that was to be brought in for backfilling the cellar was cohesive and could only be brought to the required compaction levels with binders. The first goal of the project was quickly found: exposing the basement and starting to lay the floor – a whopping 60,000 m³ had to be realized.
