Consulting

Demolition

CDI provides both on site and site unseen consulting services to support our client’s decisions to purchase properties, to proceed with clearance of structures prior to site development or to clear unwanted structures prior to sale of the property. CDI can either review data provided by the client or inspect a site to determine the best means and methods for clearance of structures for the project. CDI can provide rough orders of magnitude and, on request, detailed budgets or hard proposals for actual performance of the work that ensure safe, regulatory compliant and cost-effective demolition solutions for clients worldwide. With decades of in-house experience in program development, environmental remediation, dismantling, conventional and explosives demolition operations, CDI provides unmatched consulting services to meet the needs of our clients. These services include formal opinions and demolition design input from our third-party engineering professionals, experienced in and licensed to provide such services.

Vibration & Noise Monitoring

CDI has an inventory of vibration and air pressure monitoring equipment, personnel experienced in the operation of same, as well as the ability to analyze and interpret the resultant data on demolition sites. With institutional ties to instrument manufacturer, InstatelTM, CDI can provide the expertise and instrumentation monitoring needs for any project. We combine over seven decades of historic data with current industry and regulatory standards to assess potential exposure of improvements to remain or third-party properties to vibration/over-pressure damage to protect the interests of stakeholders on a project specific basis.

Our long-standing relationships with third party structural engineers and geotechnical professionals, allow us to provide additional levels of technical support, surveys and monitoring, where needed.

Expert Opinion/Testimony

CDI has expertise in a wide range of conventional and explosives-demolition operations. On the conventional demolition side, this experience includes handling different structural configurations and selection of the means, methods and sequence of operations to avoid premature failure that can cause damage or injury. For explosives applications, CDI understands of structural systems and the type/sequence of explosives preparations as well as the potential direct and collateral effects of blasting operations including vibration, fly of projectiles and peak-overpressure. Whether the source of the explosion is natural, accidental, or of a criminal nature, CDI can provide insight for regulators developing reports, forensic consultants conducting investigations for stake holders/owners, or legal teams looking to identify fault and liability under contract performance, arbitration or litigation. To date, our personnel have provided testimony in domestic and international investigations involving personal injury, third-party damage, structural failures occurring during both construction and demolition operations, as well as structural failures resulting from seismic, fire and terrorist incidents.  

Our experience gives us the ability to speak to the circumstances of a variety of loss-events, including the ability to explain the complex processes leading to such losses and the provision of our conclusions, in layman’s terms that are understandable to arbitrators, judges or jurors. We have the skills to prepare comprehensive, yet straight forward exhibits depicting either circumstances or opinions.

Forensic Investigations

Explosions
Explosions can be caused by energetic materials, gas, dust, and other sources which defy traditional analysis. CDI’s decades of field experience supporting forensic groups investigating incidents, providing insight on how the events developed by reviewing debris fields/artifacts and then working backwards with other team members to identify the cause of industrial and social tragedies.

With cross capabilities in demolition and debris handling, CDI can provide support to the lead forensic team to help the parties respond to regulatory agencies, insurance companies and other inquires which follow accidents in the work place.

Demolition Blasting Claims
Commercial application of explosives demolition operations are performed worldwide, and controversy often arises between blasting companies/their clients adjacent commercial or private property owners. CDI has the technical understanding of explosives demolition, the byproducts of field operations and the impact of same on adjacent structures to clearly define the parameters of guilt, or innocence, in a given scenario.

Structural Failures
CDI is prepared to respond swiftly to structural collapse emergencies, worldwide. Regardless of the cause of collapse, CDI can draw on its unparalleled progressive failure database and skilled professional, third party structural consultants to work with governmental agencies, local authorities, property owners, their engineers and contractors in stabilizing dynamic conditions, setting the stage for subsequent forensic investigation into the cause of the collapse, and to perform fast-track emergency demolition operations as may be needed.