The old Number 1 powerhouse building in the American Refining Group refinery has started to be taken down, one brick at a time.

On Monday, ARG President and Chief Operating Officer Harvey Golubock said a group of refinery employees worked over the Memorial Day weekend to take down the top two floors of the brick building, which is being removed to make way for a new hydrotreater.

The $20 million hydrotreater project is slated for completion in the fourth quarter this year, ARG officials said. Part of that project is the demolition of the powerhouse building, which can be seen standing nearly four stories, or about 40 feet high, over the nearby U.S. Route 219 Bradford, PA bypass.

"It was a big job to get everything done safely and to prepare for it,"

Golubock said of the building project. "Our employees stepped up to the plate and said they would take down the top two floors. They did an outstanding job and gave up their weekend to do it. That just shows you what outstanding employees we have here."

The crew used a large man lift to reach the top two floors; while there, they used hand-operated jackhammers to take the material down, Golubock said. The building was also covered in netting to prevent any material from coming back onto the workers and falling onto the pieces of machinery below.

According to Golubock, a third-party contractor was to remove the building, but had second thoughts about it after discovering they would have to take the building down piecemeal. There were also some economic issues involved.

"They had originally thought they could just come in and knock it down," Golubock said, "but they saw the proximity to the other (refinery) units and said it would have to be done by hand. That became a major issue."

The building is surrounded by several pieces of refinery equipment, along with the neighboring portion of land where the hydrotreater will be built.
Golubock said now that the top two floors have been taken down, the contractor will come back in and finish taking down the rest of the building.
The building has been in the refinery for many years, and once served as its office. It then became a coal-fired boilerhouse.

Meanwhile, right beside the building, work is still progressing on the actual hydrotreater site.

According to Golubock, crews have been putting in concrete foundations, some of which go down roughly 10 to 12 feet in some areas.

"We had to dig until reaching solid ground," Golubock said, adding a lot of civil work has been done.

Refinery officials hosted a groundbreaking for the project on Sept. 8. In addition to ultra low sulfur diesel fuel, the unit will also enhance the refinery's lube base stock production, which are components used to make finished motor oil.

Officials said the project is several years in the making and will help establish the long-term viability of the refinery.