Demolition Underway on Old Rochester Police Department

Demolition has been underway for the past few weeks on the former Rochester City Police Department building adjacent to City Hall at 31 Wakefield Street. Although last week provided something a little different. A new crew member showed up for work, the “Brokk 100,” a demolition robot that is being used to perform specialized tasks.

The demolition is being conducted by EnviroVantage, Inc. of Epping and by late October, the company began work to remove interior non-load-bearing structural components. The project also included environmental remediation of asbestos and mold at the site. EnviroVantage estimates nearly 400 yards of debris will need to be removed. The contractor is using the robot to reduce crews’ exposure to hazardous materials. The Brokk 100 looks somewhat like a miniature excavator though in place of a bucket, it uses a shear clench arm, which tears down structural components down, then sorts and separates them, and a concrete pulverizer and hammer.

The demolition is the first phase of renovation on the building, which was constructed in 1905, the building served the city first as a fire station and later as the police station. The interior demolition follows late summer work to repair sections of the slate roof.

The building has been vacant since 1999, when Rochester’s Police Department moved to a new building but the City Council is hoping the building can be reborn to provide office space for city personnel. The council has authorized $150,000 for roof repairs, hazardous materials remediation and demolition of the interior. After that, the city plans to have the structure evaluated to see if renovation and conversion of the building to office space will be feasible.