New York City, New York - On Wednesday April 30, New York City lifted the stop-work order that had delayed deconstruction of a condemned skyscraper adjacent to the ground zero site of the WTC attacks. The stop-work order had been in effect for eight months, since a fire at the site had killed two firefighters.

The stop-work order on the former Deutsche Bank building was lifted after contractors spent several weeks building new systems control any future fires that might occur at the site.

The Deutsche Bank building was severely damages after the September 11, 2001 attacks: The World Trade Center’s south tower collapsed into the building, creating enormous clouds of toxic dust, including asbestos, lead, glass dust, and other toxins.

The fire that broke out at the former Deutsche Bank building on August 18, 2007 is believed to have been sparked by a discarded cigarette. The grand jury criminal investigation saw work stopped at the site.

Avi Schick, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency that owns the building, said that now the order has been lifted a total of 300 workers can be employed at the site, “We have entered a new critical phase that will enable us to bring a hundred additional workers on to the building to finish abating it, taking us a step closer to completing this project.”

Deconstruction of the building was originally scheduled for completion in 2005, but the schedule was readjusted for a 2008 completion. After the 2007 fire, the deconstruction is now scheduled for completion in 2009.

The workers will be removing tons of toxic asbestos-containing materials from the remaining nineteen floors of the building that haven’t yet been decontaminated. Workers will be on-the-job six days a week to ensure the project is completed according to its latest deadline.

Decontamination barriers used at the site-which were made from plywood and polyethylene sheets-have been implicated in the spread of the fire.

Since February, LVI Environmental Services has been at the site restoring the barriers using more fire-resistant materials. In addition, two interior fire-rated stairwells have been constructed. Fire control measures within the decontamination chambers in the building have also been improved.

These changes should make it safer for asbestos removal workers at the site in the event that another fire occurs.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pm and is filed under New York. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.