Environmental demo services provider expands into Gulf Coast (Pasadena, TX)

Since 1998, American Integrated Services Inc. (AIS) has been an industry leader of environmental and industrial demolition services throughout California and the western U.S. to the oil and gas, power and utilities, chemical and real estate sectors and many large environmental engineering firms. As AIS grew, the need to expand beyond the West was inevitable as long-term clients began requesting services throughout the U.S. Until recently, AIS successfully met these challenges by mobilizing equipment and staff from one of the company's six California locations.

Last year, just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, AIS Executive Vice President John Georgagi was introduced to Bill Bartlett, president of Gulf Coast Dismantling (GCD). After several meetings, it was obvious the companies shared the same core principles and philosophies on health and safety, client satisfaction and a family atmosphere promoting employee growth.

The two companies soon agreed to join forces and develop a new entity, which is AIS's seventh location: Gulf Coast Dismantling, an AIS company. The company is based at GCD's 7-acre office and equipment yard in Pasadena, Texas, and has over 50 employees. Additionally, AIS has relocated several pieces of specialty equipment to complement GCD's fleet. Now GCD/AIS Vice President of Client Services, Bartlett shared, "AIS brings many of the services we had to subcontract to others in the past, including asbestos abatement, specialty transportation, and a true understanding of hazardous waste management and overall environmental services, which we can now offer our long-term clients, some of which GCD has worked with for over 30 years."

For AIS, adding GCD to the family has been seamless. AIS President David Herrera explained, "Not only does our acquisition immediately allow us to better service our many clients that have looked to AIS as a partner in the Gulf and Southeast region, but we are also adding a management team and staff to the AIS family that is in complete alignment with our values, service expectations and commitment to safety."

The combined team recently completed the demolition of a greater Houston-area 50-acre plant that produced fungicide chlorothalonil and other formulations, and contained three primary operating units along with support buildings, mechanical shops, warehouses and offices. The project included the removal of approximately 150,000 square feet of asbestos cement panels and over 2,000 linear feet of thermal system insulation.

AIS deployed a fleet of specialty demolition equipment including high-reach capability shears to mechanically raze the facility. Units beyond the equipment's reach were felled using professionally engineered sequences that allowed a controlled descent. The GCD/AIS team will also manage all wastes on-site during demolition and deploy a team of specialty industrial services crew to verify cleanliness of the plant's systems prior to demolition.

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