SiteMap® Supports Safe Demolition of Las Vegas Hotel

SiteMap® Supports Safe Demolition of Las Vegas Hotel

It’s not every day that a 70-year-old hotel on the Las Vegas Strip needs to be demolished.

A nighttime view of downtown Las Vegas

SiteMap® (patent pending), powered by GPRS, helped ensure the safe demolition of a 70-year-old hotel on the Las Vegas strip.

But when one did, GPRS was there to ensure the project stayed on time, on budget, and safe thanks to SiteMap® (patent pending), our facility & project management application that provides accurate existing conditions documentation to protect your assets and people.

GPRS Project Managers Armando Gonzalez and Arthur Formoso mapped the buried utilities and inspected underground sewer lines in and around the historic resort to mitigate the risk of damaging this infrastructure during demolition. They completed their work while the hotel was still operating, and uploaded this accurate data into SiteMap® to ensure a safe demolition.

“It was important for us to find everything so they could start the demolition and get on the right track,” Formoso said. “They didn’t want any surprises.”

Gonzalez utilized ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic (EM) locating to identify and map all buried utilities on the property.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a non-invasive detection and imaging technology widely used in the construction industry to identify underground features such as utility lines, underground storage tanks (USTs), and rebar, whether beneath the surface or embedded in concrete slabs. A GPR scanner works by transmitting radio signals into the ground or slab and analyzing how those signals interact with subsurface materials. These interactions generate a readout displayed as a series of hyperbolas, with their size and shape providing clues about the type of material detected.

Experts like GPRS’ SIM-certified Project Managers are extensively trained to analyze this data. Their specialized knowledge allows them to accurately identify the located materials and estimate the depth of any buried obstacles, ensuring precision and reliability in subsurface mapping.

Electromagnetic (EM) locating complements GPR by detecting electromagnetic signals emitted by metallic pipes and cables, rather than directly identifying the utilities themselves. These signals can be generated by a locator’s transmitter applying current to the pipe, by the natural current flow in a live electrical cable, or by a conductive pipe acting as an antenna that re-radiates signals from stray electrical fields (detected using Power Mode) or communication transmissions (detected in Radio Mode).

The signals are produced when current flows from the transmitter along the conductor—such as a line, cable, or pipe—and returns to the transmitter. To complete this circuit, the current typically relies on a ground connection, facilitated by a ground stake that ensures the system operates effectively.

At the hotel in Las Vegas, Gonzalez’s utility locates provided 99.8% accurate data for the demolition contractor to use for their planning.

“They already had as-built plans, so they kind of had an idea where everything was at,” he explained. “Once we came out, they kind of compared our locates to the drawings they already had. There were things that we were able to explain to them, like ‘this is what this is here,’ and stuff like that…”

Because of its age and the numerous renovations and expansions that had occurred at the hotel over the decades, the buried utilizes on the property were a tangled web of both active and abandoned utilities. By utilizing EM locating, Gonzalez was able to verify which buried utilities were in use and which were inactive.

“The fact that we did our due diligence, even with things that seemed like they were abandoned or that they weren’t looking for, that’s what helped them realize ‘OK, we hired the right people,’” he said.

Formoso employed a remote-controlled sewer inspection rover and a push-fed sewer scope to map and evaluate the condition of the hotel’s underground sewer system. Both tools were outfitted with CCTV cameras and sondes—detectable instrument probes that enable the mapping of buried wastewater utilities when paired with EM locating from the surface.

To address the significant depth of certain sewer lines, Formoso enhanced the rover with a Prototek DuraSonde Transmitter. Commonly known as a “super sonde,” this 10 ¼-inch-long, 8 KHz frequency transmitter can locate nonmetallic pipes buried as deep as 50 feet underground, significantly surpassing the 15-foot depth capability of the rover’s internal sonde.

Formoso delivered a NASSCO-certified inspection report to the client, which included a comprehensive assessment of the sewer system’s condition along with photo and video documentation of all identified defects.

“There was just a lot of hidden stuff and vaults that we identified,” he said. “We saw a lot of as-intended maps, but they just kind of said ‘there’s something around here,’ and it was something that we had to actually find on the VPI side.”

All this accurate, field-verified data was uploaded into SiteMap®, where it can be securely shared with all project stakeholders to enhance collaboration and eliminate mistakes caused by miscommunications.

Gonzalez, who lives near the hotel, personally witnessed the demolition, which occurred at 3 a.m. and was accompanied by a drone show.

“Even though they were going to demolish everything, [the client and the property owner] didn’t want to come across something that they didn’t know was there during demolition,” Gonzalez said. “The plans that they might have had could have varied from what was there because they’d changed it two to three times since the property was open. So, presenting a good, clean map of the property that was as detailed as possible to then give to the next client, that was important.”

From skyscrapers to sewer lines, GPRS Intelligently Visualizes The Built World® to keep your projects on time, on budget, and safe. With SiteMap®, we’re helping you plan, design, manage, dig, and ultimately build better.

Click below to schedule a live, personal SiteMap® demo today!

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can ground penetrating radar locate PVC piping and other non-conductive utilities?

GPR scanning is exceptionally effective at locating all types of subsurface materials. There are times when PVC pipes do not provide an adequate signal to ground penetrating radar equipment and can’t be properly located by traditional methods. However, GPRS Project Managers are expertly trained at multiple methods of utility locating.

Will I need to mark out the utilities that GPRS locates?

No, GPRS will locate and mark all utilities for you. We have a variety of tools and markers we can use to highlight the locations of utilities, underground storage tanks and whatever else may be hiding.

What deliverables does GPRS offer when conducting a video pipe inspection (VPI)?

GPRS is proud to offer WinCan reporting to our Video Pipe Inspection clients. Maintaining sewers starts with understanding sewer condition, and WinCan allows GPRS Project Managers to collect detailed, NASSCO-compliant inspection data. GPRS Project Managers not only inspect the interior condition of sewer pipes, laterals, and manholes – they can also provide a map of their location. The GPRS Mapping & Modeling Department can provide detailed GPS overlays and CAD files. Our detailed WinCan/NASSCO reports contain screenshots of the interior condition of the pipe segments that we inspect, as well as a video file for further evaluation, documentation, and/or reference.