NASDI LLC: Safely Shaping the Nation’s Infrastructure Development

NASDI LLC (NASDI) has remained the top choice of both public and private institutions looking for highly specialized demolition, site development and remediation services for over 35 years. NASDI succeeds as a single-source provider of all three specialties by investing internally to recruit and retain the most talented professionals in the industry in addition to creating a corporate culture where safety reigns supreme.

As a subsidiary of the publicly traded Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD), NASDI taps into a network of global resources. The team is able to build upon GLDD’s century-long reputation for driving progress through critically important developments that reshape the American landscape.

“We’re truly a full-service contractor and we pride ourselves on never having to subcontract anything out,” asserts Martin Battistoni, president of NASDI. The company maintains corporate headquarters in Waltham, Mass., as well as branch offices in Oakbrook, Ill., and Staten Island, N.Y., allowing HASDI to serve customers across the Northeast, the Midwest, and into the Mid-Atlantic and Deep South as well. The NASDI team will travel anywhere in the country for the right projects and clients.

NASDI offers clients a variety of services targeting commercial, industrial and heavy-civil market segments. The team’s services encompass a broad array of deconstruction, site redevelopment and remediation services split into six core areas: preconstruction services, deconstruction services, site preparation, salvage and recover services, as well as program management. NASDI developed the array of services in order to position itself as a partner for the lifetime of a structure. NASDI maintains the capabilities to undertake all services related to the decommissioning, closure and demolition of an industrial plant, as well as oversee that facility’s replacement.

Identifying Core Concerns

In between, the NASDI team collaborates closely with each client to identify and prioritize individualistic concerns and preferences in order to guarantee compliance with all applicable regulations and the functionality of the new space. The NASDI team also works behind the scenes to coordinate any possible logistical snags ahead of breaking ground. As a result, NASDI maintains a team capable of performing extensive site demolitions in densely populated urban areas and complete abatement and remediation services for sites where multiple contaminants are present.

Combined with the team’s extensive expertise in below-grade demolition, selective demolitions and the demolition of heavy-civil structures, NASDI provides clients with a cost-effective option for projects that might otherwise require multiple, highly specialized subcontractors. For example, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge in New Orleans suffered extensive structural damages from Hurricane Katrina. Once the replacement bridges opened in 2009 and 2010, the Louisiana Department of Transportation (LDoT) tapped NASDI to oversee the demolition of the original bridges. Of course, crews were challenged to complete the demolition adjacent to two fully functioning and high-traffic bridges.

Furthermore, LDoT was charged with taking some of the removed components and using the components to create an artificial reef in Lake Pontchartrain. The site for said reef sits directly between the old and new bridge spans. In total, NASDI removed the old bridge’s superstructures, concrete piles and concrete pile caps, along with removing over six tons of structural steel spans and the old timber pile fender system. Of this, NASDI relocated a total of 286,000 tons of concrete to form the artificial reef, which strives to provide a critically important hard-bottom dwelling for bottom-dwellers.

Making Waves

“It was a very exciting job and certainly one of our favorites,” opines Battistoni. “We look to work with clients who care about safety as much as we do and this project was no exception.” NASDI recently adopted its parent company’s policy for an Incident and Injury-Free (IIF) work environment. The IIF is a behavioral-based safety approach that places the responsibility for all employee safety in the hands of the employees themselves, stressing employees should choose to work safely because they want to, not out of obligation even at the cost of productivity.

Behind the scenes, both GLDD and NASDI work to refine the existing safety-training program to equip its employees with the resources, tools and equipment needed to address the specific safety concerns of a given project. Like GLDD, the team at NASDI goes a step further by requiring all vendors and subcontractors to make the same commitment, ensuring the NASDI name represents the company’s 100 percent commitment at all times.

In the next few years, NASDI plans to pursue growth by offering site remediation services as a total brownfield development package in addition to expanding the team’s bridge demolition capabilities. “We plan to maintain our presence in our core industrial markets, of course, but we’re also looking to expand our presence into the utilities market and in the bridge and marine demolition sector,” adds Battistoni.

Meanwhile, the NASDI team will look internally to find the right technology, equipment and professional development programs to support its multitalented workforce. In doing so the company team solidifies NASDI LLC’s reputation as a sole-source provider of highly technical site development, remediation and demolition services.