Going Up, Up, Up: The Contest for the Tallest Panels Continues
By: Wendy Ward,
Constructive Communication, Inc. wward@constructivecommunication.com
Sometimes bigger truly is better, as evidenced by the number of recent changes on the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) Top Ten list. Not only are the projects on the list getting taller, but some of the recent additions are unique in that Tilt-Up was considered the only way to solve their design challenge.
The title for the tallest panel has recently changed hands. The previous titleholder, Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lecanto, Fla., held the spot since 2003 with a 92- foot-103⁄4-inch tall panel. The honor now belongs to the Lucky Street Parking Garage with a 96-foot-9-inch tall wall panel. Part of a 2,300-space, seven-story parking structure for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., the 6-foot wide stair tower panel was formed onsite and lifted into place by a 150-foot lattice boom crane.
According to Scott Collins, assistant chief engineer at Meadow Burke Products, the project required advanced engineering to overcome obstacles. “It required a thicker modification from 9.25 inches to 11.25 inches in order to overcome deflection,” said Collins. “We made the panel thick and tall with double mat reinforcing 6 inches on center.”
This unique project has drawn the attention of several industry experts and even resulted in Dave Kelly, chief engineer at Meadow Burke, being recognized as a Top 25 Newsmaker of 2006 from Engineering News- Record (ENR) magazine. Kelly noted that the tall panel presented unique bracing challenges. “Normally, you need to brace at 60 percent of height,” said Kelly. “If we would have used pipe braces, we would have needed about 80-foot braces attached to the ground 40 feet from the structure, which would have created additional challenges.”
To overcome this obstacle, TCA members Kelly and Tiltcrete LLC of Medley, Fla. – the Tilt-Up contractor for the project – attached the panel to the structure rather than to the ground. “We used two temporary points so the crane could be released and then we connected the panel with many permanent welds,” said Kelly.
MORE STAIRWELL SUCCESS
In addition to a change of the tallest panel, the Polaris Hilton Hotel and Conference Center in Columbus, Ohio recently nabbed the number five spot. The facility is a 253-room, nine- story hotel with a 40,000-square-foot conference center that will open in April 2008. The coveted panel, part of the stairwell shaft, measures 85-feet in height, 11-feet-3-inches wide and weighs almost 54 tons. A large area was used for the casting bed and a 300-ton Liebherr crane was used to lift the big panel. Other panels on the project also are noteworthy, measuring in at 84 feet tall.
The height did present several challenges, including determining a way to brace the panels. According to Collins, each stairwell shaft for the nine-story hotel had an overall height of 95 feet-8-inches and made a 12-foot-7-inch by 20- foot-4-inch box. Each lower panel had a 20-foot-4-inch wide panel that was erected first and conventionally braced to a deadman.
“Because each shaft was a box, the four 85-foot tall panels were then erected and welded in place to reach the overall height,” said Collins.
In addition to the stairwell shafts, Tilt-Up was also used for the elevator shafts, which were even taller than the stairwell shafts. “The elevator shafts had an overall height of 101 feet-5 inches,” explained Collins. “Six 84-foot tall panels were used to construct the three elevator shafts (two for each shaft).”
According to Eric Messerly, PE, an associate for structural engineering firm Shelley Metz Baumann Hawk, Inc., the main reason for using Tilt-Up panels for the shaft walls was the schedule. “This project was on a tight construction schedule and using Tilt-Up panels saved valuable time,” said Messerly. “In addition, the cost of constructing the walls using Tilt-Up was less than cast-in-place.”
The time advantage also was extremely helpful to the Tilt-Up subcontractor Lithko Contracting. Colin Smith, project coordinator for Lithko, said using Tilt-Up for the stairwell shaft enabled the concrete work to be completed before the other trades (structural steel and prefabricated walls and floors) started on the project, which eliminated the safety issue of workers below the formwork and fighting for crane boom space. In comparison to a cast-in-place method, Smith said, two cranes would have been necessary, one for each pair of shafts for the duration of the core construction.
In addition to speed of construction, Tilt-Up also provided other benefits including fewer connections since the panels were so tall, as well as a smooth interior face on the shaft wall because the panel does not contain construction joints at each floor. If the walls were cast-in-place, Messerly said, construction joints would typically occur at each floor and these joints can be ugly due to formwork misalignment. The cores provided most of the shear resistance needed for the hotel and the embedded connection plates were designed to transfer this load. Further, since the shaft walls are structurally stable after the panels connected together, the wall bracing can be removed to allow the floor framing to take place unencumbered.
“Although I have used Tilt-Up as a solution for office buildings and other structures before,” said Messerly, “this project opened my eyes and will prompt me to consider Tilt-Up panels on future projects.”
NEW LARGEST FOOTPRINT
Changes to the Top Ten list can also be found in the largest building – footprint and floor area categories. Previously held by the 1,708,586-square- foot IKEA Distribution Center in Lebec, Calif., the Target Import Warehouse (T-3810) in Savannah, Ga. smashes the footprint record and slips into number two for total floor area. The new record holder is an outstanding 2,029,554 square feet.
Tilt-Up construction is no stranger to the distribution/warehouse industry. Long known for its dominance in this market, Tilt-Up continues to be the major building type for these projects. “Tilt-Up is often selected for distribution/ warehouse centers because of the method’s ability to significantly reduce construction schedules,” said Jim Baty, technical director of the TCA. “The Tilt-Up industry is rapidly approaching nearly a billion square feet of enclosed building space per year (North American volume) and part of this is due to the method’s continued stronghold on this market.”
According to Anthony Johnson, project manager of Ryan Companies US, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn. – the general contractor for the project – Tilt-Up was used for this project because of the method’s cost-effectiveness and scheduling efficiencies when compared to a conventional prefabricated panel method.
“Ironically, one of the biggest challenges we faced on this project was that the footprint sometimes seemed too small,” said Johnson. “To keep all the various trades flowing properly and efficiently, intense coordination was required to ensure that the trades on the front-end were maintaining the pace needed to support the trades behind them. The fast-track schedule required a high volume of workers to be on site.”
Using more than 82,000 cubic yards of concrete, the project had 258 panels and was completed in 15.5 months. The large size of the building also presented challenges in material procurement. Materials such as Portland cement and aggregate far exceeded the local material suppliers’ and trucking companies’ capacity. Tilt-Up was the best solution for this project because it allowed Ryan Companies US, Inc. to be able to cover the sensitive soils quickly with the floor slab; thus, protecting the subgrade from the rain and weather variables.
In addition to the largest footprint, a new project has appeared on the heaviest panel listing. Panel erector, Sunshine Specialties of Apopka, Fla. was a team member on a four-story office complex in Orlando, Fla. One of the panels for this job weighed 218,000 pounds, which makes it the seventh heaviest panel on the TCA listing.
TOP TEN TALLEST PANELS
- Lucky Street Garage (Hollywood, Fla.): Tallest panel is 96’-9” (29.49 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Tiltcrete LLC (Tilt-Up contractor); Meadow Burke (Lifting/bracing hardware). Another panel on this project measured 96’-3”.
- Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church (Lecanto, Fla.): Tallest panel is 92’-10 3⁄4” (28.31 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Elkins Constructors, Inc. (Tilt-Up contractor); McVeigh and Magnum Engineering, Inc. (Structural Engineer). Another panel on this project measured 91’- 10 3⁄4”.
- Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (Nassau Bay, Texas): Tallest panel is 91’- 7 1⁄4” (27.92 m). The project was completed in 1997.
- Pinal County Courthouse (Florence, Ariz.): Tallest panel is 87’-3” (26.59 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Riggs Contracting, Inc. (Tilt-Up contractor).
- Hilton Hotel (Polaris) (Columbus, Ohio): Tallest panel is 85’-0” (25.91 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Lithko Contracting (Tilt- Up Contractor), Scott Collins of Meadow Burke Engineering (Tilt-Up Engineer), Shelley Metz Baumann Hawk (Structural Engineer-of-Record), Meadow Burke (Lifting & Bracing), Nox-Crete (Bond Breaker), and White Cap Construction Supply (Tilt-Up Supply). Another panel on this project measured 84’-0”.
- Carson-Tahoe Replacement Hospital (Carson City, Nev.): Tallest panel is 83’-2” (25.35 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Tedesco Construction, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor), Degenkolb Engineers (Structural Engineer). Another panel on this project measured 80’-10”.
- Bella Sera (Lawrence, Kan.): Tallest panel is 83’-0” (25.30 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Lithko Contracting, Inc. – Kansas City, KS (Tilt-Up Contractor), Meadow Burke (Lifting Hardware/Engineer).
- Five Story Office Building (Weston, Fla.): Tallest panel is 80’-6” (24.38 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Florida Tilt, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor) and Sunshine Specialties (Erector).
- Vista Center (West Palm Beach, Fla.): Tallest panel is 80’-0” (27.92 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Catalfumo Construction, Ltd. (General Contractor) and Builders Plus (Tilt-Up Contractor).
- IKEA Distribution Center (Lebec, Calif.): Tallest panel is 72’-6” (22.1 m). TCA members involved in the project are: Gillings + Good-Man Architects (Architects).
TOP TEN HEAVIEST PANELS
- Broadway 101 Commercepark (Mesa, Ariz.): Heaviest panel is 313,100 lbs. (142,020 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: Riggs Contracting, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor).
- Warehouse/Distribution Center (Ontario, Calif.): Heaviest panel is 310,100 lbs. (140,659 kg). Project was completed in 1997.
- Carson-Tahoe Replacement Hospital (Carson City, Nev.): Heaviest panel is 292,000 lbs (132,448 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: Tedesco Construction, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor), Degenkolb Engineers (Structural Engineer).
- South Placer County Courthouse (Roseville, Calif.): Heaviest panel is 253,000 lbs (114.736 kg).
- Hershey Foods – Redlands Commerce Center, Building A (Redlands, Calif.): Heaviest panel is 246,000 lbs (111,584 kg).
- Riverview VII & Parking Garage (Bonita Springs, Fla.): Heaviest panel is 227,000 lbs (102,965 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: J McGarvey Construction Company (Contractor).
- Lucent Technologies (Miramar, Fla.): Heaviest panel is 224,000 lbs. (101,605 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: Clayco Construction (General Contractor), Woodland Construction Company (Tilt- Up Contractor), Mitchell and Hugeback Architects, Inc. (Architect), Mitchell and Hugeback Architects, Inc. (Engineer)
- Pinal County Courthouse (Florence, Ariz.): Heaviest panel is 214,810 lbs. (97,436 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: Riggs Contracting, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor).
- Overland Data (San Diego, Calif.): Heaviest panel is 210,000 lbs. (95,254 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: JD Construction, Inc. (Contractor).
- Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church (Lecanto, Fla.): Heaviest panel is 204,000 lbs. (95,533 kg). TCA members involved in the project are: Elkins Constructors, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor) and McVeigh and Magnum Engineering, Inc. (Structural Engineer).
TOP TEN LARGEST BUILDING (FOOTPRINT)
- Target Import Warehouse (Savannah, Ga): Total building footprint is 2,029,554 square feet (188,551 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Lithko Contracting, Inc. (Tilt-Up Contractor) and Ryan Companies US, Inc. (General Contractor).
- IKEA Distribution Center (Lebec, Calif.): Total building footprint is 1,708,586.7 square feet (158,733 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Gillings + Good-Man Architects (Architects).
- Rooms-To-Go Distribution Center (Lakeland, Fla.): Total building footprint is 1,695,837 square feet (157,548 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Seretta Construction, Inc. (Contractor) and Sunshine Specialties, Inc. (Tilt-Up Erector).
- Target Distribution Center (Tyler, Texas): Total building footprint is 1,632,824 square feet (151,694 sq. m.). The project was completed in 1998.
- Gateway Theatre of Shopping (Umhlunga Rocks, South Africa): Total building footprint is 1,614,000 square feet (149,946 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Tilt-Up Systems (Contractor), Lowden and Associates (Engineer).
- Target Distribution Center (Stuarts Draft, Va.): Total building footprint is 1,600,000 square feet (148,645 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Gillings + Good-Man Architects (Architects). The project was completed in 1996.
- Old Navy Distribution Center (Fishkill, N.Y.): Total building footprint is 1,400,000 square feet (130,064 sq. m.). The project was completed in 1999.
- Lowe’s Warehouse (Poinciana, Fla.): Total building footprint is 1,326,611 square feet (123,246 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: Sunshine Specialties, Inc. (Erector). Project was completed in November, 2004.
- TJX Corporation (Pittston, Pa.): Total building footprint is 1,301,600 square feet (120,923 sq. m.). TCA members involved in the project are: CON/STEEL (Engineer). Project was completed in December, 2002.
- Unilever (Pontoon Beach, Ill.): Total building footprint is 1,265,000 square feet (117,522 sq. m.) TCA members involved in the project are: CON/ STEEL (Engineer).
