Architectural project manager discusses the benefits of precast concrete when time is of the essence
Organizations and institutions that seek to build new facilities often need to do so quickly for a variety of reasons. It might be a higher education campus responding to an enrollment increase, a corporation that needs a satellite facility, or a municipality whose older facilities no longer accommodate a growing population.
In my last post, I discussed some of the cost benefits of using precast concrete as a building material. This time, I want to delve into another major benefit of precast: speed of construction.
A flurry of construction on the College of DuPage’s Glen Ellyn, Illinois campus focused on academic buildings. The campus operations and planning/development departments, however, were having trouble keeping up; they were housed in undersized and dated buildings located at different parts of the campus.
The college wanted to unite these departments in a single facility. The construction schedule was aggressive.
The decision to use precast concrete panels for the new Campus Maintenance Center turned out to be very wise. During construction, the precast panels on the exterior created an almost instantaneous building envelope: basic erection was completed in only 7 days. The panels also provided for the building’s sub-structure and superstructure, which allowed for the steel joists and deck to be erected very quickly.
The panels were also quickly manufactured. The decorative panels were set up with form liner and reveal details, poured onto 12’ by 120’ steel form tables the following day, and then stripped and moved to a finishing area. Each panel took about 2 days. The main building took about 40 days to manufacture, while the adjacent salt and materials storage building panels took about half the time.
Contact us to learn more about overcoming schedule challenges or the benefits of different building materials, or comment below to share your thoughts on this post.
Kendall Everett says
I had no idea that using precast concrete could mean the project would take less time. If you know you are under a time restraint, it helps to know you can use precast concrete. It may help to evaluate the project before you begin to see if using precast concrete from the beginning would be a good idea.
Leviticus Bennett says
That’s neat that precast concrete is both cost and time effective. Those walls you erected look great and that’s amazing that the basic erection was completed in just seven days. I’ve also heard that precast concrete is very resistant to elements and natural disasters.
Zequek Estrada says
I didn’t know that precast concrete can be helpful for speeding up a project. That’s really convenient, especially if you’re in a time crunch. I imagine that happens from time to time during construction.