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J U N E 2 0 2 1 | 11 Precast Concrete P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E SY E AG L E B U I L D ER S; P EI K KO C A N A DA I N C . Given Stubbe's devotion to precast, it follows that innovations to the construction process would result, and recent adjustments to the company's finishing line has enabled Stubbe's crew to install punch win- dows and some patio doors in his panels. "In addition to achieving substantial time and labour savings, this has made job sites safer because you don't have people tied off on the side of buildings installing windows," he says. "Also, windows can be ordered well in advance, which also facilitates the construc- tion process. I honestly think this approach to panel fabrication will be the norm in a few years." Casey Klaassen, president of Mardina Construction Ltd., describes the tilt-up precast mar- ket as "taking off like hotcakes," but he notes that many people who specialize in this form of con- struction "try to do too much of everything, and for us that proved not to be the best way to make the most out of the market demand." Specifically, Klaassen decided several years ago to focus almost exclusively on panels. "The BC Energy Code now requires all buildings to be insu- lated, so we were doing insulated panels on site; but then we went a step further and opened a facility in Hope, essentially a 17,000-square-foot warehouse in which we could create these panels without having to battle inclement weather or other factors." The outcome has been a tremendous boost in business as well as benefits to clients. "We use a high strength concrete but 40 percent less than what would normally be required if we didn't have our facility," he says. "We've improved production with equipment such as tables that tilt and trailers from Germany that transport the panels on their edges to eliminate stress, plus with no more on-site delays we can put up a 20,000-square-foot building with the panels and beautiful finishes in as little as three days." Currently Mardina is constructing a huge office complex in Kelowna and working on a variety of industrial projects, and Klaassen is especially enthused that companies of the stature of Wales McLelland recently toured his Hope plant to study the production efficiencies possible in the precast realm. One type of project that is benefiting from precast specialists is housing for seniors, and in Alberta the Charis Village housing society chose Eagle Builders to construct a new facility in Lacombe. Charis mar- keting manager Warren Kay explains, "When you are working with seniors, safety is really important. You need a building that isn't combustible and that is going to be reliable and durable for years to come." He added that Eagle Builders had offered a full turn- key package along with speed of construction, which was crucial to the success of this project. Based in Blackfalds, Alberta, Eagle Builders started life as a small agriculture building firm and grew to become the country's largest construction company specializing in precast concrete. Recent achievements include Western Canada's largest pre- cast concrete parkade (located in Vancouver), and completing the world's largest single span precast concrete arch wildlife overpass (in Golden, B.C.). Construction of the first phase of the Charis Village senior housing project began at the end of the 2019 summer season and reached completion in May 2020. The multi-level precast concrete apart- ment building consists of four storeys with a total of 46 units, an underground heated parking garage, and a common area on the main floor. The suites are spacious and range from 908 to 1,394 square feet. Mark Johanson, marketing director at Peikko Canada Inc., says in his Eastern Canada jurisdic- tion, "More and more retirement home complexes are being built as our population ages, and many of them are located in small towns such as Kempville, Ontario, where we recently worked on one such project." Johanson points out that precast is especially beneficial to projects located in small town environ- ments, "because you need only 20 percent or so of the labour you would normally find on cast-in-place projects – and attracting skilled labour becomes a challenge in rural areas." As with all construction projects involving Peikko, the Kempville retirement complex benefitted from the company's flagship structural product, Deltabeam, which combines the strengths of concrete and steel, and provides a superior composite slim-floor system for multi-storey buildings. Deltabeam allows for flex- ible layouts, easy HVAC installations, and excellent fire resistance, and it works with precast, hollowcore, deep steel deck and mass timber slabs. With a Deltabeam slim-floor composite beam construction, depth can be minimized. Deltabeams are integrated into the floor and usually only as deep as the slabs: only the bottom flange of the Deltabeam is exposed from the underside. The depth of the whole structure can be reduced, which means sav- ings in construction time and costs as well as on heating and cooling costs. "The only on site require- ment that must be followed without fail is that the Deltabeam needs to be shored, and it needs to be filled with concrete," says Johanson. "Apart from that, this solution allows flexibility for layout changes throughout the service life of the building and also easy piping installations." Many of the innovations emerging from LafargeHolcim are inextricably linked with envi- ronmental sustainability. For example, in 2020 it joined the Science Based Targets initiative Business Ambition for 1.5°C, becoming the first global building materials company to sign the pledge with interme- diate targets for 2030 (when the cement giant will further lower its target for CO2 intensity in cement to 475kg net CO2 per ton of cementitious material). This commitment builds on LafargeHolcim's leadership in green construction with cutting-edge solutions such as ECOPact, its green concrete. Earlier this year, Dueck Builders of Winnipeg, Manitoba, committed to using ECOPact exclusively – just one of several residential builders in Canada who sees the opportunity to reduce emissions without affecting quality or performance. Jill Truscott, manager of communications for Western Canada, says, "Our commitment has com- pelled us to refocus attention on all aspects of our operations. We're innovating while maximizing the circular economy – for example, our Winnipeg precast team is trialing an initiative to include recy- cled glass in precast mixtures as a hardening agent. We're taking risks and trying new ideas, because we believe in what we're doing." Also being trialed in all of Lafarge's Western Canadian operations is Portland limestone cement, better known as General Use Limestone (GUL), whose use in manufacturing concrete decreases CO2 emissions by 10 percent, while still produc- ing concrete with the same level of strength and durability as the concrete produced with regular Portland cement. Truscott says, "GUL is produced in our Richmond, B.C. facility, where we're in the process of creating a closed loop system to capture carbon, reutilize it, and then determine if our success can be replicated in other facilities." The Richmond CO2MENT project captures flue gas through a puri- fication system. Reinjecting CO2 into low-carbon fuels, CO2 concrete, and fly ash is the next step, to be followed by the installation of a liquefaction unit and the development of an expansion project to fur- ther reduce emissions. A business case review will be undertaken for further expansion across the Lafarge global network. For his part, John Carson, executive director for North American based AltusGroup Inc., echoes Brian Hall's enthusiasm about precast's continued evolu- tion in the North American market. "The current Charis Village senior housing, Lacombe, AB. Deltabeam slim-floor composite beam construction.