Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/218643
A large crawler crane owned by Kiewit/Flatiron (a joint venture) is lifting a 60-tonne match-cast box segment for the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver, B.C., which crosses the Fraser River between Coquitlam and Surrey. On each side of the south tower, 48 precast segments are post-tensioned together to form a stabilizer beam structure for the bridge deck on this unusual single tower cablestayed bridge. Armtec's Richmond, B.C. plant casts the segments in a long-line form. The segments for the north tower were shipped by barge to the site while the segments for the south tower were shipped by truck on lowbed trailers. Kiewit Flatiron was the design-build contractor for the main bridge and for the widening of the highway and associated overpasses from the Cassiar Tunnel in Vancouver to 202nd Street in Langley. Photo courtesy Armtec. based on the PCR . The goal of an EPD is to provide relevant, verified and comparable information about the environmental impact of goods and services, according to the website of the International EPD System. "Environmental product declarations [EPDs] hold out the promise of disclosure of the environmental performance of products in such a way that the consumer can make side-by-side comparisons of different products, much like a nutrition label does," according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The development of product category rules and EPDs is expected to help architects and engineers in their selection of building products. "Building designers will know the footprint of a building. It will make it much simpler for designers and they'll know the information they have on a particular product or material is accurate," says Don Zakariasen, director of marketing at Lafarge North America. concrete p26-37Concrete_Arch wood.indd 33 Other sectors within the construction industry are also set to use PCR documents and EPDs in the future. "From our perspective, it simplifies and codifies what's happening with respect to sustainability. It takes all the greenwashing out of it. It's a scientifically audited product. That there is going to be a common PCR for precast for the whole continent by Spring 2014 is a phenomenal achievement," says Zakariasen. From the standpoint of new technologies and improved efficiency, the concrete sector continues to evolve. One of the standouts in recent years is the increasingly widespread use of Automatic Climbing Systems (ACS) for concrete form work. "We're using a hydraulic [ACS] forming system on a couple of jobs. We use a product from ULMA from Germany. We've mainly used it for building cores and elevator shafts," says Oliver Belo, senior project manager at Structform International Ltd. Structform first tried ACS in 2007 december 2013 /33 13-11-15 3:41 PM