Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/292860
Brad Forder, sales representative of precast solu- tions for Armtec, cites an interesting project that involved Armtec Brooklyn (the leader in rooftop pavers in Ontario) and Ripley's Aquarium of Canada in Toronto. The Aquarium is a 12,500-square-metre attraction with more than 5.7-million litres of water showcasing marine and freshwater habitats. Flynn Canada Ltd., a key customer of Armtec Brooklin, was contracted by Ripley's to supply the rooftop pavers for the building. The architect's vision was to provide the benefits of rooftop pavers and a strong visual effect: that of two sharks swimming. Forder says, "The rooftop pavers were a combina- tion of our white solar and charcoal paver slabs in a matte finish. Different tones of our charcoal rooftop pavers were manufactured and provided for review. The darkest of the charcoal samples were approved, and we received an order for over 60,000 f2 of custom 2.5-inch rooftop pavers." The project was st ar ted in late 2012 and completed in the spring of 2013, and Forder notes that "getting the order for the project was a result of our strong brand and ability to provide customized prod- uct to meet customer needs. From job specification, manufacturing , deliver y and coordination, the Ripley's project was a success." South of the border, concrete giant U.S. Concrete Inc. and its business units (such as Central Concrete Supply Co. Inc.) have been particularly busy of late collecting awards for exceptional work and winning contracts for multibillion-dollar projects. In November, Central Concrete (a leader in delivering low-CO2 concrete to the San Francisco Bay Area) received the Northern California & Western Nevada Chapter American Concrete Institute ( ACI) Award for Outstanding Construction, Structural Category. The award recognized the work performed for Stanford University's Bing Concert Hall. One of the key objectives was to accommodate unamplified musical performances in the Hall, and to achieve this Ennead Architects designed a tilted oval ceiling canopy suspended 47 feet above the centrally located stage, creating a lower reverberation and richer, fuller sound. In addition, concrete sails with their convex shapes were installed to disperse the sound, enabling the audi- ence to hear sounds coming from more than one direction. Central Concrete supplied 7,500 cubic yards of concrete for the project, and the low-CO2 mixes selected reduced the overall carbon footprint for the construction project by just over one million pounds. That same month, Eastern Concrete Materials, Inc., a business unit of U.S. Concrete, began delivering land-supplied ready-mix concrete and precast con- crete products for the three-mile-long New Tappan Zee Bridge. The new bridge crosses New York's Hud- son River at one of its widest points and will replace the deteriorating Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge. The new $3.1-billion bridge will be constructed of low maintenance "100-year-life concrete" with precast concrete decking and, when it is finished in 2017, will be the widest bridge of its length in the world with eight traffic lanes, a bike and pedestrian walkway, and provisions for a rail transit installation. As the demand for precast work steadily increases, smaller precast companies are expanding the product range and improving plant processes. Such is the case for the owner of Edmonton-based Concrete Inc., Rui Veiga, who last year invested in a new batch plant that Solidia Concrete products: The technology allows lower CO2 emissions in the cement production process and involves the capture of CO2 in precast concrete manufacturing. Photos courtesy YUI+Company, Inc. 14/ APril 2014 Precast Concrete Lafarge Canada.indd 1 14-03-20 8:51 AM p12-17Precast.indd 14 14-04-02 4:47 PM