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A PR IL 2017 | 15 PHOTOGRAPHY BY VIC TUCKER/COURTESY LAFARGE CANADA INC. Precast Concrete building blocks in place and are ready to activate dor- mant concrete floors as thermal energy storage, radi- ant heating and cooling panels to project well into the future of low carbon living and resilience." Although projects in which precast concrete plays a major role are too numerous to mention, Brian Hall, managing director of the Canadian Precast Prestressed Concrete Institute (CPCI) cites several projects in order to illustrate the versatility of the material. One is the West Vancouver Park Royal mall Simons store, whose retail outlets are known for their architectural boldness. Hall points out that part of its visual appeal is due to the use of custom form liners. He says of this method to reproduce form shapes: "Custom form liners can be manufactured to create almost any design desired; leaves, fossils, mountains, or cultural icons. Almost anything can be used as the basis of a custom designed form liner. Essentially there are limitless possibilities; when you add custom form liners, you are only limited by your imagination." He adds that different form liners can be used in a single precast panel, and cites as an example The Home Depot store whose facade features beautiful brick columns with a stone base and a brick soldier course canopy. Given that brick is enjoying a resurgence of popular- ity in the multi-family residential, commercial and insti- tutional sectors, Hall suggests thin-brick faced precast concrete panels as a way to approximate the appear- ance of brick without the associated costs or installation complexity. "Brick facings can cover the entire exposed precast panel surface or be used to create accents on one part of the panel," he says. "Complex and intricate details such as arches, radii and corbels with various bond- ing patterns can be incorporated into finished precast panels. The combination of precast concrete and brick products offers important benefits when compared to conventional masonry construction." In terms of project opportunities in 2017, Don Zakariasen, director of marketing, concrete products, for Lafarge, echoes the sentiment of many of his col- leagues in the trade by noting: "I think the worst of the downturn in Western Canada due to the oil and gas sector is behind us now, and we're getting a noticeable uptick in inquiries. Elsewhere in Canada is good, and in Manitoba we're very busy with infrastructure work." Zakariasen adds that moving forward, companies such as his have an opportunity to help developers ful- fill new energy code requirements in Alberta, as well as other parts of the country. "For example, R-27 has become a typical wall insulation value in this province, and we can easily provide that with our insulated wall panels, which in fact can be made to suit any value, even R-44 if need be," he says. Precast insulated wall panels with a brick finish produced using form liners — Quarry Station, Calgary, AB. Admixture.indd 1 2016-12-20 12:54 PM Harris Rebar.indd 1 2016-11-03 1:24

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