Seventh Tallest in the World - International Commerce Centre

While we are currently providing concrete services for the new Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles, which is on its way to becoming the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, we have started blogging about other tall skyscrapers.  We recently saw an article from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat that is already discussing the emergence of mega tall skyscrapers that will be built in the next decade.  Apparently a kilometer-tall (3280 ft.) building is already under construction.  The CTBUH now defines super tall skyscrapers as those over 300 meters (984 ft.) and buildings over 600 meters (1968 ft.) as mega tall.    

On our list of buildings, we are at number seven, which is the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon, Hong Kong.  The 1,588 ft. building has 118 floors with a 360 degree observation deck and is the tallest building in Hong Kong as well containing the third largest number of floors.  The ICC was completed in 2010 and a winning entry in an international design competition.  The project was designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) in association with Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd.

The skyscraper is part of the Union Square reclamation project and is built right above the Kowloon Station, which connects Hong Kong to the airport.  According to ArchDaily, the structure is made up of eight concrete mega-columns that “splay out 3 degrees as they touch the ground plane.”  The building includes office, retail, a hotel and the world’s highest cocktail lounge on the 108^th floor.   

Energy efficient abounds in the skyscraper and set new standards for sustainability.  It contains an “Energy Optimizer” air-conditioning system and a passenger smart elevator system that maximizes efficiency by assigning elevators to groups with similar destinations.  Water is saved by harvesting water from the a/c system and used in cooling towers and other situations that use non-potable water.      

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

Bellevue, WA has consistently been rated as one of the top places in the country to live, work, and to raise a family.  The vibrant community offers a first-class school district, a wide-range of outdoor activities, and entertainment venues as well as great restaurants and retails stores.
Conco was pleased to provide concrete services for the Washington Square high-rise condominium project.  It was the first stage of a large development complex that is being built in the heart of downtown Bellevue.  The two 22-story condo towers were completed in 2008 and have a total of 377 residential units.  Built as a model of urban living, the development boasts an attractively landscaped courtyard, tree-lined walkways, and a convenient dog park.  Amenities include concierge services, night doorman, spa, massage rooms, and a fitness center

Fifth Tallest Building in the World - Taipei 101

Since starting work on the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles, which is set to become the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, we started a series exploring the super tall skyscrapers of the world.  As we proceed along in the series, we now arrived at the fifth tallest building in the world.  The Taipei 101, also known as the Taipei Financial Center, is located in the Hsinyi district, Taipei, Taiwan.

Recently replaced as the tallest building in Asia by the Shanghai Towers that is currently being constructed, the Taipei 101 was opened in 2004 and stands at 1,671 ft. tall.  The building has 101 floors with an indoor observatory deck at that level.  The steel and glass skyscraper was designed by C. Y. Lee & Partners and the structural engineers were Thornton Tomasetti and Evergreen Engineering.  The Project Manager was Turner Construction.  The building was awarded the highest LEED Platinum certification.

According to an article from Wikipedia, the Taipei was constructed to withstand adverse conditions that have been known to occur in the area such as typhoon strength winds or earthquakes.  The ultimate goal was to construct “a structure that could withstand gale winds of 134 mph and the strongest earthquakes likely to occur in a 2,500 year cycle.”  Using very strong reinforced concrete supports and an extremely solid foundation, the Taipei 101 is believed to be one of the most stable buildings ever constructed.  

The multi-use skyscraper has retail shops on the first four levels, a large fitness center on floors 5 and 6, and offices space above that on levels 7- 84.  A variety of fine restaurants can be found on floors 86 to 88 and outdoor observation decks on level 89 and 91. 

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

Conco Constructs a Floor Every Week!

As one of the foremost commercial concrete contractors in the business, Conco continues to innovate and develop techniques that allow us to deliver exceptional services to our clients.  Furthermore we fully recognize that extended construction times drive up cost so we have become experts in working efficiently and cost-effectively. 

With a well-earned reputation of meeting or exceeding deadlines, Conco is routinely brought in on projects that have an accelerated timetable.  Such was the case of 815 Pines, a luxury 40-story apartment building adjacent to the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle.  Owned by the Holland Partner Group, they were adamant that the project was finished on time regardless of weather conditions and the challenges presented by the small footprint and minimal lay-down area.

Conco’s task was to construct a complete floor every week.  The time-lapsed video link below demonstrates one week of the activity that took place starting at Level 34 pour-day right through to Level 35 pour-day.  It clearly illustrates how we successfully accomplished this huge undertaking. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGmhEkbNKLk&feature=autoshare

A breakdown of how major tasks were managed throughout the 5-day week:

·         Day 1: Pour slab, core slab, walls, & columns.  Start framing Level 35 deck.

·         Day 2: Jump core form.  Strip columns.  Complete L35 deck. Charge boundary elements.  MEP layout.

·         Day 3: MEP layout.  Edge forms.  PSR rail install.  Core rebar install.  Bottom mat rebar.

·         Day 4:  Perimeter panels jumped.  PT install.  Core walls complete.

·        Day 5: MEP/Pex pipe installed.  Top of slab formwork.  Embed installation.  Charge column rebar cages.  Clear deck, prepped for pour.

 

Throughout the 815 Pine project, the 5-day cycle was accomplished with a single shift that stayed within the construction schedule and exceeded the expectations of the developer.  By consistently collaborating with general contractors and owners, Conco strives to find solutions that meet the demands of each unique project we provide services on.

For over 50 years, Conco has been providing premium concrete services and is one of the most trusted concrete contractors in the  Northwest.  We partner with clients on every project from the pre-construction stage right through to final completion to maximize efficiency and ensure goals and budgets are met.  Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

Since Conco is hard at work on the Wilshire Grand Center in L.A., which will be the tallest skyscraper in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, we thought it only fitting to do a blog series on “super tall buildings.”  Keep in mind that skyscrapers are ranked by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and they use set criteria to designate the official height for each building.  According to the Council, “measurements are from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building.  This includes spires, but does not include antennae, signage, flagpoles or other functional-technical equipment.”  

For the new blog post in our series on tallest buildings in the world, we come to the fourth one, which is right here in the U.S.  The ultra-modern One World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan was designed by the renowned architect David Childs, of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP.  The building has received the designation as the tallest building in the U.S. and the fourth tallest in the world after some controversy regarding its height.  Recently the CTBUH declared that the mast on top of the building is a spire since it is a permanent part of the skyscraper’s architecture, which means the One World Trade Center is officially 1,776 ft. tall. 

The skyscraper is built with safety in mind as well as sustainability and has received LEEDS Gold certification.  According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who own the building, “Its structure is designed around a strong, redundant steel frame, consisting of beams and columns. Paired with a concrete-core shear wall the redundant steel frame lends substantial rigidity and redundancy to the overall building structure while providing column-free interior spans for maximum flexibility.”  The One World Trade Center is expected to open later this year.  

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

 

Third Tallest Building in the World - Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower

Conco is currently providing concrete services on a landmark project in downtown Los Angeles where the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi is currently being constructed.  The Wilshire Grand Center will earn a place in the record books which got us thinking about other skyscrapers.  For our blog series regarding super tall buildings, we discover that the third tallest in the world is the Abraj Al-Bait Tower, which is also known as the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower. 

The Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia and was completed in 2010.  The Tower and the surrounding complex of six additional buildings are all owned by the government with the Tower standing well above all of the other buildings.  The official height of the tower is 1952 ft. including a 233 ft. sphere, which makes it the tallest building in Saudi Arabia and the second tallest building in the Middle East after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  It has occupied space up to 1,833 ft. with an observatory deck at that level.  On the building’s façade is displayed the world’s tallest and biggest clock face.

The hotel was built to accommodate the many Muslims who make yearly pilgrimages to the mosque at Makkah, which is located directly across the street.  The Tower contains a 4-story shopping mall with regional and themed Arabian items for sale and a garage that can hold over a 1,000 cars.  The Tower and the surrounding residential buildings were all a part of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project and are designed to be the iconic symbol of hospitality in the Holy City.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

Shanghai Tower - Second Tallest Building in the World

Since Conco is assisting on the construction of the Wilshire Grand Center in downtown Los Angeles, which will become the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi, we started wondering about other super tall skyscrapers.  This is our second blog post in a series of ten regarding the tallest buildings in the world. 

The second tallest building in the world will be the Shanghai Tower that is currently under construction in Shanghai, China.  It is scheduled for completion in late 2014 and opened to the public in 2015.  As one of three towers that include the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center, it will become the centerpiece of the Lujiazui commercial district.

The Shanghai Tower stands at 2073 ft. tall and has 121 floors above ground level.  The building’s highest occupied floor will be 1841 ft. where there will also be an observatory outlook.  The building contains 106 elevators and 4,090,000 sq. ft. of space.  The Tower is designed as nine cylindrical buildings stacked on top of one another with a double-skin facade.  According to the ArchDaily, “The inner layer of the double-skin façade encloses the stacked buildings, while the exterior façade creates the building envelope, which rotates 120 degrees as it rises and gives the Shanghai Tower its distinctive, curving appearance.”

The architect on the project is the American firm, Gensler, and the design team is led by a U.S. educated Chinese architect, Jun Xia.  In a Gensler Design Update, they reported that because of clay soil conditions, the tower required the support of 1,079 concrete-and-steel bore piles driven deep into the ground.  Additionally the enormous mat foundation pour took 63 hours of continuous concrete pumping and utilized a fleet of trucks.  The building has been awarded LEEDS Gold certification.

To give you an idea of how extremely high these skyscrapers are, two Russian skywalkers recently scaled the unfinished structure with head-cameras strapped on.  The subsequent video shows panoramic views of the city far below as they climb through the clouds to reach the top!

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

Tallest Buildings in the World

Now that Conco is doing the concrete work for the new Wilshire Grand Center that will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi, we got curious about other “tall building.”  Throughout the world, proposed or newly constructed projects are pushing the envelope as skyscrapers get taller and taller.  We will do a series of ten blog posts describing some of that construction. 

The Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, shatters several records for not only the tallest building (by a significant amount), but also the tallest man-made structure and free-standing structure.  Previously the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota had been the tallest structure, and the CN Tower in Toronto, the tallest free-standing structure. 

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which ranks the tallest buildings in the world, measurements are “from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building. This includes spires, but does not include antennae, signage, flagpoles or other functional-technical equipment.”  The Burj Khalifa stands at 2,716.5 ft. tall with a record 160 stories and the highest outdoor observation deck in the world.  It also wins in the category of highest continuously occupied floor and an elevator with the longest travel distance in the world. 

Construction began on the Burj Khalifa in September, 2004 and the building was formally opened in January, 2010.  The architecture and engineer for the project was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago.  Adrian Smith was the chief architect.  The chief structural engineer was Bill Baker and the primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States and is once again involved in doing concrete work for a major landmark project. The new Wilshire Grand Center will reshape the Los Angeles skyline as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  As a part of the project, Conco successfully poured the largest continuous mat foundation ever done in the U.S. on February 15, 2014.

 

A Few Facts on the Construction of CenturyLink Stadium

Awarded the concrete package on the new Levi Stadium, which is a joint venture between Turner Construction and Devcon Construction, we brought our previous experience on public arenas.  One of those projects was to provide ancillary concrete structures on the Seattle Seahawks stadium. The CenturyLink (previously known as Seahawks Stadium and Qwest Field) was completed in 2002. 

The architectural firm on the 1,500,000 sq. ft. stadium was Ellerbe Becket, in association with Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm Architects of Seattle.  The Construction Manager was First & Goal.  CenturyLink Stadium has a 67,000 seat capacity with an additional 5,000 seats for special events and 1,400 seats for fans with disabilities.  The facility is 70% covered by a roof and is laid-out with large concourses that easily accommodate the many concession stands and restrooms. 

An interesting fact regarding the building of the new stadium is that the Seahawk’s old Kingdome Stadium was demolished by the largest single concrete structure implosion in the U.S. and set a Guinness World Record.  The event was even covered by ESPN.  Furthermore approximately half of the concrete from the site was recycled and used for the building of the new stadium.

The project presented challenges early-on with soft soil at the site that required the engineering of over 2,200 pilings driven 50 to 70 ft. into the ground to form the base for the foundation.  The CenturyLink has one of the smallest footprints of a newly built NFL stadium but that may be due to being built only a mile from the central downtown business area.  To address the size of the site, the stadium’s upper level is cantilevered over the lower sections.

The multi-use arena is also host to the United Soccer League (USL) Seattle Sounders and the MLS expansion team Seattle Sounders FC.  The field hosted the MLS Cup in 2009 and the 2010 and 2011 finals for the U.S. Open Cup.

For over 50 years, Conco has been providing premium concrete services and is one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Seattle.  Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

Is There a Shortage of Skilled Labor in the U.S?

During the last recession, construction and manufacturing were two of the hardest hit industries.  According to the publication, Finance and Commerce, “The U.S. lost about 2.1 million construction jobs from December 2007 when the recession began through January 2011, when industry employment hit its lowest level since 1996.”* 

As a result, many workers left the industries and went back to school or retrained for jobs in the business or service sectors and also the number of young people enrolling in vocational or technical programs declined.  Recent studies have shown that skilled construction workers are getting older such as a report from EMSI in 2012 that states 53% of skilled-trade workers in the U.S. were 45 years or older. 

Now that we have gotten past the worst of the depression, the demand for skilled workers is way up.  A report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune in July, 2013 estimates the Minneapolis/St. Paul area will need more than 20,000 new workers in construction and manufacturing by 2015.  This means that there has to be a concerted effort throughout the country to encourage and provide training opportunities for young people to enter the industries and fill the shortage. 

The Concrete Pumping, Winter 2014 publication cites the FMI’s 2013 U.S. Construction Industry Talent Development Report that was sent to general contractors and construction managers.  It shows that over half of the respondents indicated a shortage of skilled labor.  The report also said there is a need to recruit more women and minorities to fill these skilled trade jobs.    

The good news is that many companies are making an effort to recruit young workers and get the word out about the benefits of having a well-paying job in the construction industry.  There are even some states that are expanding community college and vocational training programs to help meet the demand for skilled construction workers.  Even celebrity, Mike Rowe, is leading a campaign to promote skilled labor careers and alternative education programs.

*Read more: http://finance-commerce.com/2013/08/labor-shortages-slow-us-home-rebound/#ixzz2tgl8ed7w

For over 50 years, Conco has been providing premium concrete services and is one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Seattle.  We partner with clients on every project from the pre-construction stage right through to final completion to maximize efficiency and ensure goals and budgets are met.  Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.