A Few Megaprojects from Around the World

As The Conco Companies have been in involved in many of the largest, most distinguished projects in the Western United States, we are always interested to learn more about some of the megaprojects going on across the globe.  Here is a quick look at a few of them.  

Originally opened in 1914, the expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to be finished in 2016 at the cost $5.25 billion and 11 years to build.   The project consists of a new 3.8-mile long channel for the new locks and is estimated to have required 4.4 million cubic meters of concrete.  This new phase of the canal was necessary to widen and deepen the channel to better accommodate modern ships which have grown in size.  

Another impressive project is the world’s largest dam in China that took 17 years and an estimated $30 billion to build.  The Three Gorges Dam is built entirely of steel (510,000 tons) and concrete and is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China.  The dam measures 595 feet tall, 131 feet wide and over 7,600 feet long.  There are 32 main turbines that produce the electricity. 

 

One mega-project from right here at home is the recently completed east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which holds the Guinness World record for the widest bridge in the world.  It is estimated to have a cost of 6.4 billion and is the most expensive public works project in the history of California.  The east span of the bridge is 258.33 feet wide and consists of 10 general purpose lanes.

Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offers a wide range of quality services and products.  Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.  We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

Sources:popularmechanics.com/technology/g2121/the-worlds-25-most-impressive-megaprojects/, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_span_replacement_of_the_San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland_Bay_Bridge

Experts in Dealing with a Range of Concrete Challenges

The Conco Companies many decades of experience and abundant resources gives us the expertise to innovate unique solutions to address the various challenges faced by concrete contractors.  One such issue we faced head-on was in the planning stages of how we intended to pump concrete to reach the upper levels of the Wilshire Grand. 

The challenge we had to undertake required pumping concrete 650 feet horizontally and then 1,125 feet vertically to reach the upper levels of the skyscraper.  Furthermore, this would be the highest level that concrete was ever pumped in the city.  Along with the need to get concrete to the upper levels, we also needed to do the job without creating air pollution or too much noise for the adjacent office building.  This is where Conco’s ability to think out-of-the-box came in handy.   Our unique solution was to purchase a high pressure, high powered state-of-the-art electric pump.  

In fact we were the first concrete company on the West Coast to purchase a pump of this size.  The benefit of the pump is that since it is electric, it allows the project owner and contractor to meet guidelines imposed by Southern California for reduced emissions.  It also produces much less noise that a diesel powered pump, and with an occupied building less than 30 feet away from the jobsite, this was critical.

The new pump will be put to good use pumping more than 100,000 yards of concrete for the Wilshire Grand project and will also be used on the Salesforce Tower in S.F. as well as other Conco projects.  Please see our website to learn more about our broad range of projects and our unique expertise in adeptly handling the most challenging ones.           

Conco’s mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring experience, expertise and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for a wide range of construction development. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

New Video on the Historic Salesforce Mat Pour

https://vimeo.com/82790616

One of our larger projects that The Conco Companies have been involved with is a new skyscraper in downtown San Francisco.  The Salesforce Tower will become the second tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi once it is complete.  Another current Conco project, the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles will be the tallest by just a few extra feet. 

For all of you following the progress of the Salesforce Tower, Boston Proprieties has released another video on the historic, continuous mat pour that was done on Nov 7-8, 2015.  In this particular video, Conco’s CEO, Steve Gonsalves makes an appearance as he describes the scope of the pour, stating how rare of a project this is, and while not something that we do every day, “We love it!” 

Another interesting part of the video shows the hefty size of the rebar that was used for the foundation.  Even though #4 rebar is most commonly used as reinforcement, this project required the largest size rebar manufactured.  The heavy #18 rebar measures 2 1/4 inches in diameter and in readiness for the mat pour, 500 million pounds were laid down.     

The project was started two years ago and the continuous 18-hour mat pour was almost a year in planning.  With the completion of the foundation, the skyscraper is finally ready to go vertical.  Michael Tymoff, Boston Proprieties’ Senior Project Manager, states how the new tower is going to redefine the city’s skyline and will become an icon for San Francisco.  

The Salesforce Tower is expected to be completed in 2017.  We encourage you to take a look at all of Conco’s projects featured on our website or contact us to see how our quality services can assist your next project.  

The Conco Companies mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring experience, expertise and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for a wide range of construction development. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

A Short History of Concrete Pumps

Today we are all accustomed to seeing the long booms of concrete pumping trucks at a construction jobsite.  While some of the booms have a reach of over 60 meters, if was not all that long ago that these state-of-the-art boom pumps did not exist. 

In the early 20^th century, the method used to move liquid concrete from a cement mixer involved using wheelbarrows.  As buildings started getting taller, the process to move the concrete entailed lifting it in large buckets known as skips.  This was a laborious procedure as each bucket typically only held about 2 cubic yards of concrete.   

It wasn’t until 1927 that two German engineers, Max Giese and Fritz Hull, decided to try and pump concrete through pipes.  They had success pumping concrete to a height of 125 feet (38 meters) and a distance of 130 yards (120 meters).   In 1932, Jacob Cornelius Kweimn patented a concrete pump in Holland. 

While there were a several different designs of concrete pumps over the ensuing years, the biggest advancement occurred in 1957.  This was the invention of a twin cylinder hydraulic concrete pump from Friedrich Wilhelm Schwing’s company, Schwing GmgH.   In fact the principle of the company’s design was quickly adopted by almost everyone in the industry and is still the standard design used throughout the world.  

The invention of the concrete pump provided concrete contractors with the ability to pump concrete at a much faster rate than buckets could lift it and to bring up a constant supply of concrete to reach the rising heights of modern construction projects.  Furthermore, the placing hoses allow the liquid concrete to be positioned exactly where it is needed and eliminated the need to distribute or move it around. 

At The Conco Companies, we are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products.  Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.  We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_pump

wired.com/2015/11/it-took-18-hours-to-pour-san-franciscos-biggest-ever-concrete-foundation/#slide-1

Various Type of Concrete Pumps

For 40 years, The Conco Companies have owned and operated one of the largest pumping companies in the Western United States.  In order to guarantee we have the proper equipment available to handle the most challenging projects, we continue to expand and upgrade our equipment and currently own one of the best state-of-the-art fleets of concrete pumps anywhere.  Furthermore, our equipment is run by ACPA certified operators who are routinely trained to guarantee the highest safety standards are met.

So just what are the different types of concrete pumps?  According to Schwing, one of the biggest manufacturers of concrete pumps, they state that the, “main difference between the various types of concrete pumps is determined by the additional equipment that comes as part of the pump.”  For example, “a concrete pump in its simplest form is best represented by a Stationary Concrete Pump.”  To enhance stationary concrete pumps, you can add a transport vehicle that is dedicated to transporting and positioning the pump, a dedicated placing boom attached to the pump, or a truck mixer to store and supply the concrete.  

One of the most common, the mobile concrete pumps, has a placing boom mounted onto the truck chassis.  At Conco we have mobile concrete pumps that have booms with a range of less than 20 meters to ones with a reach of more than 60 meters.  Mobile pumps offer the advantage of driving up to a jobsite, and after a quick set up, being ready to pump concrete to anywhere within the range of the boom.

Also trailer mounted concrete pumps are very common and require a separate pipeline to be attached in order to reach the areas where the concrete needs to be placed.  The other end of the pipe can be attached to a separate placing boom to allow concrete to be placed over a wider area or with a rubber placing hose for manual placement.  This type of pump needs to be towed or separately transported.  Please take a look at our website to see the full list of Conco’s concrete pumping equipment along with information on using our equipment.  

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. and got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. Our offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

Source: schwing-stetter.co.uk/Pages/ConcretePumpingOverview.aspx