Energy Efficient Skyscraper in Downtown Sydney

The 1 Bligh Street office tower in downtown Sydney received a "6 Star/World Leadership"-certification, which is the highest score from the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA).  The tower was designed by Ingenhoven Architects + Architectus, who won an international contest commissioned by the property owner, Dexus Property Group, in 2006.  

Constructing Energy Efficient Skyscrapers for the Future

Extremely tall buildings over 600 meters (around 2,000 feet) have been designated as “megatall” by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).  One example of a megatall skyscraper currently under construction is “The Tower,” which will surpass the 2,716 feet high Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building, by a “notch.” The Jeddah Tower is another mind-bogglingly megatall skyscraper that will reach the architectural height of 3,280 feet (1,000 meters, or one kilometer) tall, once it is completed in 2020.  By 2020, The CTBUH predicts there will be at least eight such buildings internationally.

High-quality Concrete Services in the Portland Area

Over the last couple of years, The Conco Companies have expanded our concrete services in the greater Portland area.  We now offer a full range of services including premium concrete pumping, rebar fabrication and installation, shotcrete, and formwork.  In addition we provide Conco customers a great value when they take advantage of our design/build, general contracting and turnkey solutions.  

Telebelt Rentals – Get Your Job Done Cost-efficiently

Along with our professional concrete pump rental services, The Conco Companies also offers our West Coast customers the opportunity to rent a Telebelt (a telescopic belt conveyor) or portable belt.  These useful, problem-solving belts will allow you to cost-effectively move a variety of materials on and off your jobsite without going through the labor-intensive, time consuming process of re-handling the material.   

A Unique Construction Method Used on the Salesforce Tower Project

The Conco Companies have been providing a variety of concrete services for the Salesforce Tower currently under construction in downtown San Francisco.  Once completed in 2018, the $1.1 billion office building will be the center-piece of a new South of Market neighborhood that includes the Transbay Terminal.  The scope of the project involved Conco completing two floors per week for the 61-story skyscraper, which was done in a 3-day work cycle for each floor in order to meet the accelerated pace.  

To see how we accomplished this task, we encourage you to visit our facebook page to view our time-lapse video that depicts the last full core wall lift on the 1.4 million square-foot tower.  Conco used a unique self-climbing form system that allowed us to do a pour cycle, also known as a “lift,” once every three days.  As you will see from our video, the self-climbing form, which is secured to the existing wall below, made the concrete pours on upper floors very efficient.  To allow access to the building’s 14-foot 9-inch floor-to-floor heights, the form was raised in increments of 15 feet, and involved both the exterior and interior sections of the system moving independently.   

To complete a “jump”, the exterior sections require about 20 minutes to complete, and the more complex interior system takes about 45 minutes to complete a jump.  Once it is in place, the crews aligned and secured the panels to allow the walls to be enclosed and ready for the pour.  This innovative equipment allowed us to begin the next cycle just 6-8 hours after the pour was finished.  The job also required using the most powerful concrete stationary pumps in the industry to pump the concrete to the height of the upper floors. 

We recognize that this feat required absolute organization, management and execution from the top down including our hard-working, dedicated pump operators and rebar, formwork, and placement crews.  In addition we are thankful for the support, partnership and collaborative efforts of the project’s general contractor, Clark/Hathaway Dinwiddie, a Joint Venture.  Conco also acknowledges that we could not have done the job without the cooperation of all of our other trade partners as well as the project owner, Boston Properties, and our concrete supplier CEMEX.   

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services throughout the Western U.S.  We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products and are now one of the foremost concrete contractors in the region. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, industrial and public works projects as well as parking structures.

ACI will Host a Workforce Innovation Summit at their Spring Convention

The American Concrete Institute along with the Women in Concrete Alliance will host a Workforce Innovation Summit at the Concrete Convention and Exposition on March 29^th in Detroit, MI.  According to the ACI, the symposium will address the critical question, “Do we have the right labor force for the jobs that will exist in 10 years?”

In the keynote session, the discussion will center on an “effective diversity strategy – what is working and what is hurting progress.”  Attendees will get a better understanding of the type of actions that can help drive progress within organizations. 

There will also be roundtable forums led by Pam Jeffords, a partner at Mercer and a global expert on diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  Along with valuable commentary and insight from industry leaders, the morning session will deal with several important issues facing the concrete industry.  Topics open to discussion include: Research update on the status of the industry; Talent acquisition and workforce retention; Opportunities for women; The future labor force; and Generational differences. 

Participants in the Workforce Innovation Summit will also have the opportunity to hear an update from Sefla Naomi Fuhrman regarding her recent doctoral research that “focused on women in nontraditional occupations, specifically the concrete-construction industry.”  She will discuss the reasons why women’s participation in the industry is still so low and share some strategies that can help to address the shortage.  In addition Sefla will provide some examples of support for women. 

The ACI and WICA explain that the summit is designed for all levels of the concrete industry and strongly encourage both men and women to attend.  This is a free event but registration is required.  Kimberly Kayler, WICA co-founder and an ACI Board of Director’s member says, “Building on the success of similar gatherings in South America, the Women in Concrete Alliance Steering Committee is excited to be able to host an event for the concrete industry that shares insight on today’s changing workforce.” She adds that the leading-edge speakers help to educate as well as provide practical guidance on how to thrive in today’s global workplace environment.

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services throughout the Western U.S.  We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products and are now one of the foremost concrete contractors in the region. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, industrial and public works projects as well as parking structures.

Source: concrete.org/news/newsdetail.aspx?f=51689668