Commercial Archives | Page 10 of 11

Starting at 4:47 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2014, Conco broke the Guinness World Record for the largest continuous mat pour in 18 ½ hours (1 ½ hours under the projected time). To verify the event, there was an official Guinness World Records adjudicator on-site. The mat pour was for the new Wilshire Grand Center that is being constructed in downtown Los Angeles, and is slated to become the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi.

*Photos by Gary Leonard

After some 5 months of excavation and shoring, Conco was finally ready to begin the preliminary mat foundation work. Starter footings and elevator pits had to be constructed before the nearly 7 million pounds of mat reinforcement was installed. Then came 18 miles of cooling pipes for thermal control. We were ready to go with a couple of days to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. We began the set ups for pumping which involved strategically placing 19 pieces of concrete placing equipment in and around the construction site. It was now time to place this nearly 20 foot thick mat foundation.

The massive mat pour required a fleet of 208 trucks that each made 10 to 14 concrete drops for a total of 2,100 trips over the 18 ½ hour period. All of the concrete was provided by eight concrete batch plants operating at full capacity and located within a 20-mile radius of the job site. The success of the pour depended upon everything going exactly as planned and with contingencies in place to reroute trucks around any traffic jams. Trucks had to arrive on time since concrete needs to be poured 90 minutes after it is mixed. Several streets in the area were closed off to traffic.

Prior to this record breaking event, the largest continuous mat pour had been for the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas in 1999. During that event, 21,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured. For the Wilshire Grand, 21,200 cubic yards of concrete were poured with an official finish time of 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The skyscraper is expected to be completed in 2016 and opened to the public in 2017. The Wilshire Grand will be 1,100 ft. tall, to include a 900-room hotel, office and convention space as well as five levels of subterranean parking.

Another interesting project that Conco has been involved in recently is the renovation of the Los Angeles Hall of Justice. The building, which was constructed in 1925, is a perfect example of how smart solutions were necessary to save the project. Our collective expertise, experience and cost-effective techniques were put to good use.

The building was heavily damaged, and consequently completely abandoned after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Plans for the renovation had been discussed for many years before anything happened. Finally the County of Los Angeles awarded Clark Construction Group California along with design partner AC Martin the Hall of Justice Repair and Reuse Project. Work began in early 2012 and is expected to be completed sometime in 2014.

Conco’s scope of work includes all of the shotcrete, concrete, and rebar. We are also resurfacing the entire existing floor surfaces in the Hall of Justice’s structure and constructing a new 9 story, 1,000 car parking structure on the same site.

Using shotcrete means the walls can be constructed faster and with less material to save both time and money, which is exactly what the renovation of the Hall of Justice needed. It is the method of applying concrete pneumatically through a high pressure nozzle and offers an economic advantage over typical cast-in-place concrete with reduced forming needed. The structural retrofit would have been economically impossible without the use of shotcrete.

The L.A. Hall of Justice has a rich history with all sorts of interesting and notorious visitors that have come through the doors. According to Wikipedia, the building was used in scenes on Perry Mason, Dragnet, and Get Smart. For years, it was the primary county jail housing such infamous prisoners as Charles Mason and Sirhan Sirhan. A cell block that includes the area where Charles Manson’s was kept will be left as a new interpretive center.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. As one of the leading commercial concrete contractors in the San Jose area, we have been involved with large-scale projects in the area including the Mineta Airport. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.

Conco’s participation in a $72 million project, The Riverfront, in downtown Napa, CA. is another prime example of our vast portfolio and range of concrete services. The Venetian-style building is a mixed-use development of 50 residential condos, 30,000 sq. ft. of office space, and 40,000 sq. ft. of retail.

The 1.3 acre-property with Napa River frontage was completed in 2009 and includes a 2-levels subterranean parking structure capable of accommodating 229 vehicles. Channel Properties is the owner of the project, architect was Johnson Lyman Architects and the general contractor was Ledcor Builders, Inc.

Napa resident and president of Channel Properties, Mike DeSimoni, Sr., was raised in Europe and wanted the property to “reflect not only the look but the land-use philosophy, now known in the U.S. as new urbanism.” The desire was to create an area where people could live, work, and shop in the downtown area.

One of the biggest challenges to the project was to address the underground parking structure, which would be situated below the water table. Structural engineering firms lead by Peoples Associates designed a solution to construct “a pumping station to reduce the hydrostatic pressure and not require a foundation that resists uplift forces due to buoyancy.” The creative solution saved the project a considerable amount of money.

The Riverfront retail area has become a mecca for foodies and high-end restaurants. Morimoto Napa Restaurant and Lounge is a 7,500 sq. ft. sushi bar owned by celebrity chef, Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef America fame. The Fish Story, a Lark Creek Restaurant Group, is a sustainable seafood restaurant. Another well-known Food Network star, Tyler Florence, operates a 2,500 sq. ft. rotisserie style eatery. Also Napa’s visitor information center is now located in the complex.

Conco is one of the leading commercial concrete contractors in Sacramento and has been delivering first-rate services in the area since 1959. We are experts at creating cost-effective solutions that take advantage of the most up-to-date techniques. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.

Conco has been given the opportunity to participate in another landmark project by providing concrete services for the new Wilshire Grand Center being built in downtown L.A. The new tower will become the tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi. This is one of several of our large-scale projects in Los Angeles. Others include the recently completed 125 year old Hall of Justice retrofit, the new Federal Courthouse, a new 45 story cast in place building at 10000 Santa Monica, The iconic ARTIC transportation Center in Anaheim and several smaller projects.

The Wilshire Grand is being built by the Turner Construction Co., which is one of the largest construction firms in the U.S. This is not the first major project that Conco has partnered on with the company. In addition to other large scale projects, Turner Construction and Conco have partnered together in building the new San Francisco 49ers Levi Stadium.

Work on the new Wilshire Grand began in late 2013 and will be the biggest Los Angeles area project to-date for Conco. The plan calls for the largest monolithic mat foundation pour ever attempted. Over the course of approximately 18 hours, over 21,000 cubic yards of concrete will be placed. By the end of the pour, we will have completed a foundation that is nearly 20 ft. thick.

The project is on an accelerated schedule including the work Conco is doing. All of the concrete work will be “cast in place concrete,” which is labor intensive. We will be on a 4-day core wall cycle, which means that every 4 days, concrete for a new floor will be poured.

The Wilshire Grand is expected to cost $1 billion once it is completed in 2017, and includes a 900-room hotel, retail and office space. The building will stand 1,100 ft. tall. With safety in mind, and to protect from terrorist attacks as well as other types of emergencies, the core of the building will be made of concrete. The L.A. Times reports that “four-foot-thick concrete walls will surround a staircase at the center of the building for people to use in case of an emergency.”

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. We have built our reputation in the Los Angeles area with superior concrete formwork, reinforcing, place and finish, shotcrete and other ancillary services that benefit from our vast experience. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.

The range of construction projects that are grounded in quality foundation work, substantial reinforced walls, and strong parking structures that are a result of Conco’s concrete services is extensive. A few years ago, the woefully under-serviced energy market in Southern California was addressed when the General Electric Company, along with managing partner, the Calpine Corporation built a new energy plant. Conco’s services were enlisted to help in the construction of the large plant.

The 800MW, natural gas-fired Inland Empire Energy Center is capable of meeting the energy demands of close to 600,000 households and is located in Romoland, CA. in Riverside County. The plant came online in 2008 and sits on 46 acres. The architect and engineer for the project was Parsons E&C and the total cost of the project was $500 million.

The Inland Empire Energy Center is a state-of-the-art facility and was site for the “launch of GE’s most advanced gas turbine technology, the H System.” This innovative technology “enables the H System to provide superior fuel economy and environmental performance.”* According to GE, the result is that the efficient H system uses less fuel and produces fewer emissions than other large gas turbine systems.

Calpine Power was the construction manager, and when the plant came online, Calpine Energy became responsible for the marketing of the energy. At some point, under a pre-arranged agreement, the Calpine Corporation will buy the plant from GE. Conco was pleased to be a part of a project that serves the communities of Southern California and provided a means to reducing air pollution.

*http://www.energyvortex.com/pages/headlinedetails.cfm?id=1705#sthash.XhuBIbyC.dpuf

When your project demands exceptional services and the best value, Conco can deliver. We have been offering premium concrete services throughout the Western U.S. since 1959, and have a regional office in the Denver area. With state-of-the-art equipment and modern facilities, we work diligently to meet goals and stay within budget.