2013 Archives | The Conco Companies

The Conco Companies, one of the nation’s largest commercial concrete contractors is finishing up concrete work on the new Platform at Union Station, a luxurious 21-story apartment building that is part of the Union Station Neighborhood in the heart of downtown Denver. The building is being developed by Holland Partners and includes 288 apartment units, a 260-car underground parking structure, and approximately 7,000 square feet of retail space. The project broke ground in early 2013 and is expected to be completed later this year.

Conco’s Role in the Denver Union Station Redevelopment Project — Conco is finishing up concrete work for the highly anticipated Union Station Neighborhood in Downtown Denver.

The Platform was appropriately given its name as it is adjacent to the new commuter rail platforms and other transit options located within the historic Denver Union Station. Once it is complete, it will be the tallest tower in the project. The modern building will offer residents spectacular views and impressive amenities such as a 15th floor pool deck and resident lounge, fitness center, yoga room, dog run, and 24-hour concierge services.

The architect is Shears Adkins Rockmore who specializes in the design of urban projects. They describe the tower as a “restrained palette of exterior materials, precast concrete, glass and metal.” The design is intended to compliment Union Station as well as to set a contemporary tone for the new district. The ground floor is glass and the building’s façade consists of grey and white concrete paneling. The north side of the tower has a glass curtain wall on the corners of the building. Apartments are on floors 5-21 and most are 1-bedroom units with some 2-bedroom and a few studio apartments available. The building has obtained LEED Gold certification.

The highly anticipated Union Station redevelopment is being done in conjunction with the FasTracks light rail development. The combined projects have an estimated budget of $7.2 billion to make it the largest transit redevelopment in the U.S. The project is expected to play a large role in furthering the revitalization of downtown Denver and will bring to the neighborhood residential housing, office and hotel development, and a mix of retail.

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.

At The Conco Companies we continue to be a forerunner in the industry with the recently acquired Stud Rail Fabrication certification for our state-of-the-art rebar fabrication facility located in Benicia, CA. We are among only a handful of manufacturers throughout the industry that have obtained this certification. Our Rochester, WA plant is in the process of pursuing the same approval and hopes to have certification by June 2014.

The Stud Rail certification provides a cost-effective solution that simplifies the method of reinforcement for flat concrete slabs against punching shear at the column connection. The prefabricated stud rail assemblies provide the potential for less congestion and increased design flexibility.

Stud Rails Assemblies are an effective way of reinforcing flat concrete slabs against punching shear at column locations. The loads on a concrete slab supported by concrete columns generate shear stresses in the slab. The Punching Shear Studs are a predetermined length and diameter according to design specifications and are in compliance with IBC and UBC Structural Steel Welding Standards. They are used to extend the column perimeter into the floor or foundation slab and have low requirements in terms of formwork and reinforcement. To simplify system design, manufacturers provide free calculation software and other technical support to generate design placing sheets.

With the recent uptake in construction projects getting off the ground, Conco is pleased to acquire another innovative technique to aid in delivering efficiency and cost savings to our clients. We are an approved equal for any project not referencing our ESR-3317 report. A simple substitution request and a copy of the ESR-3317 is all that is required for us to get formal approval to provide those services.

Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in the Bay Area offering a range of innovative, quality services. We have been honored to work on many high-profile projects and were recently awarded the concrete package for the San Francisco 49ers Stadium. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

After the highly publicized reports from this past summer regarding the failure of 32 anchor rods on the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge, the highly regarded concrete contractor, Conco was retained by the general contractor, American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises, Inc. JV, to assist with the repair work. Based on their earlier performance with other critical and technically challenging components of the new bridge structure, Conco was the logical choice. “Every aspect of this project had complex technical challenges.” said Brian Petersen, the contractor’s Project Director, and “Conco’s skill and expertise was a great asset to our team.”

The defective anchor rods were supposed to secure the bridge deck to the concrete crossbeam support. Since the failed rods were embedded and inaccessible, replacement was not feasible. After extensive collaboration and analysis, a fix was designed. It involved a complex series of steel saddles and post-tensioned (PT) jacket walls that would provide the required clamping force to secure the bridge deck framing to the E2 crossbeam. Temporary steel shims were inserted into the stabilizers while the repairs were being done, and in order for the Labor Day opening to go forward as planned. “The SAS bridge is part of a world-class megaproject which features a large amount of challenging concrete work associated with temporary support structures that are not part of the completed bridge,” noted Jim Klinger, Conco’s project manager.

For this very complicated problem, Conco’s first task was to close in a steel-framed trestle platform to give work crews access to the site and eliminate the potential for materials to fall into the San Francisco Bay. Once the platform was complete, crews roughened the crossbeam surface and epoxied over 3,000 drilled dowels into place. Reinforcing steel and PT cable ducts were then installed by Harris Salinas. Conco crews followed behind them, placing custom-made PT trumpet blockouts and setting forms for the jacket walls.

The concrete jacket wall structures were placed in three pours totaling 380 cubic yards. Due to restricted access and rebar congestion, much of the concrete had to be pumped 250 feet and then injected into the forms through ports at strategic locations. Conco worked closely with concrete supplier, Central Concrete, to develop an injectable SCC mix with silica fume that would meet the project’s specifications. A full-scale mockup was constructed and successfully tested to ensure the long-distance pumping and injection of the highly-flowable SCC mix would work.

“Almost all of the concrete work items Conco was asked to perform by ABFJV were custom, one-of-a-kind scopes that we will probably never see again,” said Klinger. In late November, the third and final injection was finished and the repairs were completed successfully.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. As one of the leading commercial concrete contractors in the Bay Area, we have been involved with large-scale projects in the area including the new 49ers Stadium. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.

Conco is seeing an increase in building projects coming out of the ground and being planned for the near future. To help us meet the demand, we have made significant capital investments to increase capacity at our rebar fabrication facilities and purchased new equipment. We have also expanded our geographic footprint which now includes having a large presence in Washington State.

One of the projects we are involved with there is 815 Pine, a luxury, 40-story apartment building adjacent to the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. The Pines is the tallest residential tower to be built in the downtown area in the last several years. It is expected to open for early occupancy in November 2014 and should be completely finished by April of 2015.

The building is being constructed by the Holland Partner Group, and as part of the team, Conco will perform the concrete services. The job involves doing all of the cast-in-place concrete, rebar, formwork, shotcrete and concrete pumping for this signature property.

Since the location of the building is right in the heart of downtown Seattle, the small footprint with a minimal lay-down area and a five-day form cycle presents some challenges. To ensure jobsite safety and to meet the aggressive schedule, Conco will use a perimeter protection system as well as a perimeter netting system.

Once completed, 815 Pine will have 386 apartments with 265 parking stalls on 9 levels. Apartments will vary from 450-square-foot studios to 1,250-square-foot three-bedroom units, and in the New York tradition, will have a 24-hour doorman. The total size of the building is 488,193 gross square feet, and is designed and constructed to achieve LEED Silver status.

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.

The Conco Companies had the opportunity to provide concrete services for a development of multi-family homes designed to offer innovative solutions to meet demand for housing in the Bay Area. The Essex-Elkhorn Court Apartment Homes in San Mateo, California, a mixed-use project, is one of the many developments of its kind being built throughout the state and the country. The well-planned neighborhood offers many amenities and benefits to its residents and the surrounding community.

The project is being built by the Barry Swenson Builder and was designed by MVE & Partners, one of the nation’s premier residential and mixed-use architecture firms. The idea of today’s planned communities differs from past practices when city planners deliberately separated housing and commercial districts. This model purposely builds close to public transportation and jobs, and in places where pedestrians can walk to shopping, work, and recreational activities.

The Elkhorn offers residents all those benefits. The apartments will be attractively orientated to face out to the common areas and have green space for recreational activities. The location is a mixed zoning area so it is close to businesses and public transportation, and the hope is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions with less traffic. The Elkhorn has 197 apartment units and 125,978 square feet of office space with below grade parking shared by both. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

This project presented challenges for Conco’s concrete services since the Essex-Elkhorn is sandwiched adjacent to a hospital, day care center and residential housing. We had to pay special attention to lessen the impact of work being done at the jobsite on the surrounding neighborhood. This meant scheduling large concrete pours on the weekends, and then, only during designated hours. We also reduced the traffic around the site by limiting the number of cement mixers in the area by pumping concrete from one pump to another.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. 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. Since that time, we have steadily taken a leading role as one of the Bay Area’s top concrete contractors. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.