flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Building community with every structure

Sponsored Content Products and Materials

Building community with every structure

Fabcon precast helps take community projects further.


By Fabcon | July 19, 2017
Exterior of the Venice Island Performing Art & Recreation Center

Venice Island Performing Art & Recreation Center in Philadelphia, PA. Fabcon precast can create unique spaces with adaptable uses.

From schools to churches, YMCAs to hospitals, ice arenas to community centers or anything in between, the right building can bring people together. Our experience has shown that projects like these share common themes; budgets run tight, and timelines run even tighter.

Both of these criteria put Fabcon precast panels in the sweet spot for these types of projects.

Fabcon Sales Engineer Dick Duckstad has been a part of hundreds of planning meetings. While there’s often a desire to do something flashy, community projects tend to keep an eye on the larger prize—the building’s impact on the people and the community. Duckstad notes, “The mindset eventually becomes, ‘Let’s get real with this. Let’s spend more on panels on the front and be selective in other spots.”

That’s where Fabcon precast panels can help.

“While we’re not a custom precaster like some out there, ours is very much a system. We’re fast, and our panels are really efficient. That makes them a very economical choice,” Duckstad continues.

This can be attributed to the design of the panels and the ease in which they’re delivered to the build site.

“The insulation makes our product lighter so you can get incrementally more on a truck, and that’s where the economies come in,” says Duckstad. “Plus, we can achieve r-values a lot of other precasters can’t.” These are all reasons why many builders rely on our 12-inch VersaCore+Green™ sandwich panels and their impressive r-value of 28.2.

 

Exterior of the Shakopee Ice ArenaModular by nature, buildings made with Fabcon precast panels can be reimagined down the road.

 

REIMAGINING PRECAST

While specs like r-values and weights certainly matter, it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture. What happens if you outgrow a property? Or need to consider a sale?

Fabcon buildings tend to have multifunctional appeal. What may originally have been built as a church can easily be reconfigured to be a showroom. This creates clear advantages at resale. If you’re a school and enrollment swells, or if you need to add another sheet at the ice arena, it’s possible to expand the footprint of a building or make adjustments to the original functionality with new doors and windows.

“We’re getting more and more calls to come in and revamp buildings we helped build 20 years ago,” said Fabcon’s Dave Stanton. “Called ‘remove and relocate’ projects, we can actually grow the building using a combination of new and existing panels. We’ll remove a section of wall, move it 100 feet down and install new panels to expand the footprint of the building.”

While the overall structure of a building is a consideration, aesthetics are a major focus when renovating. Fabcon’s commitment to Functional Aesthetics™ means you never have to compromise on performance or design.

“Steel form panels, of course, can be painted any color,” said Stanton. “But we can also incorporate pigment and colored aggregate that’s specific to the region it’s pulled from.”

Whether you’re building from scratch or repurposing an existing structure, Fabcon Precast brings value to community projects. Making a difference in your community has never been faster, more efficient or more customizable.

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Modest recession for education construction

Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.

| Aug 11, 2010

'Feebate' program to reward green buildings in Portland, Ore.

Officials in Portland, Ore., have proposed a green building incentive program that would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Under the program, new commercial buildings, 20,000 sf or larger, that meet Oregon's state building code would be assessed a fee by the city of up to $3.46/sf. The fee would be waived for buildings that achieve LEED Silver certification from the U.

| Aug 11, 2010

News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement

News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement

| Aug 11, 2010

Decline expected as healthcare slows, but hospital work will remain steady

The once steady 10% growth rate in healthcare construction spending has slowed, but hasn't entirely stopped. Spending is currently 1.7% higher than the same time last year when construction materials costs were 8% higher. The 2.5% monthly jobsite spending decline since last fall is consistent with the decline in materials costs.

| Aug 11, 2010

Luxury Hotel required faceted design

Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.

| Aug 11, 2010

Robotic storage facility protects exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork

Miller Construction Company, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has completed construction on a high-tech robotic storage facility designed to store and protect valued possessions such as exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork, and jewelry. Designed and built to resist Category 5 hurricanes, the RoboVault facility features automated storage retrieval, biometric recognition, private access with 24/7 securi...

| Aug 11, 2010

U.S. firm designing massive Taiwan project

MulvannyG2 Architecture is designing one of Taipei, Taiwan's largest urban redevelopment projects. The Bellevue, Wash., firm is working with developer The Global Team Group to create Aquapearl, a mixed-use complex that's part of the Taipei government's "Good Looking Taipei 2010" initiative to spur redevelopment of the city's Songjian District.

| Aug 11, 2010

Construction material prices drop slightly in April, extending the decline

The construction materials price index for nonresidential buildings fell 0.3% in April extending the decline since the September index peak to 13.1%. Prices for the mix of materials used in nonresidential construction prices are back to the December 2007 level before the 14% jump in prices from March through September.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Products and Materials

Top products from AIA 2024

This month, Building Design+Construction editors are bringing you the top products displayed at the 2024 AIA Conference on Architecture & Design. Nearly 550 building product manufacturers showcased their products—here are 17 that caught our eye.




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021