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 thereâs often a desire to do something flashy, community projects tend to keep an eye on the larger prizeâthe buildingâs impact on the people and the community. Duckstad notes, âThe mindset eventually becomes, âLetâs get real with this. Letâs spend more on panels on the front and be selective in other spots.â
Thatâs where Fabcon precast panels can help.
âWhile weâre not a custom precaster like some out there, ours is very much a system. Weâre fast, and our panels are really efficient. That makes them a very economical choice,â Duckstad continues.
This can be attributed to the design of the panels and the ease in which theyâre delivered to the build site.
âThe insulation makes our product lighter so you can get incrementally more on a truck, and thatâs where the economies come in,â says Duckstad. âPlus, we can achieve r-values a lot of other precasters canât.â These are all reasons why many builders rely on our 12-inch VersaCore+Green⢠sandwich panels and their impressive r-value of 28.2.
Â
Modular by nature, buildings made with Fabcon precast panels can be reimagined down the road.
Â
REIMAGINING PRECAST
While specs like r-values and weights certainly matter, itâs 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 youâre a school and enrollment swells, or if you need to add another sheet at the ice arena, itâs possible to expand the footprint of a building or make adjustments to the original functionality with new doors and windows.
âWeâre getting more and more calls to come in and revamp buildings we helped build 20 years ago,â said Fabconâs Dave Stanton. âCalled âremove and relocateâ projects, we can actually grow the building using a combination of new and existing panels. Weâll remove a section of wall, move it 100 feet down and install new panels to expand the footprint of the building.â
While the overall structure of a building is a consideration, aesthetics are a major focus when renovating. Fabconâs commitment to Functional Aesthetics⢠means you never have to compromise on performance or design.
âSteel form panels, of course, can be painted any color,â said Stanton. âBut we can also incorporate pigment and colored aggregate thatâs specific to the region itâs pulled from.â
Whether youâre 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
BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey
The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and near...
| Aug 11, 2010
Thrown For a Loop in China
While the Bird's Nest and Water Cube captured all the TV coverage during the Beijing Olympics in August, the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV Headquarters in Beijingâknown as the âDrunken Towersâ or âBig Shorts,â for its unusual shapeâis certain to steal the show when it opens next year.
| Aug 11, 2010
Tall ICF Walls: 9 Building Tips from the Experts
Insulating concrete forms have a long history of success in low-rise buildings, but now Building Teams are specifying ICFs for mid- and high-rise structuresâmore than 100 feet. ICF walls can be used for tall unsupported walls (for, say, movie theaters and big-box stores) and for multistory, load-bearing walls (for hotels, multifamily residential buildings, and student residence halls).
| Aug 11, 2010
Financial Wizardry Builds a Community
At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).
| Aug 11, 2010
World's tallest all-wood residential structure opens in London
At nine stories, the Stadthaus apartment complex in East London is the worldâs tallest residential structure constructed entirely in timber and one of the tallest all-wood buildings on the planet. The towerâs structural system consists of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels pieced together to form load-bearing walls and floors. Even the elevator and stair shafts are constructed of prefabricated CLT.
| Aug 11, 2010
Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world
Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.
| Aug 11, 2010
Let There Be Daylight
The new public library in Champaign, Ill., is drawing 2,100 patrons a day, up from 1,600 in 2007. The 122,600-sf facility, which opened in January 2008, certainly benefits from amenities that the old 40,000-sf library didn't haveâelectronic check-in and check-out, new computers, an onsite coffeehouse.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Healthcare
11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.
| Aug 11, 2010
29 Great Solutions
1. Riverwalk Transforms Chicago's Second Waterfront Chicago has long enjoyed a beautiful waterfront along Lake Michigan, but the Windy City's second waterfront along the Chicago River was often ignored and mostly neglected. Thanks to a $22 million rehab by local architect Carol Ross Barney and her associate John Fried, a 1.
| Aug 11, 2010
High-Performance Modular Classrooms Hit the Market
Over a five-day stretch last December, students at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Mass., witnessed the installation of a modular classroom building like no other. The new 950-sf structure, which will serve as the school's tutoring offices for the next few years, is loaded with sustainable features like sun-tunnel skylights, doubled-insulated low-e glazing, a cool roof, light shelves, bamboo tri...