Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 - (Page 10)

ABOVE GROUND SECURITY BLANKET PRECAST MAJOR CONCRETE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN A OF DEPARTMENT HOMELAND SECURITY PROJECT. BY BRIDGET MCCREA PROJECT PROFILE Project: The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), Artesia, N.M. Owner: Department of Homeland Security Architect/Engineer: Enwright Associates, Greenville, S.C. Contractor: Skanska USA Building Inc., Atlanta Designer: Salmons P.C., Albuquerque, N.M. Precaster: Coreslab Structures, Albuquerque, N.M. K nown for the intensive training programs it provides to more than 80 different federal agencies, the Department of Homeland PRECAST, PLEASE Doing their part to support the center and define its physical shape were a number of precast hollow core planks made by Coreslab Structures of Albuquerque, N.M. The project showed up on a government bid sheet in September 2005 and took most of the next two years to complete. “It was a pretty simple barracks structure with block walls and a hollow core floor system,” recalls Mike Daley, Coreslab’s vice president and general manager. In the initial specifications, the facility would comprise 12-foot, 6-inch cast-in-place, hollow core spans for a total of 90,000 square feet of materials. “We offered the customer a value-engineered option of 25-foot-long, 8-inch-thick hollow core, which dramatically reduced the number of pieces that needed to be made and installed while the square footage of hollow core remained the same,” says Daley. Another 36,000 feet were added later in order to complete an additional wing on the facility. Coreslab also manufactured several hundred balconies and block columns to support the outer edge of those balconies, which provide access to each of the buildings. “We offered them a precast balcony and supporting column system,” says Daley. “They went for that option.” To make it happen, the precaster came up with a simple hidden connection using dowels that went from the column to the balcony slab. “Instead of having to build a block column and stucco it, the contractor was able to just paint it.” Precast concrete brought additional benefits to the Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) made a major addition to its Artesia, N.M., campus in 2006 and 2007 to make room for an influx of students dedicated to keeping the nation secure. For most of the year the facility was under construction, the design having been modified from an original three-story, two-building complex to a four-story, three-building campus that includes 600 new dormitory rooms. Part of that addition included a large number of precast concrete structures that displaced an original call for cast-in-place materials to do the job. The decision to switch to the precast option turned out to be a wise one for the facility, where students converge year-round to complete advanced and specialized training programs by the one of more than 80 federal agencies, including the U.S. Border Patrol, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Transportation Security Administration and other partnering organizations. The FLETC’s Artesia campus also offers specialized instructor programs such as the Driver Instructor Training Program (DITP), Firearms Instructor Training Program (FITP), the Physical Fitness Coordinators Training Program (PFCTP) and the Defensive Tactics Instructor Training Program (DTITP). Located midway between Roswell and Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico and situated on 220 acres, the Artesia facility was formerly a college that the government purchased in 1989 and began operating as a training center. 10 PRECAST SOLUTIONS | MAY/JUNE 2008

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Precast Solutions - May/June 2008 Contents Sustainability and Practicality Security Blanket A Frank Lloyd Wright Takes Shape Concrete Joins MENSA Precast Lightens Up

Precast Solutions - May/June 2008

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