 Which
of group of construction decisionmakers is most influential
in the selection of concrete or asphalt for parking lots?
Take the PCA Poll
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Sprint Center Races
Toward Completion
 When
completed in the fall of 2007, the $276-million Sprint Center
will help usher in a new era in sports and entertainment in
Kansas City, Mo.—and concrete is a major player in both
the stadium itself and $3 billion in construction now underway.
The downtown area is in the midst of a major revitalization,
converting an aging core into a vibrant city center. (See Executive
Report , November 21, 2005.)
The new arena will serve as Kansas City's home for basketball,
hockey, concerts, and special events. A cast-in-place concrete
pan-formed beam and slab system is the economical concrete framing
system of choice for engineer-of-record Walter P. Moore. The
concrete framing system was selected for the club/office level,
main concourse level, and two suite levels, which consumed over
20,000 cubic yards of concrete.
The Kansas City area has long been the target of education and
promotional efforts by PCA and allies. (See Regional
News below.)
Visit SprintCenter.com
Contact Amy Trygestad
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PCA Launches DIY Promotion Tools
PCA announces the debut of a unique web-based
advertising and marketing tool for residential concrete promoters—local
and national trade groups, material suppliers, builders, and
contractors.
 Users
can customize a library of templates to create print ads, brochures,
event postcards, and e-mail blasts for use in promoting residential
concrete products to both consumer and non-consumer audiences.
Choose from a library of photos on the site, or upload your
own images and logos for the promotional pieces.
The goal is a one-stop, online resource for planning, creating,
printing, and distributing marketing communications materials.
Such a system offers the flexibility to customize or self-brand
materials without sacrificing the ability to maintain consistent,
integrated, and professionally designed looks and messages.
Web-based production tools also bring greater economy and efficiency
to production by including fulfillment services such as e-mailing
and mailing.
The Web site’s print vendors, Redleaf Digital and Johnson
Press, can also act as a fulfillment source, shipping the completed
items directly to the user or to a mailing list provided by
the user. Redleaf’s rates are designed to be very competitive
with rates charged by local printers. Users can also create
a PDF file to take to a local printer.
There is no fee to register and begin using this dynamic new
service. All fees are charged on a pay-as-you-go, project-by-project
basis. During their first visit, users will be asked to register
and provide a user name and password to be used on subsequent
visits. Any products produced on the site can be saved, and
then completed and submitted at a future date.
Visit
the DIY Promotion Zone
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State Alliance
Preserves Fire Provision in Building Codes
After nearly three years of aggressively
implementing a plan to influence the California Building Code,
the California Fire Safety Advisory Council (CFSAC) working
with fire services, fire marshals, building code officials,
and allied interests preserved the more stringent passive fire
protection provisions present in the Uniform Building Code as
amendments to the International Building Code, which will be
effective in California in 2008.
This success continues requirements for more stringent fire
protection in buildings, maintaining a more favorable environment
for the selection of cement-based products as a building material.
With these provisions adopted as amendments in California, this
may set a precedent for activities in other states and the national
model building codes.
CFSAC, an alliance of concrete and masonry organizations in
California, is managed by Tom Tietz of the California Nevada
Cement Promotion Council. Guidance on code development and technical
support was provided by Mark Kluver, recently retired manager
of PCA's regional code services.
Contact Tom
Tietz or Steve Szoke
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 Secretary
Jackson Lauds Innovation
at Builders' Show
PCA residential director Mike Weber (center)
looks on as Joe Lyman (left), head of the Insulating Concrete
Form Association (ICFA), greets Secretary Alphonso Jackson from
the Department of Housing and Urban Development during his tour
of the 2007 International Builders' Show held in Orlando, Fla.,
earlier this month.
HUD’s Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing
(PATH) sponsored the NextGen House, and Jackson was on hand
to address the builders attending the show. PCA and ICFA have
worked in partnership with PATH for many years to increase the
awareness and market penetration of industry innovations such
as insulating concrete forms and other concrrete wall systems
and cement-based residential products.
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Cement Researchers Think Small
for Big Energy Gains
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers
are investigating cement on a molecular level in an effort
to design a cement that can be manufactured without requiring
high temperatures and the related energy consumption and carbon
dioxide emissions.
As published in the January issue of the
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids and
reported on ScienCentral.com, the team has uncovered what
they call cement’s “genomic code.” It indicates
that the strength of cement paste, and thus of concrete, does
not lie in the specific mineral, but in the organization of
that mineral as packed nanoparticles.
If the researchers can find—or nanoengineer—a
different mineral to use in cement paste, one that has the
same packing density but does not require the high temperatures
during production, they can reduce energy required for manufacturing.
The lead researchers will present their findings at the PCA’s
Manufacturing Technical Committee meeting this April at the
IEEE-IAS/PCA Technical conference in Charleston, S.C. The
research, funded in part by Lafarge, is expected to take about
five years.
More
at www.mit.edu
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Soil-Cement Protects
Tampa Bay Reservoir
Government Engineering magazine featured
the soil cement solution used to protect the upstream embankment
of the Tampa Bay Reservoir against erosion from hurricane-force
wave action in its January/February 2007 issue.
A five-mile long earthen embankment was designed to protect
the upstream embankment of the reservoir against the erosive
wave action generated from hurricane-force winds. Soil-cement
proved to be the most cost effective solution to armor the bank
due to the lack of locally available rip rap and the plentiful
supply of sand for the soil-cement within the basin of the reservoir.
The reservoir holds 15 billion gallons of water—enough
to sustain about 25 percent of the region’s drinking water
demand for more than 200 days of drought.
Contact Fares
Abdo
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PTI Conference
Scheduled for Miami
The Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) recently
announced its 6th Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition
to be held on May 6-8, 2007, in Miami, Fla. The two-day PTI
Conference focuses exclusively on the rapidly growing technology
and applications of post-tensioning. Seminars, technical sessions,
panel discussions, committee meetings, and industry exhibits
address a wide range of post-tensioning applications and issues.
In addition, the PTI Legends Awards Presentation and Dinner
will take place at the conference.
More
at PTI's Web site
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Not
in Kansas Anymore? PCA's Amy Trygestad was a guest
speaker at this month's 29th annual Scholer-Peterson Concrete
Conference in Manhattan, Kan., home of Kansas State University.
She presented Emerging Trends and Innovations in Concrete to
more than 200 architects, engineers, and contractors.
Reaching out to future decisionmakers, PCA's Amy Trygestad gave
student enrichment seminars on economical concrete framing systems
to students in the architectural engineering and construction
sciences programs at Kansas State University. She also was a
guest speaker at the student chapter meeting of the Structural
Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri.
Contact
Amy Trygestad
Structural in Seattle:
Last week PCA and the Northwest Concrete Promotion Council exhibited
at the annual trade show of the Structural Engineers Association
of Washington in Tacoma. The seminars and exhibits attracted
about 180 attendees. A number of presentations featured concrete
and cement issues including: application of high-strength rebars,
cementitious roof deck products, and foundation and soil improvements
for soft soil and liquefaction sites.
Contact Attila
Beres
Rhodes Scholars Schooled in Concrete:
Hard work at Rhodes State College, Lima, Ohio, is paying dividends
for the students and the concrete industry alike. Since 1995,
the Ohio Ready Mixed Concrete Association has supported a two-year
concrete technology program at the school. To date, 56 students
have successfully completed the program, and all of them have
gone on to either work in the concrete industry or complete
four-year civil engineering programs.
Contact
Warren Baas at ORMCA
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Results from Last
Week:
Energy Efficiency Key to Market Gains for Concrete Housing
Nearly one out of five new single-family
homes is now built with a concrete wall system. Which of the
following attributes do you think has had the greatest impact
on the success of concrete homebuilding systems?
- Energy efficiency (58.54%)
- Tornado/hurricane resistance (31.71%)
- Fire safety
(7.32%)
- Sound mitigation (2.44%)
Take this
week's poll
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PCA's education and
training group will conduct the following courses at PCA's Skokie,
Ill., facility. Customized and off-site courses are also available.
For more information or to register, contact Julie
Lisiecki.
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Aggregates
and Chemical Admixtures for Use in Concrete
March 5-6, 2007 |
Troubleshooting:
Solutions to Concrete Field Problems
March 19-21, 2007
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| Mill
Grinding
March 19-21, 2007
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Kiln
Process
March 26-29, 2007 |
Cement
and Concrete Overview
April 16-17, 2007 |
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PCA
Spring Committee Meetings
February 26-28. 2007
Phoenix, Ariz.
More
Information |
National Concrete Masonry Association Annual
Convention
February 20-24, 2007
Orlando, Fla.
More
information
|
Manufactured
Concrete Products Exposition
February 22-24, 2007
Orlando, Fla.
More
information
|
Hardscape North
America
March 7-10, 2007
Nashville, Tenn.
More
Information |
PCA
Spring Meeting
March 18-20, 2007
San Diego, Calif.
More information
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12th
International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement
July 8-13, 2007
Montreal, Quebec
More
information
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Executive Report is distributed free of charge to members
of PCA and to individuals interested in PCA activities or
the cement, concrete, and construction industries.
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5420 Old Orchard Rd.
Skokie, Illinois 60077
847.966.6200 info@cement.org
500 New Jersey Ave. N.W.
7th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20001
202.408.9494 fax 202.408.0877 |
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©2007 Portland Cement Association
All rights reserved
The Portland Cement Association conducts market development,
research, education, and government affairs work on behalf
of
its members—cement companies in the United States and
Canada.
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