Concrete Reigns Sovereign in Atlanta
Developer Regent Partners' latest addition to Atlanta's Buckhead skyline will stand high above existing buildings and stand apart from other high-rise towers with a softer, more fluid design.

Dubbed the Sovereign, the 48-story, mixed used tower at 3344 Peachtree will include retail, restaurant, high-end residential, and parking.

Atlanta's Stanley Lindsay Associates of Atlanta engineered the tower with a post-tensioned concrete beam and slab floor system. Architect is Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, also of Atlanta.

Construction is set to begin this fall with occupancy in the second quarter of 2008.

Post-tensioning is the standard construction method for office and residential towers in Atlanta because of its superior structural efficiency and speed of construction. PCA’s Mike Mota along with local allies John Love of Georgia Concrete and Products Association and Roy Keck of Lafarge have promoted the use of concrete to local AE firms, including Stanley Lindsay Associates.
Contact Mike Mota

Natural cements were extensively used in 19th and early 20th century construction, and many historic structures were built with these materials. However, with improved technology for producing portland cements, sales of natural cements began a long, slow decline in the late 1800s, stopping entirely by the mid-1970s. As natural cements were no longer being produced in the US, the specification was withdrawn.

A copy of ASTM C 10 can be obtained at ASTM International’s web site: www.ASTM.org. For further information, a technical conference on natural cement is scheduled for April 18-20, 2007, in Syracuse, N.Y. (www.naturalcement.org).
Contact Paul Tennis

Housing at Chico: PCA's Mike Collignon was a recent guest speaker at California State University at Chico, where he presented the residential applications of concrete. The event was hosted by the new Concrete Industry Management (CIM) Program. Those in attendance were CIM students and others from across the campus.
Contact Mike Collignon

Bridges in San Mateo: PCA organized a concrete bridge information booth at the Federal Highway Administration’s Fifth National Seismic Conference held September 18-20 in San Mateo, Calif. PCA's David Bilow made a poster presentation on the high speed, 19-mile long, double track Shanghai Maglev aerial structure which utilizes large precast, prestressed concrete girders. The conference was attended by more than 425 people.
Contact Shri Bhide

Results From Last Week:
Concrete Quality on the Rise
Do you think the overall quality of concrete has increased, decreased, or remained the same over the last 30 years?
Number of responses (percent)

• Increased: 73 (69.52%)
• Decreased: 22 (20.95%)
• Remained the same: 10 (9.52%)

Notable comments:

"There is a lot more emphasis on speed of production. Quality is secondary. Product is still good, but changes in materials create new challenges and most engineers today just do not understand the basics."

"Quality has increased through the usage of fly ash (SCM's), better control with admixtures and better quality control over aggregates."

"Changes in chemistry of cements to move toward earlier set times have caused a decrease in durability. Also, river gravel aggregates qualities are not as good as in the past."

"My 30-year-old patio is in perfect shape and my new garage floor cracked within a month."

"More and more people are pushing faster setting and faster strength-gaining concrete instead of the issue of longevity of the concrete. In 40 to 50 years I am afraid we will see this effect on our roads, bridges, and buildings."

"Maybe it has more to do with the workers/installers than the actual concrete."

Take this week's poll