In Texas, Smart Building Means
Concrete, BioTech, and Albert Einstein
The new BioTechnology Sciences and Engineering Building at the University of Texas, San Antonio, is designed from the ground up to support the vision of a top-tier research university characterized by collaboration, innovation, and openness to new ways of thinking.

And that extends to the reinforced concrete frame. "Concrete framed buildings work very well for laboratory and research space," says Amy Trygestad, PCA's regional engineering manager. "The increased stiffness is advantageous for lab equipment extremely sensitive to vibration."

Trygestad attended the Annual Conference for the Structural Engineering Association of Texas last week in San Antonio, where PCA exhibited and she presented "Emerging Trends in Concrete."

The $84 million, 227,000 square-foot, five-story BioTechnology Sciences and Engineering Building is one of the largest research-related educational centers in Texas.The building includes 70 research and instructional laboratories that will facilitate interdisciplinary research and collaboration between scientists and engineers. A blend of limestone, stucco, and sloped clay-tile roofs, the building is compatible with San Antonio's regional architectural style. The atrium includes artwork depicting science and engineering—bacteriam, fossils, and electrical circuits—and includes a quote by Albert Einstein.
Contact Amy Trygestad

Greenbuild Features Concrete City Virtual Tours
The attendees of the 2006 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Denver, Colo., will have the opportunity to tour www.ConcreteThinker.com, a virtual city full of concrete solutions to environmentally responsible building and design. The Web site is a clearinghouse of case studies, energy models, and other tools to help design professionals make sustainable development a reality.

The site uses Sim City™ graphics to illustrate the great variety of concrete and cement-based applications in sustainable design. A first in the industry, www.ConcreteThinker.com offers solutions for energy efficiency, disaster resistance, indoor air quality, and more.

Greenbuild is sponsored by the U. S. Green Building Council, which developed the increasingly recognized LEED Rating System for sustainable construction. This year’s program is expected to be attended by more than 10,000 architects, designers, green building consultants, and building officials.

Visit PCA’s exhibit at Booth #1724 at the entrance to the Concrete Solutions Pavilion.
Contact David Shepherd

Slab Track Test Extended
The Federal Railroad Administration has extended its slab track testing program for another two years to gain additional data on durability.

The project began three years ago, when the Federal Railroad Administration provided $1.3 million to PCA to cooperatively construct and test a section of slab track on the high tonnage loop at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colo. Tests began in July 2003 to validate slab track design procedures and demonstrate slab track’s low maintenance under freight traffic.

Since then, the slab track test section has been subjected to 170 million gross tons of very heavy 39-ton axle loads. The slab track test section has not required any maintenance.
Contact Dave Bilow

S/S Contract Awarded for Sydney Tar Ponds Clean Up
The first of many major contracts for a massive cleanup of the Sydney Tar Ponds was announced at a technical briefing last week in Nova Scotia. The international firm Earth Tech, headquartered in California, was the winning bidder for the contract to engineer and supervise the massive project.

Solidification/stabilization with cement will be used for several parts of the cleanup, which is one of Canada's largest remediation projects.

Sydney Tar Ponds is the site of a former steel plant, where 100 years of steel and coke production left more than a million tons of contaminated soil and sediment. Hazardous constituents include coal tars and poly-chlorinated byphenyls (PCBs). The Canadian government committed C$400 million to remediate the site during the next 10 years.
Contact Chuck Wilk

A report is available summarize the changes. It provides the industries’ positions and the actions recommended by the committees.
For a copy of the report, please contact: Thea Marlinga.
For additional information on a specific change, the contact person indicated in the report should be consulted.

Fiorato 2007 Gaynor Award Recipient: The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) Research Engineering and Standards (RES) Committee approved the nomination of Anthony E. Fiorato, president and CEO of CTLGroup, as the 2007 winner of the Richard D. Gaynor Award. The award honors individuals who have demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to research and technical advocacy that have benefited the ready mix concrete industry. Fiorato, a member of the RES committee, also facilitated considerable interaction between the technical committee of NRMCA and PCA on issues of importance to the cement and concrete industries. The committee noted that he is a “tireless worker on ensuring fairness and clarity in industry standards.” The award will be presented at NRMCA’s annual convention in March in La Jolla, Calif.

VanGeem Honored for Precast Research: Martha VanGeem of CTL Group received the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s Charles C. Zollman Award for 2006. The award recognizes “Achieving Sustainability with Precast Concrete,” a paper authored by VanGeem and published in the January-February 2006 issue of PCI News. The paper was cited as “worthy of special commendation for its merit as a contribution in advancing the state-of-the-art of precast and prestressed concrete.” The award was presented at the PCI Convention last week in Grapevine, Texas.

Results From Last Week:
U.S. Needs a National Energy Code
Question: A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that European countries and some states are making energy efficiency part of their building codes. Do you think the U.S. should adopt a national building code to make homes and buildings more energy efficient?
Number of responses (percent)

• Yes, the U.S. should adopt national building codes on energy efficient construction 56 (76.71%)
• No, building codes are best left to states and local jurisdictions 13 (17.81%)
• Building codes should not address energy efficiency 4 (5.48%)
  

Notable comments:

"Energy code updates should have been enacted 30 years ago. I still see contractors building with 2x4 walls in our area and the building code officials let them get away with it."

"A national building code with energy efficient standards would be tough, what works in one region won't necessarily work in another region."

"With population growth increasing exponentially, and natural resource consumption commensurate with such growth, it is up to engineers to design structures and land improvements that incorporate a sustainable methodology, or incorporate environmental parameters in said designs. Updating codes to reflect what should be a faster growing trend is not only necessary but serves the long term public welfare, and would increase public confidence in our work."

"Minimum energy codes should be set nationally, but administered at the state/local level. States and local could then opt for codes that are more stringent than the minimum. The country needs to optimize the use of its resources and this is a logical step."

Take this week's poll