The 2008 completion of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston capped eight years of collaboration between the general contractor and owner that included overcoming several structural challenges, including building the shell’s 80-foot-tall concrete walls that are as important for the building’s acoustics as its structure.

The project, constructed by Linbeck Construction and designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects, both of Houston, recently was honored by Engineering-News Record as a “Best of the Best” construction projects for 2008.

Jurors lauded the project, stating "The concrete work on this project is phenomenal, and provides a stunning place of worship."

With no floors to work from, the walls had to be plumb for the application of exterior stone and interior stone and plaster. Every concrete pour had numerous angles and openings.

The design of the building called for concrete structural walls with cement plaster applied directly to the concrete, which left no chase space for the mechanical or electrical infrastructure. Therefore, all conduits had to be placed inside the concrete walls. This required knowing where the electrical device was going before the walls were formed and poured. Every conduit and audio speaker space was drawn into the plan and elevation views nearly two years before the first pour occurred.

The $40 million co-cathedral nearly 2,000. There are about 8,000 cubic yards of concrete in the cathedral and 86,000 square feet of plaster on the cathedral walls and ceilings.

EPA Names CEMEX 2009 Energy Star Partner of the Year

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named CEMEX USA a 2009 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for outstanding energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. CEMEX's accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2009.

An ENERGY STAR partner since 2004, CEMEX will be honored for strategic energy management and a commitment to save energy across its entire operation that resulted in significant energy and financial savings. CEMEX decreased its total energy use equal to reducing 115,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. This is equivalent to providing electricity to at least 1,500 American homes for a decade or avoiding about 21,000 passenger vehicles' CO2 emissions for a year.

The 2009 Partner of the Year Awards recognize efforts to use energy efficiently in facility operations and to integrate superior energy management into overall organizational strategy. Award winners are selected from more than 12,000 organizations.

"This is one of the highest awards we have received from the EPA and we are honored to be among the select few," said Gilberto Perez, President of CEMEX USA. "This is a testament to our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and demonstrates great strides towards achieving this essential goal."

In 2008, five CEMEX cement plants received U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR certifications for superior energy and environmental performance: Clinchfield, Ga., Davenport, Calif., Knoxville, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., and Wampum, Pa.  In 2007, three CEMEX cement plants received the certifications.

Rabbat Honored by ACI

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) presented Basile Rabbat, PCA’s manager of structural codes, with two prestigious honors at its spring convention being held this week in San Antonio.

Rabbat received the ACI Foundation Concrete Research Council’s Arthur J. Boase Award “for his outstanding contributions to the activities of the ACI 318 Building Code, disseminating information on the latest building code provisions, and for harmonizing structural concrete codes and standards.”  The Boase Award is awarded in recognition of outstanding activities and achievements in the reinforced concrete field.

Additionally, Rabbat was given honorary membership in ACI “for his outstanding leadership in the preparation of ACI 318 for more than 20 years and his many other contributions in ACI, including outstanding efforts in the education of practicing structural engineers”.
Contact Basile Rabbat

TXI’s Oro Grande Plant Showcases New Technology at Cement Conference

This year’s IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference, May 3 - June 4 in Palm Springs, Calif., will feature TXI’s recently completed Oro Grande, Calif., plant. Attendees will notice a number of unique features throughout the plant:

>Raw materials are crushed with a gyratory crusher and two sets of hammer mills. Because of the unusually dry climate, TXI also uses a high-pressure grinding roller mill for their raw materials.

>Quality control of the raw materials is accomplished with a cross-belt analyzer using prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) technology.

>Raw materials are stacked and reclaimed from a state-of-the-art circular storage dome. Raw materials are homogenized by simultaneously drawing from any number of nine separate mass storage silos.

>The blending effect of the silos reduces the variation of the raw material and that, in turn, means a lower standard deviation of the raw material, more consistent kiln feed, and more uniform kiln operations.

>The kiln system itself is a five-stage twin-string preheater/precalciner with a 17’ x 236’ two-pier kiln. The plant’s preheater tower tops out 380 feet above the desert floor. The kiln itself rests on a self-adjusting support roll base and is driven by two separate variable frequency drive motors.

>Clinker is cooled with the newest generation high-efficiency clinker cooler that includes a combination of a static, horizontal aeration floor and an above-floor transportation system.  The plant also has two clinker storage domes. TXI’s unique CemStar process provides for an increase in clinker production with no net increases in emissions.
More at www.ieeepcaconference.org

PCA Audio and Video News Available

PCA has launched new page on its on-line newsroom presenting radio and television news segments featuring PCA staff and members.  Currently available are a podcast and radio segments on the importance of using concrete and cement-based products for infrastructure as well as World of Concrete interviews done by ForConstructionPros.com.  The television interviews of Brian McCarthy, David Shepherd, and Ed Sullivan appeared on in-house hotel channels at more than 30 hotels in Las Vegas.

A link to PCA’s YouTube channel, ConcreteThinking, is also available on this page.
View the page at www.cement.org/newsroom
Contact Patti Flesher