Black and Orange Achieves Gold with ICFs

The U.S. Green Building Council recently awarded the Frieze Harley-Davidson Dealership in O'Fallon, Ill., LEED Gold certification. It is the first LEED-certified Harley-Davidson dealership in the country.

Constructed with insulating concrete forms (ICFs) that provide a wall R-value of 40, the 33,000-square-foot showroom and maintenance shop features superior energy efficiency.  It is partially powered by a wind turbine and has a radiant-heat floor system that runs on waste oil.  The building site is situated to maximize natural daylight and ventilation and uses windows, skylights and more than 40 solar light tubes to bring the outdoor light inside.

Additional sustainable features are bamboo flooring, drought-resistant landscaping, and a highly reflective roof.  Re-claimed bricks were used in sections of the sidewalks.

Trumpet Builders was the project's general contractor, and Karasek Architects designed the facility.

Regional Alignment, Strategic Plan, Technical Sessions Highlight Fall Committee Meetings

PCA held its Fall Committee Meetings from August 25-27 at the Chicago InterContinental Hotel. Most councils and committees held meetings at the 2-1/2-day session, which was attended by 249 member company representatives, allies, and staff.

Among the highlights:

> On Monday, August 25, PCA’s Education Foundation presented seven 2008 Research Fellowship Awards. (See below.)

> PCA president/CEO Brian McCarthy outlined progress on a new strategic plan for the Association in a lunch-time presentation on Tuesday, August 26.

> On Wednesday, August 27, PCA chief economist Ed Sullivan presented his forecast for cement, concrete, and construction. (See PCA Newsroom at www.cement.org.)

> Also meeting on Wednesday, the PCA’s Regional Promotion Committee discussed alignment of the Regional Promotion Groups (RPG) with PCA. To date, a total of five RPGs have opted to dissolve and join PCA: The Great Lakes Cement Promotion Association, the Northwest Cement Producers, the Rocky Mountain Cement Council, the South Central Cement Promotion Association, and the Southeast Cement Association. Three others—Arizona Cement Council, Northeast Cement Shippers Association, and the North Central Cement Council—will vote on alignment in the next month.

> PCA’s Manufacturing Technical Committee conducted its annual technical session on Tuesday, August 26. The technical presentations are available as archived Webcasts.

PCA’s Spring Committee Meetings, which will also include a Board of Directors meeting, is scheduled for April 27-29, 2009, at Chicago’s Marriott O’Hare.
Contact Michelle Nyquist.

Research Fellowships Awarded at Fall Committee Meetings

PCA’s Education Foundation awarded seven graduate students with educational fellowships at PCA's recent fall meeting in Chicago. The awards were presented by Dan Fritz, Votorantim Cimentos North America, vice chair of the PCA Education Foundation.

The 2008 recipients are (listed by university, student, professor, research title):

The PCA Education Foundation Research Fellowship identifies and rewards outstanding masters and doctoral students in the fields of engineering and physical sciences who are studying areas that advance the science and technology of cement and concrete.  PCA’s Education Foundation presents the students with $20,000 each for university and study costs.
More information on the 2008 fellows.
More information on PCA's Education Fellowship Program.

Fellowship Recipients Present Results

Five past recipients of PCA's Education Foundation grants presented the results of their research in a fellowship session at PCA's Fall Committee Meetings on Monday, August 25.

The presentations were:
> Properties of Reinforced Concrete for Use in Fire-Design of Concrete Structures, University of Notre Dame, Adam Knaack (student) and Gino Kurama (professor)

> Use of Heavy Clegg Impact Soil Tester to Assess Rutting of Cement-Treated Base Material under Early Trafficking, Brigham Young University, G. Ben Reese (student) and W. Spencer Guthrie (professor)

> Serviceability of Pervious Concrete Pavements, North Carolina State University, Luis Mata (student) and Michael J. Leming (professor)

> Investigation into the Effect of Aggregate on the Freeze-Thaw Durability of Pervious Concrete, Iowa State University, John Kevern (student) and Kejin Wang (professor)

> The Development of Rapid Test Methods for Determining Alkali-Silica Reactivity, University of New Brunswick, Ian Cosh (student) and Michael D.A. Thomas (professor)
More information on PCA's Education Fellowship Program.

New PCA Notes Covers Changes in Building Code, Anchors Seminars

PCA has published the tenth edition of its popular PCA Notes on ACI 318-08 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete with Design Applications.

Aimed at engineers and architects, PCA Notes provides detailed coverage of the provisions in ACI 318-08 and places emphasis on “how-to-use” the code. Most chapters start with a summary of code changes introduced in the 2008 Building Code edition. Numerous design examples illustrate application of the code requirements.

PCA Notes is a valuable aid to educators, undergraduate and graduate students, contractors, materials and product manufacturers, building code authorities, and inspectors.

PCA and the American Concrete Institute (ACI) will hold a series of seminars in 46 cities across the United States beginning October 2008 to further discuss the changes in ACI 318-08.  All seminar registrants will receive a free copy of PCA Notes, which will be the basis for the course.
More on PCA Notes.
More on the seminars at www.concrete.org.
Contact Basile Rabbat.

PCA Names Lane to Manage Bridge Programs

PCA has appointed Susan N. Lane, PE, as program manager for bridges and other transportation structures.   She will consult with engineers, contractors, and owners on the use of concrete for bridges, railroads, and other transportation structures throughout North America and be responsible for conducting seminars and publishing materials on the design of concrete bridges and transportation structures as well as managing related research and development projects.

Prior to joining PCA, Lane was the manager of codes and standards for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) where, among other responsibilities, she was instrumental in the first ASCE/SEI Bridge Performance Workshop. 

Lane also worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for 12 years as a research structural engineer and team leader, specializing in concrete bridges and high performance materials for bridges and has taught a reinforced concrete design course at Catholic University.

Lane is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, and the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. 

She received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in civil engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, and is a licensed professional engineer in Virginia.
Contact Susan Lane.

CTLGroup Hosts Coming-of-Age Gala

To celebrate 21 years of operations as an independent, for-profit subsidiary of PCA, CTLGroup will host a reception and open house on October 1, 2008, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at its Skokie, Ill., headquarters.

The event will feature guided tours of the office, laboratories, and other facilities. CTLGroup is taking a year-long approach to observing its "coming of age" as an opportunity to connect with clients and the construction industry.
More at www.CTLGroup.com.
Contact Diane Kubaitis.

Results Split on Benefits of Olympics

Hosting an Olympic event may boost construction, but does it have a lasting positive effect on the local economy and infrastructure?

>Yes: 55.2%

>No: 44.8%

Notable Comments
“The key is to properly plan and market the development. If it is narrowly designed for only the Olympics, then converting the construction to everyday use would be prohibitively expensive.”

“I voted no, but it’s really mixed. For the sports venues, they add to our debt and don’t do much other than for a select few. However, expanding roads and public transportation will have a long-term benefit to everyone and will also benefit the economy.”

“Atlanta is a great example. Many different organizations (the Atlanta Braves major league baseball team, for example) still use improvements from past Olympics today.”

“Such projects are only justified when political and marketing benefits (branding and image of a culture, nation, and city) are included in the cost-benefit analyses.”

“To host an Olympic event you have to use a high percentage of international companies to complete the project.”

“When special event design and construction is carried out with sustainable reuse in mind, it can have a very positive lasting influence on local economy. Building for the sake of building in the short term does not.”

Take the current poll