Tilting at Cornerstone

Contractor places two-story panels for five-story tilt-up office building

By Scott Judy

On Aug. 11, crews with Tilt-Con Corp. of Altamonte Springs undertook an unusual effort as they erected two-story concrete panels to top off the company's first-ever five-story tilt-up concrete project.

The panels, measuring 18 ft. wide by 26 ft. high and weighing in at roughly 60,000 pounds each, were lifted into place by Miami Crane for the 113,700-sq.-ft. Cornerstone II building, located in Plantation.

That day, Tilt-Con crews erected 15 of the 21 two-story panels, and then finalized placement of the remaining sections on Aug. 13.

advertisement

The company began erecting the lower, three-story panels in mid-July. Column and fourth-floor slab construction followed, in preparation for the placement of the upper-floor panels.

Lifting the two-story panels to atop the in-place three-story sections was a challenge, especially considering the layout of the panels. With so many windows, the contractor and Miami Crane had to utilize more lifting points than usual for each panel.

Jeff Chalk, project manager for Tilt-Con, credited close coordination for the smooth Aug. 11 effort.

"It takes a lot of planning, because the first lift of panels has rebar sticking out of the top," he said. "The second lift panel has a sleeve to receive that rebar. So you have to make sure everything lines up. We thought it was going to be a little more difficult to line panels up, but it was very smooth."

Itasca Construction Associates of Boca Raton is the project's general contractor. Retzsch Lanao Caycedo Architects, also of Boca Raton, was the architect.