Special Olympics of Massachusetts 2

April 15th, 2010 | Project Showcase

This wonderful ICF project won a 2009 ICFA Excellence Award for Large Commercial, along with Carleton College (Gold/Sustainability) and Dunkin’ Donuts (Gold/Small Commercial)

Life-cycle costs and more efficient heating/cooling costs to maintain the Special Olympics Yawkey Sports Training Facility were a result of Columbia Construction providing value engineering- essentially by making the decision to deviate from original CMU plans and use insulating concrete forms they were able to improve the function of the building with an opportunity to lower costs.

Energy conservation and being able to build during the winter months were initially the main reasons for using Insulating Concrete Forms. Significant savings were realized due to the fact the project did not suffer any winter conditions penalties. The added benefits of strength and safety were greatly appreciated as well, due to the nature of the users of the building.

Special Olympics Massachusetts, Yawkey Sports Training CenterICF Gym, Yawkey Sports Training CenterYawkey Sports Training Center, Special Olympics

The principal architect, since discovering the ICFs, is now specifying it for several new national drug facilities he has underway. His reasons for using this product are:

This isn’t just a facility, it’s a facility for a cause, that everyone was happy to be apart of. It was able to be built with safety in mind, and will reap the benefits of energy efficiency, for all users of the site. The SOMA Yawkey Sports Training Facility will serve as a baseline and as inspirations for ICF growth in the Northeast. This project brought a new architect on board, in a region that will benefit immensely from ICFs and a community program that will enjoy the building for generations to come.

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Special Olympics of Massachusetts

April 6th, 2010 | Project Showcase

It’s a great time to highlight a beautiful project that is also a winner of a 2009 ICFA Excellence Award. This is the year the Special Olympics games are being hosted in Nebraska as well. (We are out of Omaha)

Yawkey Sports Training Facility

Columbia Construction Company served as Construction Manager for a new state-of-the-art headquarters, the Yawkey Sports Training Center, for the Special Olympics of Massachusetts (SOMA). Centrally located in Marlborough, MA, the new 20,000 s.f. training facility and athletic fields is located on a five-acre site. This new building houses their executive offices, along with all of their support facilities. In addition, there is 4,000 s.f. of flexible classroom space that will provide a suitable venue for fundraising and banquet functions. The new SOMA headquarters facility will enable the organization to better serve the more than 10,000 athletes, in more than 118 athletic competitions in 26 sports. It will also enable SOMA to consolidate disparate and expensive field operations, and provide top-notch and more frequent training for its growing base of volunteers, coaches and athletes.

Special OlympicsSpecial Olympics Training Center

ICF design

The design includes a processional walkway leading to a plaza containing a “Hall of Fame”, which will introduce visitors to the unique nature of this facility. As they enter the lobby, further images and interactive displays will reinforce the educational aspects of the organization. ICFs were utilized for the training facility and gymnasium to allow the construction to continue during the harsh winter months of New England. Utilizing ICF allowed Columbia to place concrete all winter and also provide the exterior insulation to install EIFS in the spring.

The Gymnasium is located on the North side of the building and was originally designed with CMU. The Reward ICF system offered a structural wall system with high energy efficiency and low heat loss. In fact the ICF was added to the design plans after CMU was already spec’d. It was apparent as soon as the benefits were understood, this was the way to build. Adjustments were made in the plans and by using the expertise of an experienced installer, a successful project was built.

Special Oylimpics Building Concrete close up

ICFs Save Time and Reduce Labor Costs

The ICF system offered a structural system that allowed Columbia to remove the columns and perimeter beams. By utilizing ICFs they were able to simplify the construction to one trade, reducing materials and scaling back on extra labor to get the building in use faster. The insulating properties of ICFs also help to keep construction schedules on time, as they were able to continue to work and pour concrete when the weather was not ideal – temperatures typically average under 35 degrees in December and January.

More on the Special Olympics Yawkey Sports Training Facility next post.

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ICF Student Residence Hall Part III

March 11th, 2010 | From the Field, Marketing, Project Showcase

Wrapping up this project highlight I wanted to give some special credit to the guys who actually put this thing together. As Reward is just the insulating concrete forms, some one has to know how to stack ICFs, align ICFs, and pour concrete as well…oh yeah and DESIGN using ICFs.

ICF Construction and Design Team

Owner: Pegasus Group/Carleton College
Architect: LHB
General Contractor: J.E. Dunn Construction
ICF Installer: Northland Concrete and Masonry
ICF Distributor: Cemstone

Some Cool ICF Pictures

Cold Weather ICF

The picture above shows a sunny, however frigid day in Minnesota. If you have been up there in the winter months you know it can get pretty serious. But with the dorms needing to be ready for fall semester they worked through the winter in sub freezing temperatures. Many days hit below zero, but luckily ICFs allow for concrete placement and curing with sub freezing temperatures.

This picture below is a meat thermometer(highly sophisticated measurement) stuck in an ICF and the concrete after placement. It shows what the curing temperature is of the concrete…100 degrees. The outside air temperature was under 20 degrees.

ICFs temperature

Finished Insulating Concrete Form School

Please enjoy the pictures of this awarding winning school.

Insualting Concrete Form ICF TowerCarlton College Roof, ICF Attachment

Award Winning ICF, Insulating Concrete Forms

Concrete School , ICFsP9100029

As the year goes on and hopefully this projects racks up a couple more awards and we’ll post some updates on the continual energy use and any more ambitions from that campus.

New Standards    for Sustainability? We're already there.

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ICF Student Residence Hall 2

February 23rd, 2010 | Marketing, Project Showcase

Last week we started highlighting the award-winning Carleton College, one of the top ICF construction projects of 2009. We were happy to be the ICF of choice for this project, as the school is nationally know for their sustainable practices. Here are a few quick facts of the Carleton College.

ICF Project Statistics

ICF Construction, Carleton CollegeCarleton College Insulating Concrete Forms

Live Energy Use Data

One of the unique features of the project is that there are energy use monitors installed in the Residence Halls. This allows the school to track energy use per building, per floor, and for each individual dorm rooms as well. They can identify energy hogs, and maybe advise heavy energy offenders how to cut energy use as well. This is a huge advantage when educating responsible behaviors to students and getting them thinking about the cost of energy.

Along with energy use monitors, they also have the ability to track the energy creation through photo-voltaics and steam generation as well. Those systems were put in place to help heat the water and to offset energy use. Carleton understood the importance of securing the building envelope so it made sense to add P/V systems.

Energy creation is good…and seems to be the only thing to get the government’s attention…but won’t be a feasible source (cost wise) if buildings don’t start limiting their energy consumption. ICFs can limit a building’s energy use! See their live energy use data.

ICF Energy Use Screen Shot

Beyond the Insulating Concrete Form

Carleton College has identified over 36 distinct green attributes to these buildings, other than the use of ICFs and fly ash in the concrete. From reflective roof tiles, to using local vegetation for landscaping, this college is on the leading edge of sustainability.

More Sustainable Features

As you can see there are wonderful things going on in the ICF world up in Minnesota. Next week we’ll go over the star contributors to this project and show some great cold weather concreting pictures.

New Standards  for Sustainability? We're already there.

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ICF Student Residence Hall

February 16th, 2010 | From the Field, Marketing, Project Showcase

Carleton College Student Residence Halls

This was one of our favorite projects for 2009. There were so many features to these buildings and Carleton College truly showed their commitment to a sustainable campus. In the next few posts I will attempt to give our due diligence to this project, show you different construction phases and the finished project as well. Carleton College Residence Halls also won an ICF Builder Award, which was announced at World of Concrete 2010.

Carlton Colelge, ICF and Precast floorCarleton Colelge, ICF post pour

Building Energy Modeling Analysis

A building energy modeling analysis (from The Weidt Group) was completed during design, and it was determined that total energy consumption would decrease a minimum of 28% compared to a standard baseline building performance. Carleton did not install ANY A/C as well due to the tight thermal envelope created by ICFs. I asked Maureen Ness, AIA, LEED AP, CDT, with LHB to explain how the modeling worked:

“It basically shows that by spending $54,941 more than a typical building on specific energy-saving strategies, the annual energy savings will be $29,476. There are a lot of factors in the modeling and one of them that we’ve seen on non-air conditioned housing projects is that you don’t really get credit for not air-conditioning, even though that is a lot of savings over a conventional building.”

The total payback, of the additional costs, of making these ICF Dormitories energy efficient is 1.5 years!

(Do you want an energy analysis done on your current home being designed? We are offering a free energy analysis to show you the dramatic savings you can get with ICFs.)

Sustainable features of Carleton College

Overall, Carleton College has identified over 36 distinct aspects to these building that are considered sustainable features. From low flush toilets that will save 30% on water, to copper tiles on southern facing roofs to deflect heat gain, LED lighting, as well as natural foliage planted around campus that is sturdy and weather resistant. All of these features are contributing to their LEED Gold certification.

Insulating Concrete Form Gable roofP2020048

Next week, we will show you all the live energy data from the school as well as some more highlights of this project. In the meantime check out the rest of our highlighted ICF projects or our ICF gallery section on rewardwalls.com.

New Standards for Sustainability? We're already there.

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PCA Leadership In Sustainability Award- Highland Library

December 29th, 2009 | Marketing, Project Showcase

Congratulations to the Highland Sam J Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center in Highland, CA for winning the Portland Cement Associations Leadership In Sustainability Award for the City of Highland.

LEED Gold with Insulated Concrete Forms

The Highland Sam J. Racadio Library and Environmental Learning Center is a new 32,000 square foot library located in Highland CA.  It opened on May 31, 2008 and is designed to meet LEED Gold certification. The library has many interactive displays and activities to help teach children about the nature, recycling and the environment.

Highland Library Solar2

Rooftop Garden

The exterior walls of the library were built with Reward Insulating concrete forms. Another measure of sustainable design, besides the ICFs,  is evidenced by the library’s rooftop garden. This not only beautifies the structure and substantially increases the amount of green space, but also mitigates stormwater runoff and contributes to energy efficiency by absorbing the sun’s rays.

Insulated Concrete Form Award Winner- Green Rooftop

Concrete Used for Sustainability

The project was built with insulating concrete forms to maximize the energy efficiency of the exterior walls.  The parking lots were built with recycled concrete.  Concrete is used extensively throughout the facility and is featured prominently in exterior columns, the rooftop areas, a large amphitheater space, and exterior finishes

Award Winning ICF Highland Library

“Using concrete elements throughout for sustainable benefits contributes to our overall goal of making this library one that continues to educate the community about our environment and sustainability over its lifetime, ” said Highland Mayor.

Award Winning ICF Highland LibraryAward Winning ICF Highland Library

Opened to the public in May 2008, funding was provided by a state grant from the Library Bond Act, the city Redevelopment Agency, San Bernardino County and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the tune of more than $16.5 million.

Insulating Concrete Form structures are winning awards nationwide and getting the recognition they deserve.  Cities, school districts, and homeowners alike are witnessing the savings for their municipality or homes and achieving environmentally conscience goals when building with ICFs. It’s getting easier to see why we are The New Standard For Sustainability.

New Standards for Sustainability? We're already there.

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