Sustainable Churchs Continued
November 6th, 2009 | Project Showcase, Unique Trends
As a follow-up to our first Sustainable Church post, Tom R was able to visit with a few more in his area. All of them thoroughly believed in the benefits of Reward insulating concrete forms and the green building initiatives of the churches.
Tim Miller, who GC’d the Portage Community Chapel in Portage, OH was kind enough to share information on this proejct. The Portage Community Chapel was an addition to an existing facility but the addition dwarfed the original structure. Included in the new portion of the building is a gymnasium, 2 stories of classrooms and all-purpose rooms, all of which utilized Reward for the exterior walls.
Miller is a member of the Portage Community Chapel, and one unique aspect of the church’s decision was the ability to use volunteers to help in the construction. Similar to Habitat for Humanity, Portage uses volunteers, usually church members, to help construct not only their own buildings, but to assist in the construction of other religious and/or non-profit facilities as well. Miller was able to train the volunteers to help in building this project with relative ease, mostly due to the simplicity of Reward’s system. In addition, Miller had a heat-loss audit performed for the building long before construction ever started, and the energy savings inherent with Reward’s products versus traditional methods made it an easy decision for the building committee.
It makes sense that churches would look at Insulating Concrete Form construction. Churches have been and continue to be anchors in communities across the US, and as such, when they look to build they want their structures to last for generations of the congregation. ICF technology helps them do that.
Most churches and church building committees work on very tight budgets so they want the most bang for their buck. Again, Reward ICF’s help them achieve that with competitive first costs and ongoing contributions through reduced energy requirements throughout the life of the building (which is longer when built with Reward versus traditional construction methods.) When you add it all up, it’s easy to see why Reward is often the choice for new church construction.
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Sustainable Churchs with Insulating Concrete Forms
October 27th, 2009 | From the Field, Project Showcase, Unique Trends
One market where ICFs have had significant activity recently is in the construction of new churches and religious buildings. In a particular market area, we have 5 projects currently under construction and a number of others in the works. As of this writing, The Hopevale Church in Michigan, the New Beginnings United Methodist Church in New York, the Portage Community Chapel in Ohio, the Manheim Brethren In Christ (BIC) Church in Pennsylvania and the Celebrate Life church in Lancaster, PA have all started projects using Reward. Tom R, our regional sales manager, began to wonder why so many of these church building committees were turning to Reward insulating concrete forms for their projects and he got some excellent insights from a few committee members.
Tom spoke with Ed Denlinger who sits on the building committee for the Manheim BIC. Manheim had built its Youth Center last year using Reward and currently has its new Sanctuary under construction, also with Reward. Denlinger said that the main reasons they decided to go with Reward are competitive first costs, energy savings, sound attenuation and building strength.
“We are going to be here for a while,” Denlinger says. “When we evaluated the costs of Reward versus traditional CMU cavity wall with added insulation, cost in essence became a non-factor. With continuing increases in energy costs, the performance of the building became key and it was a no-brainer.”
The building sits close to the street in a commercial area, so keeping the sounds of the church activities inside and the noise of the nearby street out were also added benefits.
Finally, Denlinger noted that finishing the building has been a simple process because they weren’t limited in terms of what they could use. Drywall application on the interior is easy and whether it’s a brick or an acrylic finish, it didn’t matter because both work well with Reward ICFs.
The sustainability of ICFs shows immense potential for the religious building markets. Churches from hundreds of years ago are still standing tall, as they should be intended to- granted they took intense manual labor and YEARS to build (between 8-22 years in some instances). But now with uses of concrete in ICFs these structures will still be standing, and they have the flexibility to be designed with any old world architectural inspirations or new age trends as well. Either way it will house a congregational community for a lifetime.
We’ll update this project as it finishes up!
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Frank’s Theatre in York, PA
October 13th, 2009 | Project Showcase
One application where ICF’s are seeing both increased interest and use is in multiplex movie theaters. The sound attenuation qualities of an ICF wall assembly are outstanding; a perfect application for movie theaters. We’ve all been to those old theaters where you can actually hear the movie next door. Very annoying. ICF wall assemblies help to prevent that from being an issue, and it’s getting the attention of theater owners and patrons alike.
In York, PA, Frank Theatres has a 13-plex theatre under construction. Originally slated to start construction in the spring, the project finally got under way earlier this summer.
Designed by Tom Burdick of ADW Architects in North Carolina, this project has over 72,000 square feet of ICF wall, with some of the walls reaching 36’ in total height. The entire perimeter of the building, along with the separation walls between each theater, uses Reward’s 13” iForm. The building will have a combination brick/TAFS exterior. Also the design team took advantage of Reward’s ledge form, which provides a 4 ½” ledge for application of the brick veneer while maintaining a fully insulated wall assembly.
The contractor performing the install, Rubright Construction in Shoemakerville, PA, settled on Reward not only because of the competitive pricing but because of the depth and breadth of support services offered from Reward and its exclusive distributor, Construction Supply Centers of New Holland Concrete (CSC.) in New Holland, PA. The Reward/CSC team has worked closely with the architect during the design phase, and has been an integral part of the construction process. Reward sent its Field Application Specialist, Darryl U, to work with Rubright during the start of construction. Darryl helped Rubright, who had no previous ICF experience, learn the “ins and outs” of working with Reward ICFs. Darryl assisted in training Rubright’s crew, helping to improve their overall efficiencies.
“Darryl has been great to work with,” noted Todd Moore, Project Manager with Rubright. “He’s a real source of knowledge and information. He taught us a lot when he was here, and he’s been easy to reach on the phone when I have questions.”
CSC has provided almost daily support to the Rubright crew, providing material for the project on a tight schedule, and visiting several times a week to address questions and monitor progress. Chris Perez, Sales Representative with CSC, has maintained close contact with Rubright, providing both technical and field information as needed.
Rubright has made significant progress in constructing the walls for the project so farm and the GC for the project, Warfel Construction in Lancaster, PA, has been pleased with the progress. The delay in starting construction has put a time crunch on the project but they are quickly moving forward. As more trades are integrated into the construction phase, I will update this blog with information on how other subs (electricians, plumbers, etc.,) are faring.
-Article Submitted by Tom Reilly, Reward RSM Northeast US
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