When Camosy Construction began work on a project that required transforming an octagon shaped aquatics center into the Zion-Benton Township Career Center, the team turned to precast concrete.

“Hollowcore was decided on pretty early on in the design phase for the second floor deck due to the spans we needed to create for the classrooms on the floor,” said Matt Washkoviak, CPE, LEED AP, Estimator with Camosy Construction. “It’s industrial arts shop classes, so they needed to have big, open, column-free space.”

As the team put their request for bids out pretty early - being familiar with precast lead times - the project was not fully designed when it went out for bid. The Mid-States Concrete Industries Engineering and Design team worked with the architect and engineer of record on the project to complete everything and make sure it was all detailed to work properly for the project’s needs. Mid-States ultimately provided 14,172 square feet of Hollowcore for the project.

Additionally, once Camosy Construction and Mid-States Concrete Industries began working on the project together, the Mid-States team created crane and erection plans for getting the project properly and efficiently installed.

“There were complications that [Mid-States Concrete] identified and brought forth to solve the problem,” Washkoviak said.

Washkoviak said while the project might have looked simple on paper, dealing with an existing octagon-shaped shell provided some challenges. Upfront work was needed to ensure the project would run smoothly once precast was on site.

“There were a lot of meetings, and several onsite with [Mid-States Concrete]… to visualize and conceptualize how to get it done,” Washkoviak said.

And the upfront planning paid off. Ultimately, the job was erected in seven days.