Earlier this year, Spancrete Industries, Inc. completed precast work on Rotating Equipment Repair, Inc.’s new 45,500 square foot, high-tech facility located in Sussex, Wisconsin. This highly specialized machine shop was needed for the repair and maintenance of nuclear and electric power generation components. Design/build firm MSI General of Oconomowoc, WI designed the facility with Spancrete ® Formcast Wall Panels to serve as a high-tech, open building.
The design of the facility posed several challenges. The owner requested a high tech, progressive look for the project. The function of the facility required that the building needed to be 60 feet in height in some areas. According to Paul S. Schmitter from MSI General, “We needed to select a building material that could achieve this height and it also had to meet the requirements of the Village of Sussex and the standards of the industrial park. The owner required that the exterior be maintenance free. Spancrete wall panels were chosen to meet these requirements.” In order for the wall panels to meet the criteria they had to become very specialized. Each wall panel was cast by hand to form the curves used in the building design. Spancrete carpenters built every concrete form by hand. Over 112 individual precast wall panels were manufactured and delivered to the site. Some of the panels were over 60 feet tall and 14 feet wide. These panels weighed over 80,000 pounds each and tested the limits of precast manufacturing, delivery and construction. The matrix of the concrete wall panels was composed of a blend of naturally colored sand and stone. The panels were sandblasted and water blasted to bring out the warm color of the aggregate. This process also created a maintenance free finish. Each Spancrete wall panel contained an integral layer of thick, thermal insulation to keep the facility energy efficient.
Spancrete Industries, Inc. headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, produces a full range of precast concrete products including: prestressed, precast hollowcore wall panels and planks; concrete beams, columns, tees, bridge girders, sound walls, concrete block and pipe. In addition, Spancrete manufactures machinery used to produce the prestressed, precast hollowcore, and markets this machinery worldwide. Spancrete operates multi-functional production facilities in Waukesha, Valders and Green Bay, Wisconsin and Crystal Lake, Illinois.
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