At the University of Texas at Austin, contractor BCS Concrete Structures was part of the team with developer Lincoln Ventures to build the 31-story West Campus student housing project. The luxury, loft-style student apartments are located just minutes from the University of Texas at Austin. BCS Concrete Structures partnered with Doka so they would not have to purchase their own formwork—they wanted to limit their permanent equipment purchases. Having worked with Doka for many years, they knew to turn to Doka for a partner.
THE BEST PARTNER
In order to limit the equipment purchases for this project, BCS Concrete Structures preferred to team up with a company that had equipment in which they had confidence in and knew would provide them support. Other considerations included limiting the amount of extra equipment needed onsite, as well as providing speedy stripping and quick cycle times.
THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT
Doka provided the perfect partnership for BCS Concrete Structures. Doka not only provided the equipment for the formwork, but the systems also allowed work to be accomplished quicker and using less formwork.
To begin with, Doka’s 10K System was used on the parking garage. The high leg load capacity and the use of H20 beams made the work easier for the crew. For the residential area, BCS Concrete Structures used the SuperDek system on the 8-inch flat deck. The simple handset drop head slab system has up to an 8-foot x 8-foot grid spacing, which made it easier to work around. The system is safe and allowed workers to set and strip the system from the ground without using scissor lifts or ladders, for up to 11 feet. It also allowed the same amount of square footage to be framed using less equipment.
The crew found the drop head in SuperDek system saved time, was safe, intuitive, and easy to disengage upon stripping. Top 50 was employed for the shear walls. The system is versatile, cost-efficient using plywood H20 beams and whalers. The result was walls that required very little remedial patch work as they had a great finish, with minimal bug holes and were very smooth to the touch.
For the elevator shaft the Super Climber SCP with four climbers was used. With the Super Climber SCP self-climbing core system, the entire core formwork is hydraulically raised independent of the crane, just by the push of a button. This project had two cores per level. Without the use of the SCP, an extra day would have been needed to the cycle each time.
“Doka’s material is great, their shop drawings have been incredible, and their engineering department has been very, very responsive,” says Joseph Sanderson, project manager at BCS Concrete Structures. “The shipping department has been great. The line of communication has been fantastic as well. Doka has been a great trade partner for us for a long time and we hope to work with them on more upcoming projects.”
CLOSING THOUGHT
By partnering with Doka and using its 10K system, Top 50 wall forms, SuperClimber SCP, and SuperDek system, BCS Concrete Structures was able to work faster and safer, while renting instead of purchasing formwork equipment for the project.
For More Information:
For more about Doka and its products, visit www.doka.com.
Modern Contractor Solutions, February 2022
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