THE LOCATION
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
THE CHALLENGE
Pour 55,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place structural concrete for a $786 million multi-story, multi-phase expansion of the existing Convention Center located in the heart of downtown Philadelphia. Excavate for caissons and pour all structural concrete for a new building that is on 15 ft. from the busy city thoroughfare without disrupting normal traffic flow.
OUR RESPONSE
Thomas P. Carney, Inc. scheduled concrete pours starting at 3:00 a.m. Most pours were between 600 and 800 cubic yards, moving 60 to 80 concrete trucks through the logistics of center city traffic. The 3:00 a.m. pours allowed TPC to que the trucks and maintain the one-hour maximum time from point of discharge at the concrete plant to placement of the concrete onsite. This early morning scheduling also maximized productivity, prevented down time and avoided changes to local traffic patterns.
THE DETAILS
The $786 million renovation and expansion of the Convention Center included construction of a superstructure requiring 55,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place structural concrete, one of the largest concrete jobs in the history of the City of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania.
As the largest single sub-contractor on the $160-million first phase of the work, Thomas P. Carney, Inc. executed the structural excavation for the construction of the caissons as well as the foundations, grade beams, slab-on-grade, level 2 structural slab, cast-in-place floor beam assembly, reinforced columns and the slab-on-metal deck. A self-performing contractor, TPC directed 250 of its union employees – carpenters, ironworkers, laborers and operators – at the site to erect the 1.3-million s.f. multi-story, concrete framed structure. Despite the fact that the structure spans 12 city blocks (27.5 acres) along one of the busiest East-West thoroughfares in downtown Philadelphia, TPC completed the project within the scheduled tight milestones and without major disruptions to existing traffic patterns.