Prefabricated Construction Seen as Growth Opportunity

The commercial modular or prefabricated construction market has been considered a growth opportunity for the construction industry by FMI Corporation, the largest provider of management consulting, investment banking and research to the engineering and construction industry.

According to FMI's fourth quarter 2010 NRCI  report, more contractors are thinking lean and looking for ways to build for less. The recession and new technologies are set to increase the use of manufacturing process and environments for construction. The NRCI report indicates that prefabricated construction is becoming more popular due to the growing use of BIM and owners wanting projects faster and for lower cost, safety, quality and the shortage of skilled labor once markets return to more normal growth.

Gate Precast has seen an increased interest in using BIM in the early design stage of projects giving owners the ability to visualize their project before it's built. Designing systems that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also act as structural walls and support floor loads, reduces material redundancies in the structure and project costs. Gate Precast BIM Experience

Watch our Video BIM Fly-through on St. Joseph's Women's Hospital in Tampa, FL.

Prefabricated precast concrete systems offer sustainable, efficient building practices. A revolutionary transition from traditional hand-set masonry construction to Brick Inlaid Precast Concrete Exterior Panels are rapidly becoming the preferred building choice among architects, contractors and owners. The panels are manufactured in a controlled plant environment where many features can be added such as encapsulated insulation which offers higher R-Values, electrical boxes and wiring, and paintable troweled finish interior walls, which eliminates the need for metal studs and sheet rock. The integration of windows into panels is an innovation in precast that is in its infancy but sure to be in high demand once markets gain momentum. Among the many benefits, this prefabricated, unitized system offers accelerated occupancy, and less jobsite disturbance with the reduction of a trade.

Owners have more than two years' worth of pent-up demand for design services. Bring Gate Precast into the design and construction process in the early stages of your new projects to provide input and offer value engineering suggestions to maximize precast concrete's many benefits on your complete structure.

For More Information on Gate's Pre-fabricated Concrete Systems:
Woodlawn Elementary School, OH: Exterior features a pre-insulated load-bearing, non-composite brick inlay architectural precast wall system.
NAS Fitness Facility & Rescue Swimmers School, Pensacola, FL: Features a total precast building system that is designed to withstand both external (hurricanes) and interior (indoor pool moisture) elements.
CitiGroup Citi Center, Jacksonville, FL: The exterior of the five-buildings in the 530,000 sq. ft. campus features 15'x32' solid precast concrete panels which met the structural integrity requirements for a hurricane zone and an aggressive construction schedule. 

Register for Continuing Education Course on BIM and Total Precast  - Earn AIA credits

Related Article
Demand for Precast Concrete Products On the Rise...
US demand for precast concrete products is forecast to rise 6.1 percent annually to $11.3 billion in 2015.

Complex Precast Surfaces Unfold on Perot Museum of Nature & Science

Gate modeled over 100,000 sf of intricate precast panels

Ross Perot, former presidential candidate and a major donor to Dallas' new Museum of Nature & Science, attended a ceremony March 10, 2011, marking the placement of the final beam in the construction of the Perot Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas, TX. Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects designed the new 180,000-square-foot museum and was also among those who signed the beam. http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/perot-takes-part-in-museum-ceremony-1312723.html
The museum is designed to be viewed as a massive cube floating over the landscape. Initially, the exterior was undetermined. Gate Precast’s Hillsboro, TX division worked with the design team to define the cladding through the creation of mockups with varying horizontal striations. The panel design incorporates both convex and concave horizontal striations. The random combinations lend striking shadows and the striations give way to smooth concrete surfaces on higher levels of the building.
http://www.gateprecast.com/#/projects/perot-museum-of-nature-and-science

Horizontal Striations Visible in Four Panels Stacked Together

Gate’s BIM operators modeled over 100,000 square of precast cladding on museum's exterior which was integrated into the structure’s final 3-D model. Company-wide, Gate has 38 trained BIM users and has modeled 2,000,000 square feet of architectural precast concrete.
http://www.gateprecast.com/#/design-assistance/bim
The museum is scheduled to open in early 2013. Watch the progress of the Perot Museum at
http://www.natureandscience.org/expansion/default.asp

Contact Gate Precast for Design Assistance on Future Projects and Visualize Your Project Before It’s Built.  
http://www.gateprecast.com/#/design-assistance/design-assistance-request