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Lilly RTP 2022 Tilt-Up Achievement Award Winner

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Needham DBS and T&T Construction wins a Tilt-up Achievement Award for Lilly RTP. 

The project is a $474 million development spanning over 750,000 SF across 11 integrated buildings. Features of the development include a 240,000 SF three-story manufacturing facility, a 200,000 SF two-story medical device and packaging facility, a 105,000 SF two-story administration and laboratory building, a 95,000 SF refrigerated Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) warehouse, and a fully functioning central utility plant. This project is a complex of buildings that are interconnected by a common corridor, which is 22 feet by 750 feet. There are six buildings adjoining the corridor from both the north and south, totaling a 324,847 SF building footprint with 688,392 SF of floor area. The project is a multi-level pharmaceutical production facility with floor level changes and pass-throughs between buildings. The Owner was committed to building a facility that was state-of-the-art and would carry their needs well into the future.

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Needham DBS Supplies Test Frames for Research Project

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Needham DBS designed and supplied the structural steel test frames for full scale composite insulated wall panel testing. Needham DBS, a charter member of the TCA, worked closely with the University of Nebraska Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction's Marc Maguire, PhD. The researchers, contractors, engineers and vendors worked out the loading requirements and the functionality of the test frames to perform the panel testing. Needham DBS was also responsible for the foundation design to anchor the test frames as well as communicating the panel design and detailing requirements for the panel contractor to build the panels.  

Design Build Steel, the "DBS" arm of Needham DBS, supplies structural steel products for all project types.  It was a pleasure to work on a unique project and donate the materials for the advancement of the tilt-up industry. 

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Hand and Gebel Present at Tilt-Up Convention

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Karen Hand, President at Needham DBS, and Barclay Gebel, VP Operations at Concrete Strategies, teamed up to present the Case Study for Project Dylan to a packed house at the 2019 Tilt-Up Convention and Expo held in Atlanta.

The composite panel industry is on the frontier of emerging design technologies; the innovation is ripe and ready to propel our industry into the future. Project Dylan is a new prototype fulfillment center, and this seminar will use it as a case study to better understand today’s composite panel industry. The warehouse building’s slab-on-grade footprint is approximately 700,000 square feet, and it has an additional 1.95 million square feet of elevated deck. The exterior is clad with 330,000 square feet of insulated tilt-up panels.

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Rising to the Challenge

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Project Dylan is a new prototype fulfillment center for Amazon. The warehouse building has an approx. footprint of 700,000 SF slab on grade and another 1.95 million SF of elevated deck. The exterior is clad with 330,000 SF of full height composite insulated tilt-up panels. The panels are non-load bearing for gravity but as a VE alternate on the project, the panels do carry large shear forces for seismic loading.  

With the tallest panel standing at 81’-1” tall, Concrete Strategies (CSI) set a company record for the tallest tilt-up panel ever erected on a project and an industry record for the tallest composite panel ever constructed. This was accomplished utilizing an innovative composite panel design by Needham DBS.  Meadow Burke introduced the Super 62 which was used on this project.  The composite panel industry is on the frontier of emerging design technologies, the innovation is ripe to propel our industry in to the future.

Composite Tilt-Up Panels - The Future of Tilt-Up Walls

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Jeffrey Needham, Needham DBS, sponsored by the Concrete Promotional Group (CPG), presented "Composite Tilt-Up Panels - The Future of Tilt-Up Walls" to the AIA Nooniversity held on October 10, 2018.  The presentation explores the current state-of-the-art in composite tilt-up panel construction and explains developments in design methods for tilt-up composite panels.  The difference between solid panel design and the two-wythe composite design will be illustrated and the limitations of the current composite design methods will be shown.  The future of composite panels in tilt-up construction concludes the talk. 

Thanks to Christy Martin, Executive Director for CPG, and the Kansas City AIA for the opportunity.

ENR Spotlights Project Dylan

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Engineering News Record, ENR, Magazine spotlights Project Dylan, currently under construction in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Link to the article E-Commerce Logistics Test Limits of Tilt-Up Construction.  

Mock-Ups: Worth Their Weight In Gold

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What could make a 72'-6" panel more complicated?  The introduction of a new product.  The iconX composite connectors for insulated panels brought a lot of questions from the tilt-up subcontractor and the general contractor. The project is complex and the panels are very large.  Therefore, the decision to build a mock-up panel was worth its weight in gold.

Prior to the pour, the contractor got hands-on with the iconX composite connector and insulation to develop a marking and handling system to make the project run smoothly. The contractor then studied the sequencing of embeds, welded wire reinforcing mats, miscellaneous rebar placement, iconX connector and insulation installation, concrete placement and finishing and lifting/bracing hardware placement.  

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Needham Presents to Joint SEAKM and CPG Meeting

Jeff Needham will present "Composite Tilt-Up Panels - The Future of Tilt-Up Walls" to CPG & SEAKM members..  The meeting will begin at 4pm with an opportunity for networking followed by the presentation from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm.  CPG is providing drinks and appetizers to enjoy.

Presentation Summary:
The continued adoption of energy codes is pushing tilt-up designers to use more edge to edge  insulated panels. Using the two wythes of these panels working together in composite action is a logical solution for engineers to provide a strong and very efficient insulated panel. The use of composite design has been limited due to thermal bow concerns, lack of good design methods, and limited connector types.
This presentation will explore the current state-of-the-art in composite tilt-up panel construction and explain developments in design methods for tilt-up composite panels. The differences between solid panel design and two-wythe composite design will be illustrated and the limitations of current composite design methods will be shown. The future of composite panels in tilt-up construction will conclude the talk.

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UVA Ivy Stacks Underway

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The first tilt-up concrete building on the historic campus of the University of Virginia is now underway. Needham DBS worked with Nielsen Builders to design an insulated, composite tilt-up panel system for the Ivy Stacks Expansion project, an addition to an existing precast building. The panels are over 45’ tall, and feature the innovative IconX Model 23 composite connector (www.iconxusa.com), with edge-to-edge XPS insulation, in a 4 5/8-2-4 5/8 configuration (11 ¼” overall thickness). This design uses 30% less concrete than the comparable non-composite panel design. The site is extremely tight, with very limited panel casting area and narrow crane path. Panels are scheduled to be tilted in mid-December.

Composite Concrete Panels - The Future for Tilt-up Walls?

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As I have watched the tilt-up concrete construction industry develop over many years, I have appreciated the way it has become a preferred method of construction for many building types. This growth has been based on a number of improvements in construction and design technology, such as larger mobile cranes, the recognition and adoption of slender wall design in building codes, and a growing appreciation for the flexibility and speed of tilt-up methods. The widespread adoption of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) embraces the tilt-up industry, which already provides a fully code-compliant panel. The industry has the potential to make these panels more structurally efficient through the use of composite panels. This is a huge opportunity many designers and contractors may be missing.

To view the entire article published in the Summer 2017 Issue of Tilt-Up Today Magazine, visit http://tilt-up.org/tilt-uptoday/2017/08/08/composite-concrete-panels-the-future-for-tilt-up-walls/

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Tilt-Up Convention & Expo - Miami

The TCA announed today that the Tilt-Up Convention & Expo in Miami will continue as scheduled.  The hotel and convention center in Miami suffered some landscape damage but otherwise withstood the sustained winds and storm surge from Hurricane Irma.  The Miami airport is reopening today and travel will be back to normal by the time of the convention.  The convention will begin on Thursday, September 28.

Jeff Needham will be presenting "Structural Design of Composite Tilt-Up Panels" on Saturday, September 30.  

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