Precast Solutions

Security Blanket

Precast concrete plays an important role in a major Department of Homeland Security project.
By Bridget McCrea

Known for the intensive training programs it provides to more than 80 different federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) made a major addition to its Artesia, N.M., campus in 2006 and 2007 to make room for an influx of students dedicated to keeping the nation secure. For most of the year the facility was under construction, the design having been modified from an original three-story, two-building complex to a four-story, three-building campus that includes 600 new dormitory rooms.

Part of that addition included a large number of precast concrete structures that displaced an original call for cast-in-place materials to do the job. The decision to switch to the precast option turned out to be a wise one for the facility, where students converge year-round to complete advanced and specialized training programs by the one of more than 80 federal agencies, including the U.S. Border Patrol, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Transportation Security Administration and other partnering organizations.

The FLETC’s Artesia campus also offers specialized instructor programs such as the Driver Instructor Training Program (DITP), Firearms Instructor Training Program (FITP), the Physical Fitness Coordinators Training Program (PFCTP) and the Defensive Tactics Instructor Training Program (DTITP). Located midway between Roswell and Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico and situated on 220 acres, the Artesia facility was formerly a college that the government purchased in 1989 and began operating as a training center.

Precast, please

Doing their part to support the center and define its physical shape were a number of precast hollow core planks made by Coreslab Structures of Albuquerque, N.M. The project showed up on a government bid sheet in September 2005 and took most of the next two years to complete. “It was a pretty simple barracks structure with block walls and a hollow core floor system,” recalls Mike Daley, Coreslab’s vice president and general manager.

In the initial specifications, the facility would comprise 12-foot, 6-inch cast-in-place, hollow core spans for a total of 90,000 square feet of materials. “We offered the customer a value-engineered option of 25-foot-long, 8-inch-thick hollow core, which dramatically reduced the number of pieces that needed to be made and installed while the square footage of hollow core remained the same” says Daley. Another 36,000 feet were added later in order to complete an additional wing on the facility.

Coreslab also manufactured several hundred balconies and block columns to support the outer edge of those balconies, which provide access to each of the buildings. “We offered them a precast balcony and supporting column system,” says Daley. “They went for that option.” To make it happen, the precaster came up with a simple hidden connection using dowels that went from the column to the balcony slab. “Instead of having to build a block column and stucco it, the contractor was able to just paint it.”

Precast concrete brought additional benefits to the table, according to Daley, whose firm was able to eliminate half of the load-bearing walls originally specified on the contract (thanks to the longer spans afforded by the precast). “We saved the customer a substantial amount of money just by doing that,” says Daley, who adds that the facility’s remote location in New Mexico made it a perfect venue for the use of finished, easy-to-install precast columns and balconies. “Because we were able to cast everything off site – and because the masons only had to build half of the walls – they were able to proceed at a faster clip.”

Engineered by Enwright Associates of Greenville, S.C., the now-larger FLETC facility accommodates an increased number of Homeland Security trainees, particularly border guards. “They were seeing a huge influx of students at the Artesia facility,” says Richard Pace, Enwright’s project director. “Between the campus overcrowding and no available hotels to speak of in the vicinity, their goal was to get as many rooms online as quickly as possible.”

Already under contract with the Department of Homeland Security, Enwright Associates was selected to modify an original design that it had developed years earlier. Salmons P.C. of Albuquerque, the designer for the project, was called in to handle all of the connection, member and supporting element design for the hollow core aspect of the project, according to design engineer James Andazola, whose firm completes precast concrete design for manufacturers nationwide.

This particular project posed its own set of challenges, particularly when it came to the design of the balcony slabs. That’s because one edge of the balcony was bearing on a continuous concrete block wall, and the cantilevered portions of the balcony were supported by one column on each corner of the slab. “The precast column that was all doweled together was four stories high, and at each story received the balcony slabs into it,” says Andazola. “Other than that, it was a pretty straightforward design that wasn’t overly demanding.”

Andazola says precast made a “good alternative to regular construction,” in that it worked well with the concrete block walls and flooring system, which was also precast. “It obviously speeds up the construction process,” says Andazola. “The precast provides a quick-forming system that the contractor can use to build up the walls, set the precast and use it as a forming material for the topping.”

Pace says his firm often specifies precast hollow core planks for upper level floors and ceilings. For this project, he says matching the new material as closely as possible to the rest of the campus’ vernacular was an issue. “We had to consider the types of coatings that we could use on the precast to make it similar,” says Pace. “In the end, it worked out very well.”

Quick and tidy

The Atlanta office of Skanska USA Building Inc. was the contractor for the FLETC project, which was “finished more quickly thanks to precast,” says Larry Greene, the firm’s senior project manager. “We didn’t have to deal with all of the forming and placement costs or the time involved with poured-in-place concrete,” says Greene. “Once the precast was specified, all of the fabrication was accomplished in Albuquerque and shipped to the job site a couple of hundred miles away.”

Completed in two phases, the project faced unusual time constraints. Phase One, for example, had to be completed in time in order to honor a national commitment by the Department of Homeland Security, President George Bush and the U.S. Congress. That commitment stated that the facilities were ready to begin training additional border patrol agents and federal law enforcement officers by August 2007. “The precast concrete was one of the key elements that got the project within budget and met the schedule,” says Greene.

Pace says the Department of Homeland Security is satisfied with the result, particularly because the project was finished on schedule despite the time crunch.

Project Details

Project: The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), Artesia, N.M.

Owner: Department of Homeland Security

Architect/Engineer: Enwright Associates, Greenville, S.C.

Contractor: Skanska USA Building Inc., Atlanta

Designer: Salmons P.C., Albuquerque, N.M.

Precaster: Coreslab Structures, Albuquerque, N.M.