Overcoming windy conditions

The Goal

To build a luxury high-rise development at pace and in windy conditions
Located in North Naples, Florida, Kalea Bay is a luxury, multi-tower high-rise housing development. When completed, there will be five towers in total, each with between 22 and 25 stories that house 120 residences each. MEVA was contracted with supplying formwork for the second tower, which required 40,000 cubic yards of concrete to be poured – a larger and more complex operation than the first tower the contractor had built.

The Project

Summary:
The safe climbing and quick assembly of the MGC-F climbing system combined with the fully enclosed MGC working platforms helped ensure a safe and rapid build. 

Challenge:
The contractor needed a climbing system and worker protection that offered first-class safety, was simple to assemble on the jobsite, and would allow for quick cycling from floor to floor to meet scheduling demands. In addition, the windy conditions and the height of the towers needed to be taken into consideration.

The Solution

1. MGC-F for Safe and Quick Climbing
    
   a) Safe assembly and work at height
   The contractor chose the MEVA MGC-F rail-guided climbing system for its safety features and the pre-assembled platforms. The newest generation of MGC is delivered to the jobsite with the working platforms already integrated, minimizing the amount of labor and space needed at the jobsite. Guiding profiles are built into the structure for secure climbing. If any extensions are required, they are mounted and fed in from below, further minimizing the risks of erecting the formwork from upper levels. MGC is lifted by crane, and because the profiles are built into the wall, it can be raised safely even in high winds while minimizing crane time.
    
   b) Fully enclosed platforms for added safety in inclement weather conditions
   The wind conditions in Naples and the height of the towers made it necessary to keep the entire work area completely enclosed. MGS guided screens were the ideal solution to achieve this. MGS works neatly with MGC-F, being also rail-guided and completely anchored to the building. The two systems enabled work to continue even when the weather and wind conditions would have meant shutting down the job site with other systems. 

   The project used 200 square feet of MGS on the building, and the workers provided excellent feedback after their experience with it. In addition to the total worker protection, it also provided protection from debris carried in the high winds. This allowed the workers to achieve a neater finish on the building.

   c) Quick cycling from floor to floor
   Twelve MGC-F platforms were used to pour each floor. MGC-F also enabled quick cycling from floor to floor. Even with the large scale of each floor’s layout, the contractor was able to maintain a pace of 10-day cycles per floor – a rate that helped keep the project running on schedule.
   

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   We looked at several different systems from different companies when looking for a solution to build this tower. A lot of the systems were complicated to put together and required a lot of jobsite assembly. The MGC-F was simple and made sense. It has been working great.

   Andrew Reike, Allen Concrete & Masonry [USA]

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2. A Customer-Centric Approach
   The MEVA sales and technical team ensured that all queries were answered promptly and efficiently. This meant that the contractor got the solutions they needed quickly and were not delayed. 

The Outcome

The second tower of the Kalea Bay development was able to be completed to a high standard and on schedule thanks to the solutions from MEVA. In addition, strong relationships were built with the team at Allen Concrete & Masonry.

Featured Products

• MGC-F climbing system
• MGS-H screen system

Client:
Allen Concrete & Masonry

Project:
Kalea Bay Housing Development

Location:
Naples, Florida

Principal:
Kalea Bay Housing Development

Engineering & Support:
MEVA Formwork Systems, Inc.