That’s a lot of concrete
The concrete trucks lined up this week, their revolving drum loads turning to continuously pour Kelowna’s largest raft slab in cold weather.
“If you can imagine one giant surface of concrete the size of half a football field and two metres thick you’ll get an idea of how significant this is,” said Kevin Rowe, area manager for Burnco Rock Products Ready Mix.
“It’s the base of a 29-storey tower so there are no joints in the concrete to make it strong and take all the weight of the building.”
The highrise in question is the 29-storey West Tower of One Water Street.
In total, 2,757 cubic metres of concrete was poured by 52 trucks making multiple trips each in a never-ending stream.
To put that in perspective, one truck holds about 12 cubic metres of concrete and an average house requires about 100 cubic metres.
Burnco had all its 42 trucks on the job and cooperated with Kelowna Ready Mix to provide another 10 trucks and Rebo Baton’s four pumps in order to finish the job as one continuous motion.
“We’re proud to have been part of such an important job,” said Rowe.
“It shows what three locally owned, independent companies can do.”
Normally, such a big undertaking would never be attempted in December because the weather is usually too cold for the concrete to dry properly.
But this week’s mild temperatures meant the job was doable.
To prepare for the pour, Burnco had to strategically order in massive amounts of concrete powder from Vancouver and Alberta and make sure it was all here on time.
While huge, this week’s pour does not top the largest ever in Kelowna.
That title goes to the adjacent 36-storey East Tower of One Water Street for the 3,000 cubic metres of concrete poured in August.
The two contemporary, glassy condominium skyscrapers will become the city’s tallest buildings when completed in 2021 and 2022 respectively.