Photos courtesy of Oldcastle Precast
Oldcastle Precast of Bartow, Fla., recently completed work on a first-of-its-kind U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) air station hangar project, which included a 20,000-sq-ft CAT 5 aircraft hangar, HAZMAT storage building and residential building structure for U.S. security forces. The new CAT 5 aircraft hangar was constructed from the ground up using Oldcastle Precast’s new Titan Wall system.
The entire aircraft hangar structure, including the patent-pending motorized hangar doors, was fabricated with engineered precast concrete. The new facility allows the USCG to base helicopters and aircraft flying in support of OPBAT on Great Inagua, Bahamas, replacing a steel hangar destroyed by Hurricane Ike in September of 2008.
The USCG was seeking low-maintenance, extended-lifecycle structures designed to withstand extreme weather conditions and requested a concrete structure in its specifications. Using its new system, Oldcastle Precast engineered, manufactured, shipped and erected the 6,000-psi precast structural components that made up the CAT 5 aircraft hangar. All structural components were designed and engineered to comply with the current editions of UFC 4-010-01, “DoD Security Engineering Planning Manual,” and UFC 4-010-02, “DoD Minimum Antiterrorism Standoff Distances for Buildings.”
The CAT 5 hangar was constructed with 44 precast columns, more than half of which exceeded 38 ft high, and 200 16-ft x 8-ft horizontal wall panels. Four precast hangar doors were used to close the 28-ft-high, 125-ft-wide hangar door opening. Each door, measuring 28 ft x 31 ft and weighing 60,000 lbs, is composed of three precast panel sections and is propelled individually to allow total flexibility for deployment. Each door also has two wheels, and each wheel has its own motor allowing for total independence of movement.
Oldcastle Precast also constructed the 1,100-sq-ft precast HAZMAT building designed to house hazardous materials, fire pump equipment and a 1,080 sq-ft, four-bedroom, two-bath residential precast structure for Coast Guard staff. Both building structures were engineered to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Oldcastle Precast started production of this design-build project in October 2011, erection started the following month and was completed in mid March 2012. Construction Management of Florida Inc., located in Vero Beach, Fla., was the prime contractor and design builder on the project. Leo Daly was the designer and Bryan Construction, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., was the subcontractor.
The USCG has submitted this project for USGBC LEED-NC Certification.
Please include [email protected] in all precast information, including but not limited to precast aircraft hanger installations. Thank you, Don E. Lester
Don, thank you for your comment!
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Having worked on the post 9/11 renovation of the Hangar and air terminal at Gitmo using conventional wisdom, I now realize that precast systems offer a speedier and more efficient structure than steel, particularly in vulnerable locations prone to experiencing hurricane-strength winds.