Concrete Openings Awards Ceremony

Contractors Awarded During World of Concrete Ceremony

CSDA hosted the second Concrete Openings Awards in the Las Vegas Convention Center during World of Concrete 2015 to recognize the most challenging and innovative projects completed by contractors in the past year.

The inaugural Concrete Openings Awards ceremony was held last year to showcase the best projects covered in CSDA’s official magazine and recognize the contractors who performed the work. This year, seventeen job stories were split into three categories and put before a panel of judges. The panel scored each job based on its pre-planning, use of innovation, degree of difficulty and quality requirements. The project with the highest score in each category was declared the winner.

“It was quite an honor to be part of the judging panel for this year’s awards,” said Ted Johnston, CSDA Past President and owner of Di-Tech International, Inc. based in Winnipeg, Canada. “Revisiting these job stories and seeing the amazing work CSDA members do reminds me that we are in such a highly skilled industry. Congratulations to these worthy winners.”

And the winners are….

From left to right: Marty Wooten, Catherine Rudder, Chase Rudder and Tim Rudder of IDS, Inc.

Company:     IDS, Inc.
Location:        Montgomery, Alabama
Category:      Building Construction

This winning contractor performed over 18,000 feet of concrete cutting during the construction of a new 20-story luxury hotel and casino in Wetumpka, Alabama. The project involved the cutting and removal of approximately one third of an existing four-story reinforced concrete parking garage, so that it could be connected to the adjacent hotel and casino building.

The contractor used flat sawing, hand sawing and wire sawing techniques to cut 6-inch-thick slab decks, 3-foot-square beams, columns and four stairwells while core drilling pick holes on all four levels of the garage. Also, operators exposed and detensioned a number of cables post-tensioned to 25,000 PSI before the start of the cutting work.

CSDA member Jack Sondergard received the award on behalf of Mactech Offshore.

Company:      Mactech Offshore
Location:         Red Wing, Minnesota
Category:       Industrial Renovation

A major independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company contracted Mactech to cut and remove six 30-inch-diameter concrete-filled steel piles from one of its off-shore platforms. The platform was to be removed from the Gulf of Mexico as part of a strategically planned decommissioning project after the well ran dry. The steel casing of the piles was 1.5 inches thick and helped secure the platform jacket to the sea bed. Due to federal regulations, the piles had to be cut 15 feet below the sea bed.

The company engineered an articulating wire saw system for subsea and topside cutting. Adjustable guide arms clamped around the piles and the diamond wire ran through a series of pulleys on the unit. Needing only 2 feet of clearance around the object being cut and having the cut set at the bottom of the saw, there was no need for extra dredging.

From left to right: Stu Fishman, Tom Penza, Nancy Walker, Art Swindell and Doug Walker of Atlantic Concrete Cutting,.

Company:      Atlantic Concrete Cutting, Inc.
Location:         Mount Holly, New Jersey
Category:       Infrastructure Renovation

In the case of this winning project, the contractor was faced with the challenge of diamond core drilling 23,680 holes in the concrete bed of one of the busiest rail networks in the U.S. The 1.75-inch-diameter holes had to be precisely drilled for the replacement of direct fixation fasteners and the installation of new track anchor bolts.

Because of tight deadlines, a creative solution was needed to increase productivity and successfully complete the project on time. It came in the way of a new piece of innovative equipment. Engineers designed and fabricated the LIRR Railcar, which housed four, six-speed core drills outfitted with 10-horsepower motors. The contractor was able to drill four holes simultaneously in the rail bed at speeds of 3,000 to 3,200 RPM in just 90 seconds.

These winning projects are just some of the innovative and complex jobs being done by CSDA contractors everyday on jobsites around the U.S. and beyond. The association encourages all concrete cutting, breaking, polishing and imaging members to submit their best job stories for publication in Concrete Openings, and to consider entry to this year’s awards. Look out for more information about the Concrete Openings 2015 Awards later in the year.