Concrete is one of the most versatile, durable and cost-effective building materials known to man. It is also environmentally sustainable, with green credentials that outperform steel and timber. Concrete is used extensively throughout the Kravis Center, from our large concrete spread footings to the 24” thick, post tension floor slabs.

Concrete has excellent thermal mass energy consumption that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This relates to how concrete absorbs and releases the heat from the sun. Because of its slow rate of heat transfer, a concrete building stays cooler during the day (meaning less air conditioning) and slowly emits the built up heat during the evening (meaning less heating costs). This slow rate of heat transfer, coupled by the fact concrete is completely non-combustible; it is an incredibly effective barrier to the spread of fire.

The first form of concrete was used by the Romans, but the method was lost for centuries, until its use was renewed by the British in the late eighteenth century. However, the modern mixture known today is only about 175 years old. The greatest improvement to the use of concrete is the application of rebar.

Reinforced concrete utilizes steel reinforcement bars, commonly referred to as “rebar.” Rebar provides the structure with more tensile strength (prevents bending and resists compression) and is included in most construction components, including slabs, walls, beams, columns and foundations.

The Kravis Center is striving to achieve a LEED® Gold Certification. LEED is a Green Building Rating System that judges the extent of a building’s environmental sustainability. As part of meeting our LEED goals, all of our concrete mixture and rebar comes from recycled materials. Our concrete is from 100% post-industrial recycled materials and our rebar is from 20% post-industrial and 80% post-consumer recycled materials. We also use locally harvested materials, reducing the distance work trucks must transport our materials for concrete.

In this photo above, concrete is being conveyed through a hydraulic Boom placement pump. Concrete is batched at a remote location (a few miles down the road from CMC), and we have about 90 minutes from batching to placement. In a future blog, we'll explore more about the various ways concrete is placed.