Industry Axis

Karen S. Hand, PE, President of Needham DBS, presented a 2 hour seminar to about 90 contractors for the Fall 2018 Johnson County Contractors Licensing Educational Seminar.  The presentation of "Temporary Wind Bracing of Tilt-Up Concrete Panels" was at 8 am-10 am, October 30, 2018 at the Overland Park Convention Center.  

OSHA regulates the construction of buildings with concrete panels by requiring the panels to be temporarily braced to prevent panels from overturning or collapsing during construction. The Tilt-Up Concrete Association's brace document provides contractors and engineers with detailed instructions to interpret the existing codes and apply the forces to panels during the construction phase of the project.  Significant changes have been implemented since the last version. The guide is intended to be used in conjunction with ASCE/SEI 7-16 for access to the figures and tables. Attendees learned historical background leading up to the current guideline.  Major changes to the TCA Guideline for Temporary Wind Bracing of Tilt-Up Concrete Panels During Construction were presented as well as jobsite safety tips and case studies for bracing Tilt-Up Construction.

Needham DBS' Fort Wayne Office celebrated the success of 2018 with a year end Christmas Dinner.  The dinner was held in the Boardroom at Ruth's Chris Steak House in downtown Fort Wayne on December 8, 2018.  Employees enjoyed an evening of great company, dinner, libations and bountiful desserts.  

The Board of Directors of Needham DBS is pleased to announce the following management changes effective July 1, 2018.

Karen Hand, P.E. is the new President of the firm. Karen will direct all operations of Needham DBS and will also manage the Kansas City office. Karen started her career with Needham and Associates in 1998 after working for two other Kansas City firms. She is a civil engineering graduate of Missouri University of Science and Technology and holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas. Karen will continue to be a leader in concrete construction on the Board of Directors of the Tilt-up Concrete Association and as a member of American Concrete Institute Committee 551 on Tilt-Up Concrete Design and Construction.

What could make a 72'-6" panel more complicated?  The introduction of a new product.  The iconX composite connectors for insulated panels brought a lot of questions from the tilt-up subcontractor and the general contractor. The project is complex and the panels are very large.  Therefore, the decision to build a mock-up panel was worth its weight in gold.

Prior to the pour, the contractor got hands-on with the iconX composite connector and insulation to develop a marking and handling system to make the project run smoothly. The contractor then studied the sequencing of embeds, welded wire reinforcing mats, miscellaneous rebar placement, iconX connector and insulation installation, concrete placement and finishing and lifting/bracing hardware placement.  

Associated General Contractors of Kansas has recognized two Needham DBS projects in the announcement of the 2018 Awards.  Winners were announced in March and appeared in the Wichita Business Journal on March 9, 2018.

Shulthis Stadium received the "Award of Excellence" for New Construction up to $2,000,000.

Jeff Needham will present "Composite Tilt-Up Panels - The Future of Tilt-Up Walls" to CPG & SEAKM members..  The meeting will begin at 4pm with an opportunity for networking followed by the presentation from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm.  CPG is providing drinks and appetizers to enjoy.

Presentation Summary:
The continued adoption of energy codes is pushing tilt-up designers to use more edge to edge  insulated panels. Using the two wythes of these panels working together in composite action is a logical solution for engineers to provide a strong and very efficient insulated panel. The use of composite design has been limited due to thermal bow concerns, lack of good design methods, and limited connector types.
This presentation will explore the current state-of-the-art in composite tilt-up panel construction and explain developments in design methods for tilt-up composite panels. The differences between solid panel design and two-wythe composite design will be illustrated and the limitations of current composite design methods will be shown. The future of composite panels in tilt-up construction will conclude the talk.

The company culture at Needham DBS places a heavy emphasis on higher education, continuing education and career advancement opportunities.

Founder, Jeff Needham, earned a MSCE from University of Kansas in 1980 while working full time. With an appreciation for hard work and an eagerness to learn throughout his career, Needham began offering tuition reimbursement to his employees and encouraged all engineers to take at least core subjects in the master’s level engineering curriculum.

David Mittendorf, Vice President and longtime manager of the Fort Wayne, Indiana office of Needham DBS retired effective September 1, 2017. Dave remains on the Board of Directors and will continue to consult with Needham DBS.

Needham DBS delivered joist and deck to a project site in Wichita Kansas just 6 weeks from award of the steel contract. Although this feat seems routine to our firm, the realization that this is nearly impossible to achieve otherwise is definitely something to brag about.

Needham DBS has long standing relationships with joist vendors and has working knowledge of the detailing requirements for the projects. With the experienced staff at Needham DBS, the joist and deck erection drawings and detailed cut lists are created by our own staff in house. The detailing tends to be the bottleneck for the joist manufacturers especially when approval drawings go out and don’t come back in a timely window. If plant schedules allow room for projects to get in to production on short notice, Needham DBS can provide the list and slip right in to the schedule.

Needham DBS has been working with Cincinnati Architect, FRCH, and Owner, Simon Property Group, on the design and construction documents for the Denver Premium Outlet for the past few years. Contracts for the construction were worked out early summer and the flurry of shop drawings for the 330,000 sq foot complex kept the office busy over the summer. The groundbreaking ceremony with local officials and Simon Property executives was held on October 5, 2017 and construction is now well underway. All tilt up panels have been formed, cast and set in to place. Most of the structural steel has been erected and roofing is being installed over much of the deck.

Located at the intersection of I-25 and 136th Avenue in Thornton, Colorado, the facility will have a fantastic view of the mountains to the West. The open-air shopping center is expected to open in Fall 2018.

Olathe West High School project was selected for the Judges Award at the Concrete Promotional Group Excellence in Concrete 2017 Awards. The award was presented to the team at the CPG Holiday Party & Awards Banquet on November 7, 2017 held at the College Basketball Experience at the Sprint Arena.

Tilt Up Concrete was designed and detailed by Needham DBS. Lithko Contracting LLC was the Tilt Up Contractor for the project. Other team members who worked on the project were Hollis + Miller Architects, McCownGordon Construction, Musselman & Hall Contractors, Summit Concrete, Fodyce Concrete Co Inc., Penny’s Concrete and Braun Intertec.

Needham DBS Board of Directors will be assembling to hold their Annual Board Meeting as well as present financials to current shareholders on Friday, Decemer 8, 2017.  Needham DBS will close the Lenexa office at 4:30 pm to hold a small reception to welcome Fort Wayne employees Director, Dave Mittendorf and his wife Cathy, Doug Bulmahn, Tim Fraser, Craig Scherschel and his wife Amanda who will be traveling to Kansas City for the weekend. 

The Needham DBS Christmas Party will be held on Saturday December 9, 2017 at Grunauer's Private Dining Loft in the Freight House District.

As part of your building maintenance plan, Needham DBS recommends developing a Severe Snow Plan to limit the impacts on your structure.  The plan should contain a list of contacts:  owner, building manager, local testing agencies, building engineer of record, local consulting engineers.  It's a good idea to establish an "on call" local testing agency and local engineer since travel from other regions may be difficult during an event.  The plan should list the design snow load for the building, the snow density used, the depth of the balanced snow load and what drift regions were included in the design with magnitude of load.  

Determine the Potential for Loss based on the following high risk factors:  Large Open Space Roof, Flat or Low Slope Roof, Parapet Projections, Tower Projections, Internal Roof Drains.  Any of these increase risk of failure during a severe event, a combination of these increases the risk further.

Olathe West High School has been awarded a Tilt-Up Achievement Award from the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA). TCA Members Needham DBS and Lithko Contracting were presented with a plaque commemorating the achievement at the Tilt-Up Awards Gala during the 2017 TCA Convention in Miami, Florida on September 29, 2017.

The Awards Issue of the Tilt-Up Today will be available in January 2018 featuring all the amazing projects from the 27th Annual Tilt-Up Achievement Awards.

The two Wichita State University Mixed Use Retail buildings are under construction near the intersection of 21st Street and North Oliver in Wichita KS.

Needham DBS designed the project as a design/build fast track project for Crossland Construction. Needham DBS was awarded the steel package on July 27, 2017 as the design drawings were nearing completion. Anchor Bolts were on site August 7, Joist and Deck were delivered to the site on September 8 and the remainder of the primary steel arrived September 18, 2017. Sunshades were delayed about a month but allowed the primary steel erection to be completed and stud work started before the sunshades were installed.

Pre-engineered metal buildings are popular with owners and developers since they provide a low cost economical solution for low rise steel framed construction. The PEMB supplier custom engineers the building to meet the code and owner specified minimum design load requirements. Using welded three plate columns and rafters with thicknesses varying in 1/16” increments and unlimited configurations for material utilization, the supplier has the ability to optimize the design to a great degree of precision. The PEMB supplier minimizes the cost to the owner but limits the flexibility to do future upgrades.  This has owners asking "Where's the beef?"

What does the owner do to plan for expansion, install a new roof or install new equipment? These scenarios, as well as many others, create additional loads on the building or changes how the building performs. Many of these modifications, renovations and expansions occur years after the building was designed and put in to service. The building codes are continually changing, the owner may not have a set of the existing building drawings, or the site visit may reveal undocumented changes to the building. These are just a few challenges faced when deciding if the existing structure can adequately support the new loads being applied to the building.

The first tilt-up concrete building on the historic campus of the University of Virginia is now underway. Needham DBS worked with Nielsen Builders to design an insulated, composite tilt-up panel system for the Ivy Stacks Expansion project, an addition to an existing precast building. The panels are over 45’ tall, and feature the innovative IconX Model 23 composite connector (www.iconxusa.com), with edge-to-edge XPS insulation, in a 4 5/8-2-4 5/8 configuration (11 ¼” overall thickness). This design uses 30% less concrete than the comparable non-composite panel design. The site is extremely tight, with very limited panel casting area and narrow crane path. Panels are scheduled to be tilted in mid-December.

Jeff Needham has been inducted into the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) College of Fellows for his years of service and commitment to the tilt up industry spanning over three decades. He accepted this appointment during the Awards Gala of the 2017 Tilt-Up Convention and Expo in Miami on Friday evening, September 29.

The Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) College of Fellows honors the rich tradition of service to the Association on behalf of the industry. The College of Fellows cultivates awareness for the community of professionals dedicated to the mission of the Association, and elevates the service of its members to the entire industry. Fellows establish this service through their organization's commitment to membership and participation and are elected to fellowship by a jury of their peers.

Employee News:

Karen Hand is not only building buildings, she’s building muscle.

As I have watched the tilt-up concrete construction industry develop over many years, I have appreciated the way it has become a preferred method of construction for many building types. This growth has been based on a number of improvements in construction and design technology, such as larger mobile cranes, the recognition and adoption of slender wall design in building codes, and a growing appreciation for the flexibility and speed of tilt-up methods. The widespread adoption of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) embraces the tilt-up industry, which already provides a fully code-compliant panel. The industry has the potential to make these panels more structurally efficient through the use of composite panels. This is a huge opportunity many designers and contractors may be missing.

To view the entire article published in the Summer 2017 Issue of Tilt-Up Today Magazine, visit http://tilt-up.org/tilt-uptoday/2017/08/08/composite-concrete-panels-the-future-for-tilt-up-walls/