Marketed as the most luxurious building in South Florida with only one unit per floor, the Regalia Sunny Isles Beach Condominium is going up rapdily, due in part to the formwork being used.
The building design called for a minimal number of columns to give the building an open floor plan. However, this design feature required a large shearwall/elevator core for lateral strength of the building. Finding the right formwork solution—preferably one that would allow the crews to cycle the vertical and horizontal formwork at the same speed in order to meet the tight schedule—was key.
To meet these demands, concrete contractor Southern Pan Services (SPS) selected Doka’s Super Climber self-climbing form system with working platform for high-rise cores. The system meets the tough requirements of extreme dynamic loadability with swift, smooth climbing.
“The design of the large core worked great with the Super Climber design,” says Jared Wright, Doka sales manager. “The self-climbing core system offers faster cycle times. The system allows inside and outside forms to be hung from the gantry, which allows the contractor to roll forms away from or toward the formed walls, while erecting and stripping. All of the formwork for an entire story is raised independently of the crane. We engineered and provided safe work areas at elevations +1, O, and -1 with another partial work area at -2.”
All operations can be carried out safely and quickly on the formwork’s large, fully enclosed workspace, because the climbing formwork system is anchored to the concrete at all times. The entire core formwork is repositioned hydraulically with just one lift. It has room for all of the site equipment needed and is enclosed on all sides for safe, weather-shielded working at any height. The allowable live loads on the platform mean that less storage space is needed on the ground. After pouring, the formwork for the entire next story is raised by powerful hydraulic cylinders from one casting section to the next.
The Super Climber is capable of supporting the largest concrete placing boom on the market, fully extended, while anchored into position or while climbing. Forms, platforms, and the placing boom are all cycled at the same time with minimal climbing time. Climbing can be completed in one singular smooth movement. Service loads can stay on the platforms while they are being raised.
The manufacturer’s engineering team worked in conjunction with SPS to locate lifting locations for the system. This involved addition of rebar, custom spanning beams and relocation of block-outs. SPS planned the rebar gangs based on the location of the gantry beams so they could maximize the rebar labor efforts.
On one side of the structure, the property line was within 15 feet of the edge of the building and the team was restricted from anything flying over the property line. Additionally, the radial slab edges that change location and shape on every floor provided a great challenge to the design of the perimeter slab formwork. To meet these tight jobsite conditions, Doka and SPS worked closely to design custom pre-assembled Dokamatic tables that could easily be maneuvered with the building. The tables where designed for each area of the perimeter so that each could cycle from floor to floor without modification.
Work began in March 2012 and is expected to be complete in March 2013.
