The Dennis Maes Pueblo Judicial Building is one of Pueblo's significant civic structures and is Colorado’s newest courthouse. The Dennis Maes Pueblo Judicial Building is named after recently retired (2012) Chief Judge C. Dennis Maes who served in court for over 16 years. The state-of-the-art five-story courthouse is over 170,000 square feet, has 17 courtrooms, chambers for judges and magistrates, jury assembly and deliberation rooms, a first appearance center, clerks and administrative offices, probation department offices, training rooms and holding cells.
Sustainable design and construction is a key objective for Pueblo County. The Dennis Maes Judicial Building is LEED- registered and was designed with an emphasis on sustainability. The Judicial Building includes many sustainable features and energy efficient design strategies and is in the LEED (Silver or higher) certification process (Sustainable Sites, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality).
Concrete is an integral part of the five-story Pueblo Judicial Building which includes 9 elevator shafts and lightweight concrete floors on each level. Transit Mix Concrete and Holcim (US) Inc. worked together with HW Houston Construction Company to provide a variety of innovative and sustainable concrete mixes containing portland-limestone cement (PLC) and Class F fly ash. There are over 2000 cubic yards of portland-limestone concrete in the piers, foundation, above grade structural (including use of self-consolidating concrete), lightweight structural floors, and exterior concrete (curb and gutter, flatwork). All mix designs exceeded design and field performance requirements in the aggressive year round construction schedule which included challenging extreme hot and cold weather conditions (data available upon request). All involved in the design and construction team had a long history of using “traditional” Type I/II cement and fly ash in concrete construction and were very satisfied with the field performance (set time, strength, and finishability) of the “new” sustainable concrete mixes containing portland-limestone cement (PLC) and fly ash.
Also of note are the architectural concrete panels supplied by Rocky Mountain Prestress (Type III cement) and underground utilities by Boughton Precast (Type IP cement).
The Dennis Maes Pueblo Judicial Center Grand Opening was August 5, 2014 and is an impressive showcase of innovative and sustainable concrete construction.
