MOUNT VERNON, IA - The Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA) - a non-profit international organization that serves to expand and improve the use of site-cast Tilt-Up as the preferred construction method - has announced a new heaviest panel on the Top Ten list. The new titleholder is the 339,000-pound panel for the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.

"Tilt-Up continues to grow into a wide variety of markets and this project demonstrates all that innovative design and construction teams are doing to make projects a reality," said Jim Baty, technical director of the TCA. "As a Convention Center, it was important that this facility have open spaces and the use of this panel made that possible."

The owner selected Tilt-Up for this project because the method enabled them to achieve their desired look more economically than precast. "The heavy panel was set to span the width of the glass wall south entrance of the building," said Trentis Durden, president of Sunshine Specialities, Inc. - the Tilt-Up panel erection contractor.

As can be expected, the heavy panel presented several challenges during the lifting process. This project had to have a critical lift plan in place, because of the zero tolerance for movement and very high risk assessment while the erection was in process. "We had to set two 200-ton crawler cranes in a two-lane road," said Durden. "It was 529 feet long from the center of the south end of the building in either direction. Because the road dropped more than 2 feet on each side, we had 100 tons of lime rock hauled in to build the 80 lineal feet of level surface and strengthen the road to ensure that it could hold the weight of the cranes and panels." Because of the limited space, each time the crane moved to the next panel, the lime rock company would have to drive around the block to dump the rock in front of the crane to maintain the 80 lineal feet of lime rock surface in front of the crane.

"Sunshine Specialties was able to lift and set very heavy and somewhat unbalanced panels with the use of dual cranes to help make the project a success," said Mike Wolstenholme, National Tilt-Up Sales Manager for Meadow Burke Products.