Why Precast Concrete?
Why? Durability, aesthetics and quality for starters. Timelines. Budgets. Site size and location. Sustainability. Maintenance. The list goes on and on. Truth is, there’s not a building project challenge out there that Metromont can’t meet through a precast/prestressed concrete solution. If there is, we haven’t seen it. That’s because every solution we offer is tailor made to the project. We meet early and often with the building team and help plan out the life cycle of each building to ensure maximum performance in the early stages as well as throughout the entire life of the building. Why precast concrete? Because it gives you what you want, when you want it.
Durability:
Precast concrete is exceptionally resistant to impact, corrosion, weathering, abrasion and other ravages of time, reducing maintenance and operating costs. A low water-cement ratio combined with good compaction and curing in a controlled factory environment ensures a dense, highly durable concrete. Precast concrete is also non-combustible with inherent fire-resistant capability, creating a safe envelope that helps protect personnel, equipment and the building itself. This in turn may be able to reduce insurance rates.
Sustainability:
Metromont’s thermal-efficient precast concrete building systems with continuous insulation offer a host of sustainability benefits both during the construction process and long after the building has been completed. We help enhance each building’s sustainability by reducing its embodied energy and assist in contributing to LEED® points in several ways. Metromont has incorporated a number of innovative green initiatives within our own manufacturing facilities. And precast concrete’s ability to store energy and dampen the effect of temperature change on heating and cooling systems which may save a considerable amount of energy over the long term and can result in significant cost savings as well.
Aesthetics:
Precast concrete provides the designer with an unlimited architectural vocabulary of expression. It is incredibly responsive to the designer’s needs, as it can be shaped in a cost effective manner. The only limits are imagination and creativity. Design flexibility is possible in both color and texture by varying aggregate and matrix colors, size of aggregates, finishing processes and depth of exposure.
Quality:
Precast concrete components produced by PCI-certified plants are produced under strict, factory-controlled conditions to ensure the highest quality in the desired shapes, colors and textures along with applicable tolerances. PCI inspections focus on the process by which the units are produced, as well as the plant’s general operation. PCI Certification pays off for owners and designers because it produces fewer worries about on-site discovery of units out of tolerance, connection details that aren’t cast precisely or finishes that aren’t matched from panel to panel. It also minimizes the need for continuous inspections, again saving the project money.
