Project Overview

When new ownership bought the Wheaton Center complex, they brought with them an urgency to do the necessary concrete repairs to bring the buildings to full functionality. They decided to start with restoring the concrete on one of the 19-story residential towers. After hearing contractor estimates of three to five years to complete the job, the owner called us for input. We promised we could do it one. They brought us on board.

Approach

The owner vacated the entire building at the outset. We built pipe scaffolding that ascended to the top of the 19-story tower and manned the project with as many as 90 tradespeople at a time. We worked in a strategic, engineered sequence for removing and replacing balconies, working on as many as 10 at a time.

Our work on each balcony began with removing the handrails and suspending them directly above where they were installed. Then, we installed shoring and bracing as necessary before using jackhammers to demolish the balconies. Carpenters then framed the balcony and installed new steel reinforcements. Finally, we used a crane or hoist to lift the concrete into a wheelbarrow on the scaffold to be poured into place.

We replaced more than 120 balconies with this method on the first tower. A few years later, the building changed ownership again, and the new team brought Berglund back under contract to complete 80 more balcony replacements on the second tower.

Outcomes

As promised, we completed the balcony replacements within one year, and our approach allowed the building to move residents back into the building even faster. We started our work at the top of the building. Once we finished five floors, we removed our scaffolding and the building reoccupied those floors. This pattern continued all the way down to the ground level.

The project received a merit award from the International Concrete Repair Institute.