BMR staff modernizes tilt-up construction technique

It's a building technique developed nearly one hundred years ago, but tilt-up concrete construction is back better than ever.

The technique involves casting large concrete panels flat on a floor slab, then tilting them up to form the load bearing walls of a building.

In Atlantic Canada, BMR is leading the way in tilt-up, by modernizing the technique in its design of schools, retail stores, industrial buildings and other medium to large sized buildings.

In fact, BMR staff has gone a step further by designing an improved tilt-up wall, made by sandwiching a layer of insulation between two concrete slabs. The technique has saved time by eliminating the need to install interior walls or insulation after the building is standing.

Tilt-up construction is fast, cost effective and can be used in a variety of buildings. The finished result is an attractive and efficient building - one in which the owner can take a great deal of pride. Today, more than five percent of new buildings in North America are built using the tilt-up technique and it's becoming more and more popular all the time.

The advantages are obvious to contractors and owners almost immediately. Tilt-up construction means earlier occupancy. Because the floor slab is poured first, trades can get to work early on other aspects of the building. And tilt-up construction uses ready mixed concrete as the primary building material - an inexpensive and readily available product.

BMR chose tilt-up design for 18 new schools for the Nova Scotia public school system - an innovation never tried before in schools in this region. To date, the results are impressive. The walls are strong and ready to stand up to the demands of an active student body. In some cases the schools were finished in just ten months.