By Jim Dolente Jr., president, Madison Concrete Construction
We’ve had the pleasure of being part of a unique and important project in Philadelphia—the FMC Tower; which, when completed, will be the city’s first “true vertical” neighborhood, offering 50 stories of office, retail and residential space. The project is both an important step toward linking University City and Center City and an essential part of creating a new reality along the Schuylkill River, an area that was once full of rundown parking lots.
From a construction perspective, the tower is distinctive because it is composed of two separate structural systems. It is essentially two buildings stacked on top of each other—a 22-story concrete-framed residential apartment building constructed on top of a 28-story steel-frame office building.
A scenic view of the FMC Tower, from across the Schuylkill River. Photo: PhillyMag.com
Building for two different structural systems brings about several challenges, the biggest being load transfer between the two systems. Madison’s work to address those challenges and more has received a lot of attention lately. The project was featured in the latest issue of Construction Today Magazine (see page 46), published by the General Building Contractors Association. In addition, our in-house engineer and project executive Rick Stone, P.E., discussed how we addressed load-transfer issues in Concrete Construction magazine’s Jan. 25 e-newsletter and online blog . We hope you’ll enjoy learning more about this project through these articles.
Because the FMC Tower project is using LEED-based sustainable architecture, Madison also used slag cement to help achieve LEED points. And, of course, our hydraulic (self-climbing) formwork system allowed us to complete core construction multiple levels ahead of floor construction.
The tower is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy by mid-2016. We look forward to seeing such a fantastic building and community in use. We’d also love to hear about the unique project challenges you’ve faced as well as how we may use our experience to work with you.