HUB2 (Hub Champaign Daniel)

13-LEVEL MIXED-USE APARTMENT BUILDING

Champaign, Illinois

Filling a need for additional student housing and university office space, HUB2 (now called Hub Champaign Daniel) is conveniently located one block from the main campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Ceco provided deck formwork services for the 13-level, mixed-use building.

The building’s post-tensioned (PT) flat plate concrete structural system was selected to accommodate longer slab spans and minimize floor-to-floor heights, resulting in more flexibility in room arrangements and reduced costs for vertical components, such as the perimeter skin. The flat plate PT slabs also enabled exposed concrete ceilings, which saved money on finish costs and construction time.

Ceco worked with general contractor J.H. Findorff and Son Inc. to develop a nine-day construction cycle for each level, detailing major work operations, durations, and sequences to achieve schedule goals. To expedite work, the construction team used two tower cranes and two placing booms with masts, and J.H. Findorff directed strategic overtime to achieve eight-day cycles for several levels.

The GC formed the main concrete core walls and the Ceco team formed interior decks using Ceco’s in-house HV framing and CEFCO perimeter tables for the perimeter decks. The PT slabs were placed via two pours per floor, with PT cables in each slab typically tensioned within 24 hours of concrete placement. However, a select area of post-tensioning in Pour 1 could not be stressed until Pour 2 was placed, which threatened delays in the sequence of work. By revising the work sequence and supplying additional formwork at the affected Pour 1 slab areas, the Ceco team was able to keep the project on schedule.

The structure’s proximity to the university’s bookstore required flying perimeter formwork from select sides of the project to avoid potential dangers to the students below. The Ceco team used the EFCO high-load shoring scaffold to create formwork standing over 20 feet tall at numerous grade elevations in the loading dock area. The project team also replaced the bookstore’s loading dock with a new loading dock located within the HUB2 structure. Work had to be sequenced so as not to disrupt ongoing bookstore deliveries.

Project Documents

Project Sheet