One of the first public housing projects in Chicago, the Julia C. Lathrop Homes was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Prior to this designation, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) had planned to demolish all buildings on the nearly 36-acre site. With the designation preventing a complete tear-down, CHA instead approved a three-phase redevelopment plan for the buildings that would either preserve or recreate their original architecture. Building 1A was one of the first new structures to be constructed as part of the ongoing redevelopment.
Tribco provided deck and vertical formwork services for the seven-story mixed-income apartment building, which is a flat-plate post-tensioned (PT) concrete slab structure. The Tribco team embraced this concrete structural system in part because it is the most economical choice for multi-unit residential projects. The flat-plate PT system allows for thinner slabs and longer spans, which helps to decrease costs and maximize concrete constructability.
Formwork systems for the project included the Tribco-owned Speed Deck system with light hand-set components for horizontal forming. For enhanced safety, the Tribco team used metal handrails (instead of wood) on the entire project.
Forging relationships For this project, Tribco teamed with II in One Contractors to provide the concrete shell, allowing the MBE contractor to take the lead as the shell contractor, an approach that enabled the project team to meet all project goals. While this was Tribco’s first project with II in One Contractors, the Tribco team had previously worked with Lendlease, the project’s construction manager. Their working history helped establish a productive relationship between all three project partners for the Lathrop Homes project, which allowed the project team to adeptly overcome speedbumps as they appeared.
Tribco completed all work on schedule during the fall of 2018.
US Dollars
