TILT - UP CONSTRUCTION

Martin Southcott & Jacqui Glass

Reinforced Concrete Council
 The tilt-up method
 In-situ concrete walls can be costly
and slow
 Tilt-up = ‘factory production’ on site
 Typical construction sequence………
T ilt- u p p a n e l
lif te d b y c r a n e

E x te r n a l w a ll lin e
E x te r n a l fa c e T ilt- u p p a n e l in
p o s itio n to f o rm
T ilt- u p w a ll p a n e l c a s t s tru c tu ra l w a ll
f a c e d o w n o n f lo o r s la b

E x te r n a l fa c e
 Historical development

 Tilt-up started to become popular in early 1900s

- but size was limited by lifting gear
 Rebuilding after the Depression, combined with
1940s-50s labour shortages, re-awakened tilt-up
 Led to development of a complete ‘system’,
made possible by cranes, connections, lifting
fittings, details and chemicals => rapid growth

 Continual refinement of aesthetics

 The market

 USA - 23 million m2 p.a. = 12,000 buildings

 Growth at 38% p.a.- doubled in 3 years
 60% warehouse & industrial, 20% office, 10%
retail, 10% housing/other
 Australia, NZ, Canada, Mexico,
Malaysia,Argentina,Brazil, Hungary,
South Africa, UK, Eire (150+ countries)
 USA - sandwich panel use is growing; one
supplier alone reports 6 million m2 to date
 Benefits of Tilt-up 1

 Cost - extremely competitive + extra benefits….

 Speed - fast start, fast build, pre-planning…
 Ease of construction - ‘factory process on site’...
 Durability - compare with metal system failures
and accidental damage
 Security - used for prisons and security walls
 Fire resistance - 2+ hours inherent resistance
 Cost competitive ++

 Cost competitive ….. with extra benefits!

 Cost modelling - Dr Jacqui Glass(Oxford Brookes)
- see next slides
 Competitive with basic metal systems
 Extra competitive with partial masonry
 Extremely competitive with up-market metal
cladding
 Sandwich panel Tilt-up option -very competitive
with medium-high quality metal systems
 Cost competitive 1
2
Table 2.1 Total building costs/m gross floor area 1997
Type of external wall Building A Building B Building C Building D
2 2 2 2
2,304 m 4,500 m 9,180 m 18,090 m
Eaves height Eaves height Eaves height Eaves height
6m 8m 10 m 12 m

Loadbearing tilt-up panels TU £360 £324 £319 £292

Tilt-up insulated sandwich panels TU £374 £338 £329 £299
Decorated tilt-up panels TU £361 £326 £320 £292
Tilt-up cladding panels Hybr £355 £327 £327 £294
Built-up metal cladding system Trad £342 £320 £321 £288
Composite cladding panels Trad £387 £360 £357 £318
Aluminium cladding system Trad £421 £391 £384 £339
Blockwork/built-up cladding Trad £354 £328 £327 £292
 Cost Competitive 2
2
Table 2.2 External wall costs/m wall area, including plant-based preliminaries 1997
Type of external wall Building A Building B Building C Building D

Loadbearing tilt-up panels TU £49 £50 £54 £57

Tilt-up insulated sandwich panels TU £62 £65 £69 £72
Decorated tilt-up panels TU £51 £52 £56 £59
Tilt-up cladding panels Hybr £39 £39 £41 £42
Built-up metal cladding system Trad £36 £36 £36 £36
Composite cladding panels Trad £104 £104 £104 £104
Aluminium cladding system Trad £155 £155 £155 £155
Blockwork/built-up cladding Trad £48 £45 £43 £43
 Construction Speed
11,000 m2 warehouse USA

ACTIVITY WEEKS
2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Site layout
Substructure and slab
Ground slab cured Procure
reinforcement
Cast tilt-up panels
Crane on site
Tilt and brace panels
Erection of steelwork Allocate steel Steel fabricated
subcontract off site
Roof surfacing
Caulk joints/remove bracing
Internal finishes
External works
Hand-over to client

Note: approx 70 panels used

 Benefits of Tilt-up 2

 Sound reduction - 50dB v < 30 for metal skins

 Architectural expression - new and versatile…….
 Robust,easily sealed surfaces - especially
sandwich panel for cleanroom, food/drug etc
 Energy conservation - airtightness, thermal mass,
insulation
 Plus safe working at ground level, potentially
reduced insurance costs and maintenance costs
 Wide range of applications

Just a few examples from many

successful uses
 Commercial & -warehouse, office, factory, hotel
industrial coldstore, retail………………..
 Residential -houses, flats, hotels…………...
 Recreational - sports halls, cinema…………..
 Rural - farm buildings, silos, tanks…...
 General -churches, halls, schools, prisons,
retaining security & fire walls, tanks
 Finishes
 Range of finishes available including:
 Smooth or slightly textured painted finishes
 Ribs and textures from formliners
 Brick slips and inlaid stone features
 Reveal strips and niches for extra depth
(sometimes called trompe l’oeil)
 Large scale company motifs or graphics can
be cast in to the panel for added impact
TILT-UP CONSTRUCTION
 Planning
 Design for lifting
 Design in service
 Planning

Optimising for construction:

 Wall / floor ratio - max 70-80% or else use stack-
casting
 Panel size - typically 7.5 to 9.0 m by 7.0 m
 Panel thickness - 150 - 180 mm (slender)
 Panel weight - 15 to 35 tonnes (15 to 25 typical)
 Building size - 2000+m2 but lower possible/viable
 Size of site - not critical (eg large or confined ok)
 Tilt-up encourages thorough pre-planning
61.5 m

N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 N10

Figure 3.1 W14 E1

W13 W14 N1 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9
Panel layout W13 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 16 E2
and erection N2 N3
sequence
W12 W12 5 17 N10 18 E1 E3
9 10
W11 W11 4 19 E2 20 E3 E4

W10 W10 3 Erection sequence 21 E4 E5

Top of panels
positioned
towards edge
W9 W9 2 22 E5 E6 of building

Edge of initial
W8 W8 1 slab pour 23 E6 E7
86.2 m

W7 ACCESS LANE 24 E7 E8

W6 W5 46 48 W7 Walk-out panel 25 E8 E9

W5 W4 45 47 W6 26 E9 E10
Make-up
strip
W4 W3 44 43 W2 27 E10 E11
35 33 31
W3 W1 42 41 S1 S7 S9 E14 28 E11 E12

W2 40 39 38 37 36 34 32 30 29 E13

S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S8 S10 E13 E12

W1 E14

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10
 Tilt-up encourages thorough pre-planning
6.14 m

1.30 3.54 1.30

0.76 1.54 1.54 1.54 0.76 Joist seating
embedments

0.2 1.59
1.85 0.19 panel
thickness
Bracing
0.1 inserts 0.1
0.18 panel thickness 2.31
1.23

1.84 2.46 1.84 Lifting inserts

10.36

3.54

6.90
7.28 12 x 90 mm
reveal at door
3.14 head
0.3
1.0

2.92

1.23

12 mm coil inserts
External elevation for reinforcement Internal elevation
connection to slab

Wall panel layouts

 Setting out

Typical details at the setting out stage:

1. Window blockout 2. Reinforcement
 Figure 6.1 Principles of lifting set-up
0.29
0.71

SINGLE ROW (4 pt)

0.10
EDGE LIFT
0.21 0.26

0.28
0.58
0.26
(c)
(a) 0.21 0.10

0.18
0.40
0.29 0.42
0.71

DOUBLE ROW 0.21

SINGLE ROW (2 pt)
0.21
0.58
0.58
(d) 0.21
(b) 0.21
 Design for lifting

Design of panels complex in concept but

made simple by use of computer programs

Generally most lifting hardware

suppliers are able to design the
panels for lifting in consultation
with the tilt-up contractor
 Design for lifting

Reinforcement
 Not often used for lifting except for
panels with large openings in absence of
strongbacks
Strongbacks
 Typically steel sections used for
strengthening panels of odd shape or
with large openings
 Design for lifting

Lifting hardware
 Hardware - provided in
many arrangements - UK
availability
 Inserts - Special quick
release (ground release) for ease
of construction
 Internal External
concrete leaf concrete leaf

d1 d2 d3

Insulation

Figure 9.2 Typical cross section of a concrete sandwich panel with steel ties
 The future for tilt-up

 Cost competitive with compelling benefits

Trends
 Construction efficiency drives & cost
reduction, labour shortages, new methods
 Prefabrication, rationalisation, speed, security
 Energy efficiency, thermal mass, airtightness
 Whole life costs recognising extra benefits
 USA > UK => 2000 tilt-up buildings / year!
 UK projects

Built
 Factories with office & warehouse
 Cold store plant rooms (6 to date)
 Buried services building
 Tanks, lift shaft, fire walls, retaining walls
Under consideration, planned
 Cement works, clearspan offices, warehouses,
firewalls, major retail developments
 Tilt-up group ‘TUG’

The Tilt-up group was set up to promote

effective TU in UK
 A national interest group, affiliated to the TCA
 Open to all - suppliers,clients,designers,contractors
 Status - informal leading to formal
 Function - promotion, project proposals,
information, enquiries,
TCA liaison, markets,
etc
 Further details
For further details:
Reinforced Concrete Council
Century house
Telford Avenue
Crowthorne
Berks RG45 6YS
Tel. 01344 725733
Fax. 01344 761214
Email. [email protected]
Website: www.rcc-info.org.uk

A comprehensive guide
‘Tilt-up Concrete Buildings: Design &
construction’ is available from the Concrete Bookshop 01344 725704

(also why not visit the Tilt-up Concrete Assoc at www.tilt-up.org)