FOUR COMPELLING REASONS WHY ICON PRECAST CONCRETE BEATS AN IN-SITU CONCRETE POUR
1. ICON PRECAST IS HARDER AND STRONGER
Normal concrete poured in-situ with a hand floated finish leaves concrete very porous and susceptible to mould, moss growth, effluent sticking and build up. It is also relatively weak, with only a 17-25mpa.
ICON Precast is made stronger and harder (30mpa+), with higher levels of reinforcing, for transportation and handling. The mixes have special built in features and a very hard smooth finish.
For example: Our feed lane curbs and dairy lane nibs are 30mpa, while our feed lanes are 40mpa. Both incorporate special mixes of super plasticizer, taking air bubbles out of the concrete during curing, leaving the concrete harder, smoother, stronger, and with a higher resistance to cracking and erosion from chemicals, food products, urine, effluent and saliva.
2. HALF THE CONSTRUCTION TIME, HALF THE INTEREST BILL
Cow House Construction use ICON’s precast panels, walkways, nibs, and drainage channels for their cow houses, which dramatically cuts construction time, and reduces dependence on favourable weather conditions. In fact, all of the precast concrete is delivered onsite prior to the earthworks being finished.
Using precast gives more certainty, and allows more precise staged planning and project management.
In many cases we can start the precast work (and therefore the construction) while awaiting building consent, giving up to 4-6 weeks head start over an in-situ programme. The build time on site is halved in most cases, and this can save as much as $60-80,000 in interest alone during construction.
3. ICON PRECAST IS BETTER BY DESIGN
Having the ability to shape the construction material is what allows intelligent thinking to be built into the design.
The new coving designed by ICON Precast for the Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon factory is regarded by industry experts as "revolutionary" and "quite a big step up from where the industry has been traditionally."
The new coving speeds up construction, and creates an exceptional product finish.
For example: The revolutionary coving used in the state-of-the-art Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon factory enabled the factory to meet the highest international food hygiene and export standards, reduce the cost of construction, and reduce ongoing overheads by making the factory easier to clean and maintain.
"The precast nib with the cove built in is a brilliant concept, and I have not seen it before in my 15 years in the industry. It certainly is a cost saver and time saver in the construction period, and overcomes the inherent weaknesses in the traditional systems,” Julian Roy, Special Projects Manager for Bondor NZ Ltd says.
4. ICON PRECAST IS MANUFACTURED FOR PURPOSE
Manufacturing for purpose off site and transporting is much more efficient than pouring in-situ and provides post construction operating advantages.
For example: Bacteria are the biggest problem in feed lanes in the dairy industry.
ICON Precast manufacture feed lanes with the coving built in. Hard smooth concrete with built in coving means you can hose it, scrub it, scrape it and even coat it with special coatings to stop impurities.
Result; a cleaner cow house with less risk of bacteria and longer life of the building.