LF Driscoll and Balfour Beatty recently wrapped the largest concrete pour in Philadelphia’s history

The Pavilion, Penn Medicine’s $1.5 billion hospital, hopes to make waves in the medical world once it is completed. With a cornucopia of state-of-the-art features, the Foster + Partners-designed hospital is expected to provide a new level of patient care.

Before any of that happens, though, the hospital has already accomplished something no Philadelphia hospital, or any other structure for that matter, has accomplished before. On July 8, the Pavilion set the record for the largest concrete pour in Philadelphia’s history, Philly Voice reports.

Over 120 workers from LF Driscoll and Balfour Beatty poured 6,540 cubic yards of concrete from 654 concrete trucks over a period of 14 straight hours. The concrete, which is being used to create the foundation of the new building, was poured onto 965 tons of reinforcement steel.

The previous record, according to Curbed Philadelphia, was set in 2016 at the site of the W and Element Hotels. That pour took 24 hours, involved 600 cement trucks, and used 5,850 cubic yards of concrete

The Pavilion is not scheduled to open until 2021.

The history of concrete construction between 1950 and 1970 offers architects and construction professionals a framework for how to rehabilitate these buildings today using both time-tested and emerging technologies. This course, worth 1.0 AIA LU, was authored by Henry Moss, AIA, LEED AP, Principal with Bruner/Cott Architects.

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