From schools to churches, YMCAs to hospitals, ice arenas to community centers or anything in between, the right building can bring people together. Our experience has shown that projects like these share common themes; budgets run tight, and timelines run even tighter.
Both of these criteria put Fabcon precast panels in the sweet spot for these types of projects.
Fabcon Sales Engineer Dick Duckstad has been a part of hundreds of planning meetings. While there’s often a desire to do something flashy, community projects tend to keep an eye on the larger prize—the building’s impact on the people and the community. Duckstad notes, “The mindset eventually becomes, ‘Let’s get real with this. Let’s spend more on panels on the front and be selective in other spots.”
That’s where Fabcon precast panels can help.
“While we’re not a custom precaster like some out there, ours is very much a system. We’re fast, and our panels are really efficient. That makes them a very economical choice,” Duckstad continues.
This can be attributed to the design of the panels and the ease in which they’re delivered to the build site.
“The insulation makes our product lighter so you can get incrementally more on a truck, and that’s where the economies come in,” says Duckstad. “Plus, we can achieve r-values a lot of other precasters can’t.” These are all reasons why many builders rely on our 12-inch VersaCore+Green™ sandwich panels and their impressive r-value of 28.2.
Modular by nature, buildings made with Fabcon precast panels can be reimagined down the road.
REIMAGINING PRECAST
While specs like r-values and weights certainly matter, it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture. What happens if you outgrow a property? Or need to consider a sale?
Fabcon buildings tend to have multifunctional appeal. What may originally have been built as a church can easily be reconfigured to be a showroom. This creates clear advantages at resale. If you’re a school and enrollment swells, or if you need to add another sheet at the ice arena, it’s possible to expand the footprint of a building or make adjustments to the original functionality with new doors and windows.
“We’re getting more and more calls to come in and revamp buildings we helped build 20 years ago,” said Fabcon’s Dave Stanton. “Called ‘remove and relocate’ projects, we can actually grow the building using a combination of new and existing panels. We’ll remove a section of wall, move it 100 feet down and install new panels to expand the footprint of the building.”
While the overall structure of a building is a consideration, aesthetics are a major focus when renovating. Fabcon’s commitment to Functional Aesthetics™ means you never have to compromise on performance or design.
“Steel form panels, of course, can be painted any color,” said Stanton. “But we can also incorporate pigment and colored aggregate that’s specific to the region it’s pulled from.”
Whether you’re building from scratch or repurposing an existing structure, Fabcon Precast brings value to community projects. Making a difference in your community has never been faster, more efficient or more customizable.