The Peikko Group successfully erected its first Deltabeam project in North-America in Saguenay, Canada in November 2009. The project named MGR Victor Tremblay is an extension to an existing long-term care facility belonging to the Chicoutimi Hospital.

An Engineering Challenge

In the early stages of the design of the MGR Victor Tremblay project, the structural engineer from Genivar faced two major obstacles: Having a total floor depth of less than 250mm (10”) and having a required fire rating of two hours. Since Genivar was already familiar with the benefits of Peikko’s Deltabeam and its capability to offer fire rated slim floors, they decided to see how Peikko could handle the challenge. A few days later, Peikko supplied a complete design with Deltabeams and hollow core slabs that met all the requirements set by Genivar including the budget.

The speed of construction

One of the key benefits of choosing a precast structure over any other types of structures is the incredible speed of construction. The MGR Victor Tremblay was another great demonstration of speed of construction by installing an average of 100 m² (1000 ft²) per hour of hollow core slabs and Deltabeams in less than 1 minute. To achieve this incredible erection speed, a few Peikko innovations were introduced for the first time on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. First, the Deltabeams were designed with a precamber to take the load of the hollow core units during the erection without having to support the whole floor for 28 days. Avoiding the shoring during 28 days allowed other construction trades to start working earlier inside the building and reduced the global construction schedule. Second, Peikko’s patented PCs Corbels were used to support the beams. The PCs Corbel is the only fireproof, adjustable and hidden haunch system available in North America. Its unique design avoids welding and bolting at the jobsite thus reducing the installation time of the beams. Third, the integrated fire protection of two hour in the Deltabeam avoided fireproofing the under side of the beam, therefore saving the contractor time and money.

Flawless all the way

Genivar’s main concerns were to have the Deltabeams delivered in time and to have the all the pieces fitting at the jobsite. In order to have everything delivered on time, the Peikko team started working immediately after obtaining the contract and actually delivered two weeks ahead of schedule. As for the erection, thanks to the tolerances allowed by Peikko’s PCs Corbels, not a single modification was made to the structure during the construction.

Conclusion of the first experience

It took Genivar a great deal of confidence to specify the Deltabeam for the first time not only in Canada but also in North America. Sometimes audacity pays off and the MGR Victor Tremblay project is a good example. The time of construction was greatly reduced compared to traditional building methods and the total cost of the structure was actually less than all other considered options.

Project information: 

• BEAM TYPE D20-300 DELTABEAM: 8in. (200mm)
• TOTAL FLOOR THICKNESS : 9in.  (240mm)
• HOLLOWCORE THICKNESS : 8in. (200mm)
• FIRE RESISTANCE : 2 HOURS 

Major contributors:

• ENGINEERING FIRM OF RECORD: GÉNIVAR
• MANUFACTURE OF STEEL STRUCTURE : PEIKKO CANADA INC. ET METCO INC.
• MANUFACTURE OF HOLLOWCORE SLABS: SCHOKBETON INC. 
• GENERAL CONTRACTOR : CONSTRUCTION TECT-HAB INC.
• STEEL ERECTOR: METCO INC.& AFS INC.

Pictures :  

" We really liked to work with Peikko system because of its simplicity and rapidity to be erected. Now on, big part of our project will be designed with Peikko system "

Louis Tremblay
Structural Engineer
Génivar inc.

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"From my opinion, Peikko system is four times faster to erect than traditional steel structure and is a lot more easier to install. We could install an average of more than 1000ft² per hour."

Michel Tremblay
Project manager
AFS inc

 

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"For the first time the Deltabeam concept give us the opportunity to offer to our clients slim floor system with long span capacity. The combination between Deltabeams and hollowcore slabs gives high flexibility to the engineers, architects and a high quality product.. "

Benoit Fradet
Vice-President
Schokbeton inc.

 

  VIDEO OF THE PROJECT 

 

 

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MORE DELTABEAM INFORMATION :