Oil and Gas - The Mother of Inflation - GineersNow Petroleum magazine

Once the modules had been put into position
as specified in the plans, the concreting was
done in two stages. “The pre-concreting for
putting the void former system into position,
to prevent them bouncing around, was
done using the concrete pouring bucket.
Pouring the concrete and assembly work
was suspended in order to concrete in the
Cobiax void formers on the surfaces, and
presented a further challenge in terms of
the limited space,” explains Wieghaus.
“This means the spacers, which also
function as structural parts, create the bond.
Subsequently, in a second step, the slab is
concreted over.”
Potential savings from using
void former modules
The cost of the entire supporting structure of
the building also came down, thanks to the
smaller amount of concrete and reinforcing
steel used. “An added bonus is that the
smaller amount of concrete also reduces
the emission of pollutants toxic to the
environment. For the SPRINGER QUARTIER
project, saving 496 m³ of concrete meant
reducing CO2 by 105 tonnes. Among other
things, this results from eliminating 80
concrete mixer journeys to the construction
site. “Within the next 5 years, we want
to reduce CO2 emissions by a total of 1
million tonnes, through using our products
in reinforced concrete construction, in order
to progress the rethink towards sustainable
construction”, concludes Wanninger. As
more than 14 million square metres of
Cobiax voided flat slabs have already been
produced, corresponding to 2 million tonnes
of concrete saved and a CO2 reduction of
180,000 tonnes, this objective seems quite
realistic.