United States.
Daikin Industries announced the expansion of its Goodman U.S. operations by building a new forward campus outside of Houston, Texas.
The new $417 million campus, designed by Powers Brown Architecture (architect) and LJB Inc. (engineer), is currently projected to be operational by mid-2016 and will have a 4 million square foot tilt-up concrete building, the largest in the world according to the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA).
"We track achievements in projects or records in a variety of categories to demonstrate the vast variety of applications and overall achievements of tilt-up professionals," said James Baty, Technical Director for the Tilt-Up Concrete Association. "This includes statistics such as for larger buildings (surface area and total floor area), taller panels, heavier panels, wider panels, larger wall area and more." Current record holders in the largest building category are Target's Import Warehouse in Savannah, Georgia, with 2,029,554 square feet (floor area) and Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlunga Rocks, South Africa, with 3,420,000 square feet (floor area). "At 4,130,698 square feet, this new project breaks several records," Baty said.
"The owner requested that all functions be placed in the same structure," said A.J. Breneman, Senior Designer at Powers Brown Architecture. "The building will incorporate a 1.8 million square foot distribution center, a 1.7 million square foot manufacturing space (plus a 196,500-square-foot mezzanine), 231,598 square feet of laboratory space and 202,600 square feet of office space." The massive 497-acre site will also offer parking for about 5,000 vehicles.
"Tilt-up has consistently proven to be the most economical method of construction for 'big box' applications," said Jeff Griffin, Principal of LJB Inc. "In a project of this size, being able to use support tilt-up panels and remove perimeter steel magnifies cost savings. In a mature tilt-up market like Houston, the speed that can be achieved with tilt-up amplifies these material savings." The project incorporates more than 2 miles long panels, with approximately 370 wall panels.
According to David Brown, Senior Project Manager at D.E. Harvey Builders (general contractor), the project will incorporate about 360,000 cubic yards of concrete and 29,000 tons of steel.
"The new business campus will provide many outstanding benefits for our customers," stated Mr. Takeshi Ebisu, President and CEO of Goodman Manufacturing Company, L.P. "The operational efficiencies we achieve will be reflected in the outstanding quality of our high-performance, energy-saving heating and cooling systems. As a global manufacturing leader, Daikin is expressing a strong long-standing commitment to its customers in North America by building this new business campus."
The new facility, when completed, will include one of the largest and most technologically advanced HVAC manufacturing facilities in that country.
