Page 154 - Demo

PRECAST CONCRETE ELEMENTS154 CPI %u2013 Concrete Plant International %u2013 6 | 2025 www.cpi-worldwide.comLike a green thread, this precast concrete staircase winds around the central column of the outdoor staircase of a primary school in Ghent, Belgium. The innovative escape route for students and teachers is part of a pilot project using alkali-activated concrete. This type of concrete significantly reduces the carbon footprint by using only 25% of the usual amount of clinker compared to conventional concrete. At the same time, it retains the benefits of concrete, such as exceptional load-bearing capacity and formability.The architects Back Architects and the engineering office Studiebureau Mouton developed the design for Furnibo. The Belgian company Enjoy Concrete creativity and aesthetics in its work and and provided the prefabricated elements. The %u201eDe Zonnepoort%u201c primary school also posed a number of challenges for the design team, particularly with regard to the advanced technology used in the more sustainable concrete and the necessary stability of the staircase.The individual stair elements are very slender and have complex connections. These connections had to be invisible and smooth. At the same time, it was important that they could be disassembled as easily as possible.Allplan provides architectural freedomAllplan Precast was used for element production to break down the complex 3D model into producible precast concrete elements. Precast-specific concrete processes and phases, formwork, and transport of the elements were already taken into account. Based on the 3D model in Allplan Precast, Enjoy Concrete created all production plans and the entire reinforcement. This enabled the company to reliably coordinate reinforcement, anchoring, and formwork. The export of reinforcement quantity lists was particularly helpful for this project with variable stirrups and formwork.Innovative precast concrete outdoor staircase planned and executedAllplan Software Engineering GmbH, 5412 Puch, AustriaAllplan in practice: Enjoy Concrete relies on Allplan Precast for detailed precast design.Slim design and ecologically optimised: Alkali-activated concrete enables a lower carbon footprint thanks to a 25% reduction in the amount of clinker.%u00a9 Michiel Vergauwe Photography%u00a9 Michiel Vergauwe Photography