H&R REIT is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment companies. At H&R’s industrial business park in Caledon, Ontario, Bekaert’s extensive Dramix® steel fiber range could provide a matching concrete reinforcement solution to meet new loading requirements.
The specific challenge relating to H&R’s industrial business park in Caledon was that the sub-floor of a 400,000 square foot warehouse had already been constructed without knowledge of the eventual racking and loading requirements. When these were known, it became apparent that the specified steel fiber reinforcement solution needed to be upgraded in order to provide the necessary increased performance level for the end use. However, the existing sub-floor could not be changed.
The Bekaert team worked with the site engineer to replace the initial steel fiber specification of Dramix® 3D 55/60 with Dramix® 4D 65/60. Changing to a higher performing fiber allowed the site to keep the seven-inch slab thickness, which bought further time and cost savings since they did not have to change the grading conditions. By moving to Dramix® 4D steel fibers, the performance of the final floor was also higher, so was suitable for the increased racking and loading requirements of the warehouse’s tenant.