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Precast Market Ready to Take Off in Utah

Precasters sound off on how their product can fit nearly any and all needs in commercial construction, especially as the industry continues to innovate.
By Taylor Larsen

It’s not rocket science. 

According to Kevin Martin, Geneva Pipe & Precast’s General Manager for the Orem office, precast concrete is a simple, albeit different, solution for a construction problem.

“We’re still building a metal cage and building a mold and putting concrete around it,” he said.

Simple, sure, but effective. With a huge concrete market to capture, expanding infrastructure with new and growing communities, and a broken labor market showing no signs of repair, the trajectory for precast is upward and onward as the new year approaches.

No Rest for Precast

Each of those interviewed spoke to how there is not just an insatiable demand for precast in Utah, but that they regularly field calls from out of state to supply jobs across the West. As a byproduct, one trend that may be gone forever is the winter slowdown, especially as development ticks up across the state.

Said Martin, “We used to use the winter months to build up inventory, but the new way of doing things is putting pressure on us to keep production high year-round.”

Demand for neighborhood infrastructure products is here to stay, especially for growing cities around the state. Developments are popping up across Utah County in Lehi, Saratoga Springs, and Eagle Mountain, as well as an exploding demand from the southward development in places like Payson, Santaquin, and even Benjamin, nestled snugly just south of Spanish Fork. Precast, those interviewed said, is ready to meet it with pipe, box culvert, manholes, and more.

With expanding development combined with the growing capabilities of precast concrete, "slowdown" might not enter the precast vernacular again.

Lee Wegner, Regional Sales Manager for Contech Engineered Solutions, noted the possibilities that opened up with the Latter-day Saint temples in the 2010s changed the game on precast concrete in Utah. High-level detail and molds brought awards and new possibilities, with rope-like features and scalloped corners doing the best impression of skilled masonry work. 

“Almost every piece was unique,” said Wegner of their work on the Payson Temple. While unique is not the word precasters want to hear in such a standardized process, the pride of seeing what their work accomplished in the final build helped to reimagine what was possible in precast shops.

“We’re pushing the envelope a lot more and are much more adaptable to the needs of the market.”

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Markets and Verticals


From a regional perspective, Jim Schneider, Executive Director for the Precast Concrete Institute Mountain States, said there are plenty of possibilities for the industry amidst federal legislation and funding over the last few years.


“As roads, bridges, and other vital infrastructure are replaced,” he said, “the precast industry is ready to support infrastructure initiatives wherever they are needed.”


Parking structures and infrastructure will continue, but other markets and verticals are available like schools and the influx of data center work taking over the west. 


The clear consensus among precasters is product and market diversity win the day. It’s how they can supply Utah County with the right product to build up neighborhoods, send box culverts down to Southern Utah to mitigate flash flooding on roads, and deliver bridge girders and MSE walls in Davis County to keep transit moving. 


While there are plenty of competitors in the market, the array of products to perfectly meet owner needs will only grow in importance, especially as communities fill out in the coming decade.


David Wallers, Division Manager for Harper Precast, said that Utah will continue to embrace precast, especially at the larger firms and owners like Pacific Power, UDOT, and large-scale developers chief among them.


“Precast has such a huge advantage on public safety,” Wallers said. Its use will only continue to grow, especially as his team pours 200 yards a day. Highway projects from UDOT, like the current and future phases of Bangerter Highway, are a case in point, especially as precast evolves and improves with changes in materials. 


For Wallers and the Harper Precast team, box culverts, MSE walls, electrical vaults, sound walls, and plenty more—the list of products to meet owner needs is extensive, and precast has the power to meet what emerges in the future.


One interesting product is the ballistic panel market, something that has been a key differentiator that reinforces Waller's point about product diversity and the ability to be involved in multiple markets. Harper Precast’s specialized product is UL 10 752-rated precast walls manufactured in their North Salt Lake facility, which are approved to withstand a .50 cal bullet from 40 feet away.


Changing Materials; New Techniques


Wegner said that concrete has evolved substantially over the last 10 years. The standard precast mix for bridges has gone from a 28-day break strength of 6000 PSI to between 8,000-10,000.


“It allows us to do a lot more,” he said. “We can stretch bridge spans on super long girder from 160 ft. to 205 ft.”


New, efficient girder shapes, new techniques like pre-stressing, and other innovations have helped the industry meet its most pressing needs through precast concrete.


Within the concrete evolution, Wallers noted the switch from fly ash to pozzolan in their concrete mix.


While a receding fly ash supply was one reason, the Harper Precast team has found that switching has reduced “concrete cancer” from alkali-silica reaction while keeping set times moving. Air entrainment is more stable while their concrete has become denser and less permeable. All of it goes to making a cost-effective switch that has helped their team stay competitive.


Schneider at PCI Mountain States noted that fly ash has long been a reliable option as a supplementary cementitious material but, as a byproduct of coal, “fly ash becomes a less reliable solution as time goes on.” Like the use of pozzolan, he said, there are exciting innovations within the larger concrete industry to reduce or replace cement with other materials.


“The National Renewable Energy Lab is working on a project to explore the use of mine tailings as replacement for cement, and there's a fascinating study at Colorado University - Boulder that's working with microalgae to decarbonize concrete,” he said. “Lots of exciting possibilities are on the horizon.”


Solutions are out there to gain additional efficiencies but lose out on the most important variable—price. Whether it is rebar reinforcing alternates instead of scrap steel, or the use of cement alternatives, an industry driven by money and schedule is loathe to adopt something where a cheaper alternative gets the job done well.


It’s a microcosm of their work to meet owner needs. 


Even with schedule benefits and cost assurances, many companies have always worked with cast-in-place as their casting method continues to do so. Especially with many of the major commercial builders self-performing, Wegner noted: “Why would they do something else?”


He said that it is incumbent on the precast industry to win owners’ trust and  match those promises with what is delivered to the job site.


Whether architectural precast walls (left) or box culvert (right), precast’s standardization of manufacturing, QA/QC, and delivery make it the go-to on infrastructure projects as everything can be built off-site before arriving for placement on the job site. (photos courtesy Harper Precast)

Emerging from Labor Struggles


As for the workforce, it’s a pain point—for some more than others. 


Martin said that certain labor issues for their team are looking to be solved by technological advancements in the precast manufacturing space in the form of a new facility to further automate the precast process. Geneva Pipe & Precast’s parent company, Northwest Pipe, pledged $18 million in capital improvement projects for their Utah offices in 2021, helping the Salt Lake branch to construct and supply a new facility, with state-of-the-art precast machinery from Europe. Geneva Pipe is hosting an open house for its latest reinforced concrete pipe precast facility in early October. 


While the company has extended the design life of its two Utah manufacturing facilities to 50 years with machinery repairs and renovations, the investment goes back to labor. Martin said the manpower required to operate the new equipment will be just four precast manufacturing pros, instead of the 12 currently required at their Salt Lake plant, along with two others helping to keep the digital aspects of the technology running at an efficient rate.


Growing through Efficiency


Wegner said the industry has made major inroads on longevity, where once a bridge would need to be replaced after 30 - 40 years, bridge lifespans are extending 75 or more years. That, combined with precast’s centralization of materials and production gives it an efficiency bonus that may win over an owner looking for concrete solutions in their next project.


This extension of a project’s life cycle has been a big win in the wastewater field. Martin said his team has utilized fiber-reinforced rehab panels to extend the life of wastewater infrastructure. The corrosion-resistant panels can be easily applied to the interior walls of new and existing precast structures and provide a long-term solution in the fight against hydrogen sulfide gases that give the wastewater industry fits.


"Perfect pipe" has been one innovation that has picked up steam, too. The sewer industry had been on the lookout for a new solution for years to combat sulfuric acid and Geneva Pipe looked to deliver in the form of high-density polyethylene-lined pipes and manhole covers to keep sewage’s corrosive effects separate from the concrete. The 50-year design life is a major change from the 5-10-year design life of unlined products. The premium nature may cost owners a little more, but the shift to longer design life, with less maintenance, continues to pick up pace.


Upward Trajectory


All of those interviewed said that business is good, and the power is in their hands to meet market demands and make business even better. With growing product lists and growing capabilities, precast is trending up; its market share expanding and solidifying as it goes. 

Kimley-Horn SLC Office Marks 10 Years

By By Brad Fullmer • 04 Oct, 2024
It's been a decade since Kimley-Horn, one of the nation’s top engineering and design consultancy firms, launched an office in Salt Lake, and by all accounts, the Wasatch Front market has been a boon to the civil engineering firm, with local leaders feeling highly optimistic about its future success and growth in the Beehive State. The Salt Lake office was opened by Zach Johnson in 2014, who previously spent time in three other Kimley-Horn offices including Sacramento, Orange County, and Denver, with three total people comprising the initial staff. The firm's Denver office was providing consulting services for the Utah Department of Transportation and put together a market analysis regarding expanding into its neighbor to the west. "The market analysis we put together showed we should have had an office in Utah 10 years previously [2004], so we decided to plant a flag and open an office," said Johnson, who leads the office along with seasoned Salt Lake office practice leaders Chris Bick, Leslie Morton, and Nicole Williams. Like any new start-up endeavor, it was rough sledding initially, but strong regional support and the sheer tenacity of boots-on-the-ground marketing started paying off, with explosive growth happening along the way. "I would describe the first few years as lean," said Johnson. "We had to be creative, we had to be scrappy to capture work and rely on our partners across the country, folks who had clients in Utah and rely on those relationships. Those first two to three years were about relationship building and knocking on doors that didn't always open. It was a lot of fun."

A Future Paved with Intentionality

By Taylor Larsen • 03 Oct, 2024
Nearly 90 minutes into a conversation with Dave Edwards and Bruce Fallon, the two remembered a story about the values of WPA Architecture from years before. Fallon was in talks with the principals at the firm to define values for the rest of the company. Longtime ownership, with decades of experience founding and building up their own firm, weren’t against the idea, but the idea of formalizing it all seemed inconsequential. Fallon had been a Principal with the firm for ten years and finally asked longtime Principal Alan Poulson (who retired in December 2023), ‘What motivates you?’ to which [Poulson] answered, ‘Providing for my family.’ The thought has stuck with Fallon and Edwards ever since. “It drove [Poulson] in everything he did,” Fallon said. “He was excellent in everything he did so he could provide for his family.” Now that the two lead WPA as Principals, they have looked to embrace excellence through intentionality—in purpose, relationships, and work ethic—that will lead the firm to new heights.

Marmalade Plaza Bearing Fruit

By Taylor Larsen • 01 Sep, 2024
Tucked just beyond the hustle and bustle of 300 West in Salt Lake City is something sweet: Marmalade Plaza—the collaborative work between third-generation Utah family business Cal Wadsworth Construction and landscape architects and designers at Salt Lake-based LOCI. Amidst the lovely built features and vegetation installed around the half-acre site, what catches the eye is the giant bronze apricot statue on the project's westernmost edge. Statue artist Day Christensen, with his last name so fitting for the Beehive State, delved into the Marmalade District’s rich past as the inspiration for his work on “Apricot,” saying the area’s steep streets were named after quince, apricot, and almond fruits as residents used those fruits to make and sell marmalade. The sculpture, he said, serves as a constant reminder of the neighborhood's origins and the ingenuity of its pioneers. That ingenuity in design and execution was a theme as the project team delivered a public space befitting Salt Lake’s historic Marmalade District. The plaza design took off in 2014 with LOCI Principal and founder Michael Budge and his newly minted firm working on their first project. Instead of funding delays that pushed construction back, Marmalade Plaza would need to wait for future development to finish before starting. The landscape architect said the half-acre parcel was always set up as a public space between existing developments at that time (Marmalade Library; Capitol Villa Apartments) and future projects (Harvest Apartments; Grove at Marmalade townhomes). Public involvement quickly settled on a design priority that remains top of mind for many Utah residents—water. “From day one, we wanted a water feature,” said Budge. The plaza would honor the body of water that existed on site previously, one the Army Corps of Engineers had to ensure wasn’t a wetland. The LOCI team designed an abstract wetland in its place, complete with water boxes for the future rushes to be installed. Winning the construction bid was Cal Wadsworth Construction’s entry point to test their collective chops. “We thought that all of the concrete work was exciting,” Jordan Wadsworth said. As Director of Operations for Cal Wadsworth Construction, the design that called for board-formed precast cubes, cast-in-place bridges and steps, plus sandblasted artistic flair would push him and his team to innovative heights. Turning the site from a post-development mud pit into an urban oasis was challenging on such a tight site. One small entrance on the southern edge for concrete trucks and construction teams required high-level sequencing to get the right people on-site at the right time. Connection and coordination were always at the forefront, especially with how the project integrates with the nearby buildings. That LOCI was hired by Harvest Apartments, adjacent to the to the north and west, to design their landscaping and more was a huge win, ultimately helped to site the complex’s three apartment buildings and combine features where landscaping seen in project dovetails perfectly in the other, flowing together like the plaza’s 100-ft-long water feature. “It’s not an easy design and hats off to the contractors who built it,” said Budge. Not easy is an understatement, especially with the ipe (pronounced E-pay) Brazilian hardwood decking. Dense, heavy, durable, and challenging meant a few hundred drill bits were sacrificed at the altar of construction. But the team persevered, developing a system to make cuts so clean that the hardwood boards appear pre-engineered. “All of it was hand done,” Wadsworth said of the work with the decking. Precision and care were standout features of the Cal Wadsworth Construction team as they self-performed cast-in-place concrete benches with the gentlest curves, three concrete bridges, as well as concrete steps across the northern end of the water feature—all surrounded by two lines of paperbark maple trees. “It’s refined,” said Budge. “It’s less so someone’s backyard, but [more] an urban plaza you’d find in a major city.” The slight bend in the form of the benches, water feature, and around 1,600 SF of decking are not only a circulation effort moving people from southwest to north or vice versa, but a testament to the work from the Cal Wadsworth team to artfully construct such complicated forms. The design also called for precast concrete cubes ranging in height between 9” - 3’9” in height. Built by Brigham City-based Mountain West Precast, each of the cubes was picked and placed close to the final location before a forklift positioned each of them on their respective bolts before epoxying them in place. Wadsworth said it came together “like a Tetris puzzle.” The project team dug deep into their problem-solving bag after the fire marshal refused to allow the grass turf of LOCI’s original design. The landscape architects pivoted to replacing the turf with two 25-foot-plus sycamore trees to help cool and shade the plaza’s 5,000 SF of concrete hardscape.

Movin' on UP!

By Doug Fox • 01 Sep, 2024
There’s a new jewel in the crown of Silicon Slopes architecture: the visually stunning Traverse Heights Office Building. The six-story structure, housing 57,000 square feet of Class A professional office space and featuring a floor-to-ceiling curtain wall glass facade, sits like a queen on a bluff overlooking the I-15 corridor in Lehi and the expanse of Utah Valley. If you’re traveling through that section of north Utah County, you can’t miss it on the east side of I-15. “It is impossible to exit the freeway and not see this building standing large, perched over Silicon Slopes,” said Jared Francom, Project Director for Okland Construction. “It stands apart by location, approach and visibility.” The building, owned by Woodley Real Estate, came with a price tag of around $25 million. In addition to the ownership group, tenants include Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, Solidarity Capital, Paramount and family offices for both Curt Doman and Todd Pederson, among others. “We have had way more demand than space,” said Eric Woodley, owner/developer. “It certainly stands out and is a unique offering. The offset design really sets it apart from the rest [of the buildings in Silicon Slopes].” According to David Anderson, Design Principal for Babcock Design, the core concept of the building differed significantly from the typical five- and six-story workplace projects his firm has created along the Silicon Slopes stretch of I-15. “On the heels of several projects designed around 100,000-plus-square-feet tech-sector tenants that prioritized efficient floor plates and large-scale shared amenities, this project targeted smaller, high-end user groups with an interest in a refined, iconic space,” Anderson said. “As a result, efforts were made to sculpt a unique exterior form with shifting floor plates cantilevering high above the ground plane, which provided extensive usable outdoor space.” COVID Conundrums The journey from land acquisition in 2020 to certificate of occupancy in 2023 turned out to be no easy feat. Mentally, Wasatch Front residents may be a few years removed from the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic but its architectural impact is still being felt and the Traverse Heights Office Building is a prime example. The project started during the mid- to latter stages of the pandemic in 2021 and was designed amid the challenging fallout of material shortages throughout the building industry. Year-long lead times and cost escalation on structural steel products at the time tilted the design decision toward a post-tensioned concrete structure, Anderson said. But that strategic switch spawned its own set of COVID-created conundrums. “By the time construction ensued, of course, there were concrete shortages throughout the state due to shutdowns of several cement production plants,” Anderson said. “Okland Construction worked miracles to acquire concrete during the shortage and significantly minimized delays in the construction schedule.” Choosing concrete both for the look and the difficulty of procuring steel, Woodley noted that the concrete shortage hit during the mat-footing pour — basically the most inopportune time possible. “It was a nightmare to work through, but we had a great construction team to help us navigate it,” he said. On a positive note, the decision to use post-tensioned concrete affected both the overall form — achieving some dramatic cantilevers in the office space – as well as the feel of the interiors, said Anderson. “Exposed architectural concrete sheer walls and solid concrete slabs created a crisp, smooth and dramatic interior space with exceptionally high ceilings,” he said.

ASLA Pulls Up a Chair

By Taylor Larsen • 01 Sep, 2024
It’s hard to keep track of all the decisions made about the built environment happening in Utah. A new commercial design here, permitting there, and the beginning and end of so much master planning. It’s great for the A/E/C community, certainly, but for Bryce Ward and the other board members at the ASLA Utah Chapter, landscape architecture deserves a seat at the table where those decisions are made. Bringing in their unique point of view, ASLA Utah is aiming to break through the misunderstanding in their field to plan, design, and steward environments across Utah for residents and visitors to thrive. There’s the mission, and there’s the practice. Ward explained that landscape architects are expert generalists, meaning he and his fellow professionals are trained to think beyond the site boundaries. “Buildings are part of an elaborate natural and development fabric,” Ward, recently elected Trustee for the ASLA, said. “Landscape architects think through the impacts development has on the built and natural environments.” After all, their work is much more than shrubs, benches, and a walking path. The plan is in motion to build toward a cohesive whole, where every facet of the built environment is considered—with landscape architecture joining the party and improving projects across the state. For Lars Erickson, ASLA Utah President-Elect, the matter is one of dollars and cents in a straightforward equation: clients that value and pay for good design get greater value in their projects. “Even the simplest of landscape projects can create greater value for our environment with a little more effort,” Erickson said.

Big Plans on Campus

By B. Garn • 01 Sep, 2024
Students at Utah’s higher education campuses this fall likely found themselves navigating around construction fencing or finding once familiar pathways to class temporarily blocked as concrete trucks rumbled by and tower cranes cast shadows across campus. From the new buildings for the University of Utah’s School of Medicine that are reshaping the upper campus of the state’s flagship university to plans for a major campus expansion at Utah Tech University (UTU) in St. George, a surge of projects planned and funded several years ago are now taking shape on university campuses from Logan to St. George.

Precast Market Ready to Take Off in Utah

By Taylor Larsen • 01 Sep, 2024
It’s not rocket science. According to Kevin Martin, Geneva Pipe & Precast’s General Manager for the Orem office, precast concrete is a simple, albeit different, solution for a construction problem. “We’re still building a metal cage and building a mold and putting concrete around it,” he said. Simple, sure, but effective. With a huge concrete market to capture, expanding infrastructure with new and growing communities, and a broken labor market showing no signs of repair, the trajectory for precast is upward and onward as the new year approaches. No Rest for Precast Each of those interviewed spoke to how there is not just an insatiable demand for precast in Utah, but that they regularly field calls from out of state to supply jobs across the West. As a byproduct, one trend that may be gone forever is the winter slowdown, especially as development ticks up across the state. Said Martin, “We used to use the winter months to build up inventory, but the new way of doing things is putting pressure on us to keep production high year-round.” Demand for neighborhood infrastructure products is here to stay, especially for growing cities around the state. Developments are popping up across Utah County in Lehi, Saratoga Springs, and Eagle Mountain, as well as an exploding demand from the southward development in places like Payson, Santaquin, and even Benjamin, nestled snugly just south of Spanish Fork. Precast, those interviewed said, is ready to meet it with pipe, box culvert, manholes, and more. With expanding development combined with the growing capabilities of precast concrete, "slowdown" might not enter the precast vernacular again. Lee Wegner, Regional Sales Manager for Contech Engineered Solutions, noted the possibilities that opened up with the Latter-day Saint temples in the 2010s changed the game on precast concrete in Utah. High-level detail and molds brought awards and new possibilities, with rope-like features and scalloped corners doing the best impression of skilled masonry work. “Almost every piece was unique,” said Wegner of their work on the Payson Temple. While unique is not the word precasters want to hear in such a standardized process, the pride of seeing what their work accomplished in the final build helped to reimagine what was possible in precast shops. “We’re pushing the envelope a lot more and are much more adaptable to the needs of the market.”

Innovative Infrastructure

By Milt Harrison • 01 Aug, 2024
Crews from Whitaker construction installed a massive 63-inch diameter HDPE pipe for North Davis Sewer District that allows treated and cleaned wastewater to flow to the Great Salt Lake, putting water back into the ecosystem while combatting dropping water levels. (photos courtesy Whitaker Construction)

Brilliantly Executed Spaces and Thinking

By LADD MARSHALL • 01 Aug, 2024
The Intermountain Chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) held its annual BEST Awards competition on May 16 at The Natural History Museum of Utah, with the UVU Sorensen Student Center capturing the "BEST of the BEST" and "BEST Play" categories. BEST stands for Brilliantly Executed Spaces & Thinking, and the IIDA awards are among the most prestigious given to interior design professionals in both residential and commercial markets. An array of unique projects were submitted, projects that go beyond painting a pretty picture while truly encompassing great design in function, form, and style. IIDA Intermountain recognizes that successful interior design requires a collaboration of many disciplines including consultant teams, project managers, vendors, contractors, and more. These awards are a celebration of that collaboration and of dynamic overall design happening throughout the Intermountain region.

Next Gen

By Brad Fullmer • 01 Aug, 2024
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