August 12, 2007, Orlando FL: Like a well orchestrated concert, WELBRO Building Corporation directed the pouring of the concrete for the mat foundation on which the new Hilton Orlando Hotel at the Orange County Convention Center will be constructed. Planning for this monolithic pour started months ago and consisted of the following statistics to complete the pour that started at 2:00 a.m., by 12:30 on Saturday, August 11. th
Statistics for the mat foundation:
- 73,066 square feet
- 2,616 tons of reinforcing steel
- 8,900 cubic yards of concrete
- 215 workers, technicians and supervisors
- 9 - 15 concrete pumps
- 171-200 concrete trucks
- 9 concrete plants
According to Linda Bell, WELBRO’s Operations Manager for the project, “we finished the pour about 12:30 p.m. It was a well-choreographed, highly organized event. The pour went so well, it was as close to perfection as one could hope to achieve.”
From atop the Convention Center parking garage roof on Canadian Court, WELBRO Associates, Guests and the Press viewed the impressive concrete pour taking place directly across the street from the viewing area. As the concrete trucks approached the site truck lights reflected in the night a steady stream of approximately 200 concrete trucks making their way to pump stations where the concrete was dumped into the pumps and on to the foundation. The construction site was also lit up by huge portable lights that assisted the more than 215 workers, technicians and supervisors in the process.
The Hilton Orlando is located at 6001 Canadian Court, Orlando, FL 32819.
Hilton Orlando will be a 1,400-room, 18-story hotel which will sit on 26.4 acres in the heart of Orlando's tourism district, south of the Orange County Convention Center. It will include 52 suites, a 15,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, several restaurants and bars, and about 130,000 square feet of meeting space, including 38 meeting rooms and a 50,000-square-foot grand ballroom. The hotel will link to the convention center via a pedestrian sky bridge.
Completion scheduled for August 2009. HKS Architects is the Architect of Record.