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School News | Monday, March 06, 2023

Close encounters of the construction kind

Immaculata-La Salle engineering students visit precast concrete plant, preview new construction at high school

Students from Immaculata La Salle High's STEAM engineering program watch construction workers at different stations. Immaculata-La Salle students went on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Structures in Medley, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Students from Immaculata La Salle High's STEAM engineering program watch construction workers at different stations. Immaculata-La Salle students went on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Structures in Medley, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

MEDLEY | Students and faculty at Immaculata-La Salle High School returned from Christmas break and encountered a completely new look to their familiar, plain athletic fields.

As part of an ongoing “Building on the Legacy” project that began in June 2022, new athletic facilities, accompanying grandstands and more, are now visibly under construction as vehicles enter the school’s property at 3601 South Miami Avenue.

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, shows students and teachers from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program steel rebars, cabling used as a tension device in reinforcing concrete. The students and teachers were given a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, shows students and teachers from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program steel rebars, cabling used as a tension device in reinforcing concrete. The students and teachers were given a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

But 16 engineering students from the high school’s STEAM program had an opportunity to get an insider’s look at the construction project when they were invited in November 2022 to visit Coreslab Structures, a precast and prestressed concrete-making facility in Medley.

Immaculata-La Salle became the first high school to tour the plant, an experience usually reserved for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level college students.

“What you’re going to see here is materials to product, the product drying, and then moving them off site to construction sites,” said Luis Comprés, project consultant at Coreslab.

He guided the students and their teachers, all donning hard hats, through a span deck, stopping to show how cages, cables and forms were prepared for concrete. Then he walked them by the carpentry and steel shops where forms are cut and molded to design needs. Finally, they visited the prestressed and precast beds where concrete is poured and dried.

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, leads students from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, leads students from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Students also met with experts in the field for a brief master class and discussion of their school’s ongoing project.

David Prada, senior director of the Building and Properties Office for the Archdiocese of Miami, said he was grateful that the students had the opportunity to explore first-hand the different ways of constructing a building.

“The architects and engineers had to figure out what was the most efficient way,” he said. “La Salle is very tight. Land-wise, we don’t have a lot of access points, we don’t have a lot of parking, we don’t have a lot of staging. So we had to find creative ways of building the building.”

One of Immaculata-La Salle’s athletic facilities is being built with precast pieces made at Coreslab. “They are assembled or erected on site, like Legos. You need heavy equipment, like cranes, to lift them,” Comprés explained.

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, answers questions from students of Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program during their tour of the grounds of Coreslab, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, answers questions from students of Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program during their tour of the grounds of Coreslab, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

The crane, still on the high school’s campus, installs between 12 and 15 precast pieces a day. The building constructed with precast will be a field house that doubles as a stadium, with grandstands built over the structure. The new locker room, also being built, has a more traditional masonry construction.

Eduardo Rodriguez, chair and founding member of Florida Lemark, the construction contractors who are managing the Immaculata-La Salle project, said builders cannot achieve such precision on site without the aid of prefab construction.

“The beauty of what you’re going to see, especially on the bleachers, is that you’re really looking at steel forms, and the forms made here are higher quality than high end furniture. The dimensions are perfect. Everything is controlled to the max, the quality control, the dimensions, the forming, how it’s being made. It is impossible to replicate that in the field,” Rodriguez said.

During Immaculata-La Salle’s field trip to Coreslab, pieces of the school’s precast slabs were not yet in progress, though construction was fully underway on campus. Students were encouraged to keep track of the progress before and after the Christmas break.

“Please look at the details and ask questions,” said Rodriguez.

FIND OUT MORE

  • Immaculata-La Salle High School invites those interested in a tour of the new athletic facilities to contact [email protected].
Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, leads students and teachers from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

Photographer: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO| FC

Luis Compres, project consultant at Coreslab Structures in Medley, leads students and teachers from Immaculata-La Salle High's STEAM engineering program on a tour of the grounds of Coreslab, Nov. 17, 2022. Coreslab is a leading producer of precast/prestressed concrete products and part of the construction team building Immaculata-La Salle's new athletic facilities.

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