With the capacity to process 250,000 tons of recycled material annually, this is Balcones’ first new, ground-up facility to be built in more than a decade. As the largest privately held recycling company in the U.S. that does not own any landfills, Balcones must recycle or find a productive use for virtually all incoming material.

Photo courtesy KDW

To meet a firm, non-negotiable completion deadline of May 2024— just three years from contract award—the project team took a highly disciplined approach to schedule management from Day 1. The owner had to begin operations immediately upon turnover to fulfill their contract with the city. Early in construction, significant rain delays stalled slab work and slowed initial site progress. To recover lost time, the team conducted a comprehensive, line-by-line review of the schedule, identifying opportunities to accelerate the pace. This included strategic sequencing of trades, often side by side rather than in succession, and optimizing crew scheduling to increase efficiency.

The tipping floor is a 35,000-sq-ft, 12-in.-thick concrete slab placed monolithically that is designed to handle continuous heavy equipment use. To preserve slab integrity during the continuous placement, a backup cement plant was on standby, and wet-curing blankets were used to maintain moisture and control curing.

This project also features cast-in-place concrete walls in the building structure, which allowed for a protected walkway behind the push walls, strategically keeping employees out of truck traffic zones and greatly improving safety and operational efficiency.