Working with an existing foundation can be a complex job, and one that H3 concrete experts are uniquely qualified to complete.

The request: Turn a shopping center into a medical clinic

Working for Whiting Turner, our crews delivered a structural foundation and concrete package for the Redbird Clinic remodel for the UTSW Hospital System.

Mall to clinic conversion requires H3 concrete expertise

The original footprint of the former Redbird Mall was too small for the clinic that would take its place. Whiting Turner turned to the H3 concrete professionals to create unique solutions to some very special challenges.

The first challenge: Expansion tied into an existing foundation

Together with Whiting Turner project managers, H3 concrete specialists devised a plan to provide cast in place piers and foundation footing beams, elevating the site’s slabs to provide for an expansion for the new South Dallas Redbird Clinic.

The second challenge: Creating a solid foundation without steel

The UTSW Hospital System planned to create an MRI center as part of the Redbird Clinic expansion and development project. MRI technology uses powerful magnets to create detailed images of the systems within the human body, so H3 concrete specialists faced a dilemma.

How do you create a solid and lasting concrete foundation without steel rebar, an element which is so vital to a foundation’s structural integrity?

Non-traditional materials provide a solution

The solution was one that our team had previous experience implementing. Fiberglass rebar is a product that has high tensile strength, yet is lightweight, non-conductive, and transparent to magnetic fields and radar imagery. Its effectiveness as a concrete-reinforcing material has shown great promise due to its non-corrosive nature, and is expected to last 20 times longer than traditional steel rebar.

Innovation in motion

H3 concrete crews built the Redbird Clinic MRI center foundation using FRP products within a cast-in-place foundation. With our construction partners and clients, we share the confidence that these innovative solutions have put the Redbird Clinic project on solid ground, and we thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.