Putzmeister Pumps and Conveyors Help Achieve Record-Setting 20,259 Cubic Yards in 24-Hour Pour August 1999

Las Vegas... the city that never sleeps, stands true to its reputation as the Venetian Hotel and Casino's new towers are resurrected in a record breaking 20,259 cubic yard pour done in a 24-hour continuous stretch.

Concrete Placing at its Best ... in Las VegasIt's history in the making. The Sands Hotel and Casino originally opened on December 15, 1952 with 200 rooms. Built by Texas gaming entrepreneur and horse breeder Jackie Friedman for $5.5 million, the Las Vegas hotel looks back on its history with pride. Most recently, the Sands Hotel and Casino, now renamed the Venetian, has again taken its place in history; however, this time it's in the construction industry.

Not only has the Venetian Hotel & Casino added their names to the record book, CSR of Las Vegas (otherwise known as WMK) has also added their name to the list with this largest known single continuous concrete placement in the building trades ever! CSR furnished and placed the 20,259 cubic yards of concrete for the first and largest section of the Venetian's building mat. This far exceeds the previous single pour record of 16,123 yards placed on a West Virginia project.

The placement started at 10 p.m. on June 27, 1997 and continued for 24 hours. Placement rates averaged 1,000 yards per hour through the first 18 hours, but were reduced as final topping-off took place and placing machines were removed from the pour.

Eight concrete placing machines were used which included four Putzmeister Telebelt TB 105 belt conveyors, ideal for this particular job as they are known for their very high volume outputs; and a 43-Meter Putzmeister boom pump with its exclusive free flow hydraulics for smooth, controllable pumping. The surge-free conveyors were to place the top seven feet of the 8 1/2-foot thick foundation before the boom pumps placed the surface concrete. Machine positioning was tight as the units "leap-frogged" around the edge of the mat. It was not unusual to see pumps and conveyors set up with their outriggers overlapped and their booms seemingly in a tangle.

A traffic company was hired to allow mixer trucks to turn onto the site. Originally Bovis wanted to pour the entire foundation with one single pour. "However, that was scaled back due to driver service-hour restrictions on the California cement supplier," states Galen Stockton, vice-president of operations for CSR.

CSR stockpiled 15,000 tons of sand and coarse aggregate on site and had an 8,000-gallon water truck available in case of line blockage from a 20,000-gallon holding tank. CSR used two plants - one on-site wet mix plant and one on-site dry mix plant to combine the necessary 400 cubic yards per hour. CSR also used three off-site plants to combine for 600 cubic yards per hour and over 400 mixer trucks to batch and deliver the concrete.

The new construction of the Venetian Hotel and Casino will consist of two separate 3,000 - room resorts on the hotel's 60-acre lot, with a "consumer experience" connecting the two resorts. The completion of this project will make the Venetian's new property the largest hotel, casino, shopping and private exposition facility in the world.