Local Company Earns Sustainability Award in Annual Industry Competition
INDIANAPOLIS – Cape Fear Precast of Jacksonville, N.C., earned a first place award in the National Precast Concrete Association’s annual Sustainability Awards competition. The award was given on March 2 in Cleveland, Ohio, during The Precast Show 2017. The award recognizes the company’s work to preserve and restore the submerged aquatic Bonner Bridge ecosystem near Hatteras Island, N.C. When North Carolina Department of Transportation engineers started planning to replace the aging Bonner Bridge, they called on Cape Fear Precast, an NPCA Certified Plant, to design a precast structure that would reduce wave energy and protect aquatic vegetation and life within the 2.66-acre site. The precaster developed a 500-foot wave break consisting of 101 precast concrete wave attenuators that are designed to become a permanent “living” structure. The pieces were loaded onto a specially designed barge and lowered with a customized mini excavator around pylons that had been driven to a depth of 20 to 30 feet. This design will help the structure withstand hurricane conditions. Great care and consideration was taken to ensure the surrounding area and marine life were disturbed as little as possible. “Recognizing companies like Cape Fear Precast for implementing sustainable best practices is important because it reminds us that all parts of the supply chain have valuable contributions to make in reducing environmental impact,” said Ty Gable, president of National Precast Concrete Association.
The National Precast Concrete Association (precast.org) represents more than 600 manufacturing firms and nearly 300 supplier companies operating in the precast concrete sector of the construction industry in North America. Based in Indianapolis, NPCA provides technical services, educational programs, safety expertise and certification programs for the industry.
