THE ground works for FTC Group of Companies’ Aeon Tower is already 25 percent complete.
Construction manager Buboy D. Espinola, in an interview with Sun.Star Davao, said development works at the project site at present include board filing and the diaphragm wall. They have contracted Advance Construction Specialists to work on Phase 1 of the project.
“We are on track with the project and we expect that we finish package 1 by the first quarter of 2014, probably around late January or February,” Espinola said.
He said the board filing will be composed of 163 board files placed 45 meters deep in the ground while the diaphragm wall will have a thickness of .7 meters and placed 20 meters deep.
“The purpose of the board file is to make the ground stable for the foundation. It will be the one to hold the soft ground so that the soil won’t cave in or set,” Espinola said.
He said after the first package is completed, they will proceed to the second package, which is the excavation. This will be done sometime in the first quarter of 2014 and is expected to be done in four months. The foundation is expected to be visible by the second quarter.
In addition, they have improved the drainage from the one meter (in diameter) reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) to a 2.3m x 3m rectangular RCP. He said the new design increased the drainage’s capacity by 200 percent.
Espinola said the tower will be able to withstand earthquakes since it is designed based on the maximum recorded magnitude of earthquake in the Philippines.
In a briefer, Aeon Towers can withstand at least a magnitude seven on the Ritcher Scale. The building is a reinforced concrete dual structural system. Which means its resistance to earthquakes is supplied by the combined special shear walls and special moment-resisting frames (SMRF) systems. The shear walls provide the larger portion of resistance to earthquake while the SMRFs act as back-up resisting frame system supplying not less than 25 percent resistance to earthquakes.
The 33-storey building will rise in 4,574 square meters area and it is expected to be completed by 2016. Once completed, the tower will house 473 units and 300 parking lots.
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 20, 2013.
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