Why hollow core?

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Residential building

Office building

INDEX

1. Introduction

2. Opportunities for prefabrication

3. Sustainable construction with hollow core floor slabs

Top 16 advantages

3.1 Structural efficiency

3.2 Flexibility and adaptability

11

3.3 Durability and long life span

13

3.4 Building physics

14

10

Thermal activated floors 14

Insulated floors 15

3.5 Fire resistance

16

3.6 Optimum use of materials

17

3.7 Automated production

18

3.8 Less environmental burden

18

Speed of construction

18

Noise, dust, emissions, etc.

19

Waste treatment

19

Fresh concrete

20

Hardened concrete

20

Closed production system for precast hollow core floors

20

Demolition of buildings

20

4. Comparison of the environmental effects

22

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Literature 23

Sustainable construction
with precast prestressed hollow core
floors
Ir. Arnold Van Acker, Past Chairman fib commission on prefabrication

1. Introduction
Today there is a great awareness of the importance and necessity of guaranteeing future
generations needs without compromising or sacrificing the ability to satisfy the needs of the
present generation. In order to obtain these goals, emphasis must be put on sustainability
in the development of our society. Since some of the most basic needs of any generation
are housing and mobility, the construction sector is placed in a central position of this
development. However the construction sector still imposes a considerable burden upon
the environment in terms of energy consumption, use of resources, pollution and waste
production.

Office building

Prison

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One tenth of the worlds economy goes towards building and managing housing and commercial property.
This sector accounts for more wood, minerals, water and electricity than the remaining 90 percent of the
economy. Therefore new approaches in all life stages of buildings are needed, which will meet the challenges
of satisfying the growing human needs while conserving and protecting the environmental quality and natural
resources.
Designing for sustainable development not only involves using recyclable building materials and reducing
energy consumption while building, but it also implies better use of available building materials, production
systems with less environmental burden, products with higher performances, design systems in line with new
demands for flexibility and adaptability to future needs, energy conservation at construction and during use of
the building, environmentally friendly demounting and recycling instead of noisy and dusty demolition.

Apartments

Shopping mall & Apartments

6

Office building

2. Opportunities for
prefabrication

all materials is comparatively simple to achieve in a

Concrete structures in general and prefabrication in

ecologically advantageous. Concrete is durable, and

particular have excellent opportunities to respond

requires no toxic preservatives in order to prevent its

to the present and future environmental demands.

deterioration. In industrialized countries corrosion of

The production of precast concrete elements takes

steel is costing about 4% of the gross national product,

place under controlled climatic conditions in enclosed

and half of the annual steel production in the world

factories. This makes control with waste, emissions

is used to replace corroded structures. In addition,

and noise levels easy compared to the same processes

the energy consumption of concrete is extremely low,

at the building site. Consequently the inconvenience

compared to other construction materials (Fig. 1).

closed factory environment.

Concrete has properties that at the outset are

to the public is greatly reduced in comparison with

traditional building methods.

The utilization of the thermal mass of the concrete will

save up to 35% of the energy required to heat or cool

200

With factory production, the environment for the

buildings. Furthermore, the mass of concrete provides

workers is easily controlled. Also recycling of

excellent sound insulating properties.

184

150

92

100

50

17
0

Extruded
Aluminium

Plastics

Structural
Ceramics

12

Steel

Glass

Fig. 1 Energy consumption

for the production of building
materials

Concrete

Hollow core production plant

PARTNER IN FLOOR SOLUTIONS - FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETION

3. Sustainable construction with

hollow core floor slabs
The precast concrete industry is constantly searching for new products and building systems to satisfy the coming
needs and demands of our modern society: shortage of labour force, structural efficiency, fire resistance, speed
of construction, quality of execution, and last but not least sustainable construction. One of the most remarkable
and successfull developments in this context is the prestressed hollow core slab. It provides an answer to most
of the present market demands and challenges for the building industry: structural efficiency, low material
consumption, highly automated and environmentally friendly production process, high concrete strength, slender
floor thickness, and possibilities for reuse and recycling at the end of the life cycle.

Top 16 advantages:
Prestressed hollow core floors are highly engineered
structural products manufactured under factorycontrolled conditions.

1.

Reduced self-weight

2. Versatility for designers

3. Wide range of applications suitable for the residential,
healthcare, education, industrial and commercial markets
4. Long spans without intermediate supports
5. High load capacity
6. Efficient span/depth-ratio leading to reduced story heights
7. Safe working platform
8. Excellent fire resistance
9. Smooth ready to paint soffit
10. Excellent acoustic insulation and thermal properties
11. Green product reduced use of raw material
12. Economical solution
13. Reduction in number of site personnel
14. High speed of erection
15. Easily adapted to enable heating and cooling of a building
even without burning fossil fuels
16. Easily adapted to be highly efficient in distributing fresh
and warm air, electrical wiring, plumbing and sprinkler
services throughout a building
(source: IPHA brochure 2010)

PARTNER IN FLOOR SOLUTIONS - FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETION

3.1 Structural efficiency

Precast concrete offers considerable scope for
improving structural efficiency. Longer spans and
shallower construction depths can be obtained by
using prestressed concrete for beams and floors. For
industrial and commercial halls, roof spans can be made
up to 50 m. For parking garages, precast concrete
enables occupiers to put more cars on the same space,
because of the large span possibilities and more
slender column sections. In office buildings, the trend
is to construct large open spaces, to be filled in with
partitions. It offers not only flexibility in the building but
extends its lifetime, because of the easier adaptability.
In this way, the building retains its commercial value
over a longer period.

10

Precast prestressed hollow core floors offer

maximum efficiency to the user. Due to the
slenderness of the products and long span
capacities, they create maximum exploitation
capacity to the available building space.
Figure 2 shows a vertical section through
the floor structure of a recently constructed
tower building of 37 floors. The total floor
thickness including the supporting beam, floor
slab and topping is only 40 cm. Compared to
the classical in-situ construction, it has been
possible to add one more storey within the
maximum building height imposed by the
town planning directives in Brussels.

Fig. 2: Vertical section through the slender floor

structure

3.2 Flexibility and adaptability

In the future, the design of buildings shall have
to take into account not only the direct costs for
construction and exploitation, but also the deferred
costs for adaptation or demolition. In other words, the
designer will have to consider the whole buildings
life span, from cradle to grave. In this context, owners
will opt less for demolition of entire buildings, but
will rather choose for renovation. The different
building components - load bearing structure, floors,
faades, services and finishes - will have varying life
spans. Consequently, everything apart from the main
structure and the floors, should be designed in such
a way that it is replaceable and renewable within a
normal building lifecycle, to avoid early termination
and to allow reconfiguration of spaces and services.

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11

One of the strong points in modern prefabrication is

the combination of large free floor spans with slender
construction depths. It is nowadays quite common for
middle-rise office blocks to have floor spans up to
17 m from faade to faade, with a floor thickness
of only 400 mm, and without internal columns. This
concept suits perfectly in the modern market demands
for flexibility and adaptability, even after a long period
of use.

12

Energy

3.3 Durability and long life span

The prerequisite for a long life span is durable
load bearing structures, including the floors.
Hollow core floors will retain their structural
capacity for 100 years and more because of

SUSTAINABILITY

their high concrete strength, low porosity

and sufficient cover to the prestressing
reinforcement. The manufacture has to respond
to the national product standard (e.g. European

Waste
materials

Raw
materials

PARTNER IN FLOOR SOLUTIONS - FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETION

Product Code EN 1168), and is strictly controlled

according to a system of self-control, supervised
by an accredited external body.

13

3.4 Building physics

Thermal activated floors
The heating and cooling of buildings consumes a
large part of the total energy used in our society.
Concrete has an essential role to play in the decrease
of energy consumption for heating and cooling,
mainly through its ability to absorb and later release
large amounts of heat, and therefore minimise
temperature fluctuations. This results in a building
that is more comfortable and healthier to live in,
both in winter and summer. This ability to function
as a structural element while providing thermal mass
makes concrete an extremely important construction
material.
The ClimaDeck system developed by the ECHO
Group, is based on the storage of thermal energy in
the mass of precast hollow core floors. Water pipes
are embedded in the hollow core floor units during
casting of the slabs. The system works on a 24 hour
basis, and is used both for heating and cooling of

Charging
Discharging

Hours
Fig. 3. Air temperatures with ClimaDeck compared to
classical cooling technique during a 14-day period in
an office building

14

Cooling capacity

Air temperature

building spaces.

Slab type

Insulated floors
Hollow core slabs have good sound insulation

environment and in providing sound separation

Weight
KN/m

Airborn sound
insulation dB

200

2.60

55 -57

200 + 50

3.80

60

200 +
30/50

2.70

60 - 65

200 + 50
+ 50

3.80

70

400

4.65

62

properties, especially against airborn sound

transmission, reducing noise from the external

Thickness
mm

between superposed rooms. Impact sound

insulation properties are similar as with other solid
slabs. They depend merely on the type of floor
covering. A better and more fundamental solution is
to use structural methods as raised floors or floating
floors. The raised floor system is however seldom
used in residential buildings.
The ECHO Group has recently developed a double
precast deck system according to the mass-springmass principle. The dB-Deck comprises a load

bearing prestressed hollow core slab, positioned

on top of a self-bearing hollow core soffit slab,
with intermediate acoustic damping supporting
pads. The system is a total concept. The precast
double floor is supplied on site ready to erect. The
advantages lie not only in the excellent acoustic
properties both for direct and flanking noise
absorption, but also in the fast execution without

Fig. 4 Absorption
of flanking transmission through
damping pads
inside the double
floor

risk of execution faults, and at competitive cost.

The minimum isolation capacity is DnT,w > 58 dB for
airborn noise, and LnT,w < 50 dB for impact noise.

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15

3.5 Fire resistance

Test 1

Test 2

Since the 1970s, more than hundred fire tests

have been carried out on prestressed hollow core
floor units in several laboratories in Europe as well
as in America and in Japan. The tests were done
on a wide range of cross-sections together with
variations in reinforcement, etc. The results show
that, when the tests are carried out on floors with
normal connections to the supporting structure, a
fire resistance of 2 to 3 hours is obtained both for
bending and for shear loading.

Atmosphere temperature (C)

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0

50

100
Time (mins)

16

150

200

3.6 Optimum use of materials

Precast structures have favorable economy of materials. One reason is that precasters normally use fairly high
concrete and steel grades, consequently the products use less material to achieve the same load bearing capacity
as cast in-situ structures. The smaller dimensions result in less dead load to carry. Figure 5 illustrates the evolution
in concrete compressive strength of precast concrete over the previous 50 years.

Fig. 5 Evolution of concrete strength

25 MPa
50 MPa

1950

80 MPa
120 MPa

1970

1980

10
ton

Water

20

Cement

30

Water

40

Cement

50

Gravel & Steel

60

H ollow Core S la bs
Total Self Weight

70

-45%
Gravel & Steel

80

Total Self Weight

2000

TOTA L MATE RIAL SAV ING

Fig. 6 Total material consumption of hollow core slabs compared to cast in-situ floors

Hollow core slabs score better than other types of floors, because of the rational use of the materials. The
presence of longitudinal voids in the cross-section leads to about 45% saving in concrete compared with a
plain cast in-situ reinforced slab, and at the same time cuts the amount of prestressing steel by 30% because
of the lower self-weight. For an average apartment this means savings of 14,4 tons of concrete and 275 kg
steel, which certainly is a large step towards sustainability.

PARTNER IN FLOOR SOLUTIONS - FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETION

17

3.7 Automated production

The advantage of controlled concrete production in enclosed factories is obvious: every part of the process can
easily be monitored and controlled, because the operations are repetitive and take place at the same location.
Hence it is economically justifiable to carry out the necessary investments to meet the demands of our modern,
ecologically conscious society.
The manufacture of hollow core units is highly automated thanks to the extrusion and slipform production
techniques. The prestressing beds have a length varying from 100 to 200 m and the speed of casting ranges
from 1 to 2 m per minute. The average labour input in most precast plants is about 12 to 15 minutes per m floor,
from unloading of raw materials to loading of the slabs on the truck.

3.8 Less environmental burden

The production and execution of prestressed hollow core floors is an environmental friendly process for many
reasons: speed of construction, reduction of noise, dust and dangerous emissions, waste treatment of fresh and
hardened concrete residus, etc. With a stationary precasting plant, the production equipment does not have
to be brought from one building site to another as it is the case for in-situ casting, and hence there is saving in
transportation.

Speed of construction
Because of the slowness of traditional in-situ construction methods, long construction delays were accepted
in the past. Today, the demand for a speedy return on investment is becoming more and more important: the
decision to start the work is postponed until the last moment, but the initially agreed construction delay has to

Hollow core casting beds

18

be met. In addition, projects are getting more complex, which is

not in favour of short construction delays.
The aim of the building industry for the future is to respond to
the ever increasing market demands for flexibility with respect to
architecture and lay-out of the building, as well as for the comfort
during its use. The real challenge for the precasting industry is
to develop production processes that enable the combination
of mass production and flexibility. To achieve this, hollow core
slabs are setting the tone. The long prestressing bed technique
allows for mass production whilst flexibility is obtained through
the sawing of the slabs to any length and angle. Most floor plans,
whether they are orthogonal or irregular can be designed with
hollow core units.

Noise, dust, emissions, etc.

The environment for the workers in the factories remains
comparatively clean, not noisy, not dusty, free of toxic fumes,
and has a comfortable temperature. All this is not possible in a
traditional building site. Work in the factories eliminates to a great
extent the three Ds at the site: Dirty, Difficult and Dangerous.
Precast concrete components are normally manufactured in well
controlled industrial processes, and consequently noise, dust and
all possible sources of pollution can be identified and controlled
due to the transparency of the environment.
Noise emanes mainly from the compaction of the fresh concrete
by vibration. Self compacting concrete is a new and very
promising solution for prefabrication. Whereas high strength
concrete essentially focusses on product performances (strength
and durability), self compacting concrete has a serious beneficial
impact on the production process. Self compacting concrete
needs no vibration and thus opens a lot of advantages such as
low noise level during casting, less mould pressure, rapid casting,
easy casting when using dense reinforcement or when having thin
or complicated cross-sections, less air pores at the surface and
easy to pump.

Waste treatment
In precasting there will be less waste than at a traditional building
site, due to a transparent and repetitious production, that makes it
easy to find use for leftovers. This means less steel consumption,
and again less consumption of natural resources.
The mixing equipment in precasting plants is fixed, which means
the necessary investments for recirculation of waste water and
fresh concrete can be justified. Compared to in-situ casting the
ecological advantage is obvious, where this kind of recycling very
seldom can be economically defended.

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19

Fresh concrete
Residue of fresh concrete, coming from mixing, emptying
of casting machines, casting beds, holes and cut outs
in fresh concrete is recycled. The recycling consists in
separating the sand and the gravel from the cement slurry.
The reclaimed sand and gravel is reused immediately. The
cement slurry is transferred to sedimentation basins to
eliminate the surplus water before reuse.

Hardened concrete
Recycling of hardened concrete, coming from bed ends,
slab fragments and rejected units is now currently done
in most precasting plants. The waste concrete is usually
processed by a mobile crushing unit. The material
remaining is separated into fine and coarse recycled
aggregates.
Recycling of hardened concrete costs about the same
as new natural aggregates. Hence the total costs of
dumping are saved. The recycled aggregates can be
used in reinforced and prestressed concrete up to 20%
of the total aggregates without any loss of the concrete
performance. It can also be used in road foundations or
other applications.
Concrete requires less energy for recycling than steel does,
because of the high temperatures required to melt down
the steel. Steel is claimed to have the possibility to be 100%
recyclable. The same can be said for precast hollow core
slabs.

Closed production system for precast hollow core

floors
Future precasting plants will work as a closed production
system, in which all waste material is processed and reused.
The industry is working hard to achieve this goal, and some
experimental plants are already working on this basis.
The residues of fresh concrete , slurry from sawing the
concrete units to length, cleaning of mixers and machines,
will be separated in sedimentation reservoirs, and the water
cleaned for reuse. The hardened concrete waste is crushed
and recycled. The waste steel goes back to the steel
furnaces. The excess calories for heating of the prestressing
beds is recuperated in a power/heat station, and reused.

Demolition of buildings
Experiences in different countries have shown that precast
buildings can be demolished in a much more environmental
friendly way than traditional in-situ constructions: less
noise and dust, faster demolition, and less total waste. A
study in Sweden for the demolition of apartment buildings
which were partly executed in cast in-situ concrete, and
partly in hollow core floors and sandwich walls, showed the
following figures:
20

Project

Total
waste in m

Waste
per flat in
m

Waste
m/m
flat

73 in-situ
flats

1540

21

0.20

70 precast
flats

980

14

0.13

Source: Anslagsrapport A10-96, BFR Sweden

Table 1 Comparative quantities of waste at demolition
of precast and cast in-situ apartment buildings

One of the future assets of precast construction will be the

feasibility to demount and redesign existing precast buildings
rather than to demolish them. The challenge will be for the
designer to consider from the start the whole buildings life
span, from cradle to grave. In this way the above figures for
waste with precast concrete buildings will further decrease
substantially.

Office Building

PARTNER IN FLOOR SOLUTIONS - FROM DESIGN TO COMPLETION

21

4. Comparison of the environmental effects

between a precast prestressed hollow core
floor and a plain cast in-situ reinforced floor
for single family housing.
The following tables show the results of a comparative LCA study of a prestressed concrete hollow core floor
compared to a plain cast in-situ slab. The figures are related to one square meter of concrete storey floor in a
single family house, over a period of 50 years. The results show that the hollow core floor scores much better than
the in-situ floor, on most environmental parameters:
28% less primary energy consumption
40 to 50% less raw material
37,8% less generation of waste

22

Hollow core floor

Cast in-situ floor

Steel total (MJ)

119

183

Steel share (%)

25,8%

28,5%

mild steel

67

306

prestressing steel

117

recycling

- 65

- 123

Cement total (MJ)

213,3

173

Cement share (%)

46,3%

26,9%

Portland B

32,3

Portland C

181

Blast furnace A

173

Filler total (MJ)

39,8

20,3

Filler share (%)

8,6%

3,2%

sand

7,1

gravel

8,0
11,9

lime stone

32,6

water

0,2

0,4

Transport total (MJ)

55,1

66,3

Transport share (%)

12,0%

10,3%

truck 40t

32,6

truck 28t

10,6

11,4

truck 16t + truck mixer

1,0

39,7

ship

11,0

15,2

End of life cycle (MJ)

18,1

60,1

End of life cycle (%)

3,9%

9,4%

loss (dumping)

reuse high quality concrete

- 9,5

15,5

reuse low quality concrete

27,6

44,6

Production energy (MJ)

15,8

139,9

Production energy (%)

3,4%

21,8%

total energy

- 1,4

diesel

3,4

gas

5,3

7,6

electricity

21,1

30,9

propane

5,6

95,8

Total (MJ)

461

643

Total (%)

72%

100%

Table 2 Contribution by the production processes to the use

of primary energy
Hollow core floor

Cast in-situ floor

eutrophication (kg PO43- eq.)

0,0.35

0,0410

exhaustion (* 10-12)

0,0468

0,0707

ecotoxicity (* 10 m)

2,78

5,81

greenhouse effect (kg CO2 eq.)

55,2

53,4

acidification (kg SO2 eq.)

summer smog (kg SO2 eq.)
human toxicity (kg)

0,252

0,306

0,0297

0,0460

0,318

0,411

use of primary energy (MJ)

461

643

solid waste (kg)

36,3

58,8

Table 3: Absolute values of the environmental effects

Source: CREM Consultancy and Research for Environmental
management Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Literature
- fib bulletin 21 Environmental issues in prefabrication March 2003; Fdration internationale du Bton Lausanne,
Switserland
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23

www.dewitte.be

ECHO nv
Donderslagweg 25 I BE-3530 Houthalen
T +32 89 84 03 11 I F +32 89 84 03 35
www.echobel.com

ECHO Engineering nv
Industrieterrein Centrum-Zuid 1533 I BE-3530 Houthalen
T +32 11 60 08 00 I F +32 11 52 20 93
www.echo-engineering.net

24

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