Minimising Impact of Concrete Finishing

We are currently constructing a student accommodation project in a quiet residential area. Our planned hours are from 08:00 – 18:00 and the building frame is a reinforced concrete structure.

Typically, we would have applied to the council for an out of hours permits when floor slab pours take place. This would allow us to complete finishing to the required standard.

But with consideration to our neighbours, we held meetings with our concrete suppliers technical department and developed a concrete mix which allowed early curing without affecting the characteristics of the concrete. The mix involved replacing the normal plasticiser with a super plasticiser. The mix has been successful, we have achieved the required finish without having operatives on site beyond our 18:00 finish time.

This has been a huge positive for the site as it prevents nuisance for our neighbours and ensures our operatives are not working split shifts out of hours to complete the works. We are sharing this information internally within the company because finishing of concrete can be an issue on many projects and other sites are in discussions with their suppliers to develop similar mix designs.