HOW THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT CAN MAKE THE TILT-UP PROCESS SAFER AND EASIER

In a nutshell, tilt-up construction involves prefabricating large concrete panels, which are then lifted into place and fastened to a slab. The first step in the process is slab preparation, where the large concrete segments are cast. This typically happens in one of two ways; the panels can be cast directly on-site to minimise transport costs or they can be prepared off-site and then transported by truck. While on-site casting is very convenient, transporting the panels is more common in bigger cities where space is at a premium.

Once the panels are in position, they are lifted up and held in position by special supports known as 'props' or 'braces'. One end of a prop attaches to a cast-in ferrule on the vertical concrete panel, while the other end is directly fastened into the slab itself. Once each panel has been erected and fastened together, the building will be stable and ready for completion. Hilti Trade Manager Martin Stirling puts it very simply:

"It's a really quick way of getting a lot of square metres up in a short space of time. Before you know it, you've got several panels in place, and there's a building where a few minutes earlier there was nothing," he said.  

Here in Australia, tilt-up construction was traditionally used for low-rise industrial estates in areas with lots of flat land, where the process could be completed incredibly quickly. Over time though, the benefits of tilt-up has seen the method move to the cities, and now there are more and more high-rise building projects, such as apartments, being undertaken with the technique. This is especially the case in cities such as Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, where the landscape is flat and there's the right infrastructure to transport the large concrete panels to jobsites.

In many ways it's a similar technique to permanent formwork applications, and these two processes are taking the nation by storm thanks to their speed.

"These technologies are becoming incredibly popular as labour becomes more expensive and developers are put under greater pressure to get projects finished in shorter amounts of time," says Martin.

All of this being said, there are still several challenges associated with tilt-up construction. The first one of these that Martin points out is design tolerances, where each panel needs to be made accurately so that, when bolted together, every part lines up perfectly. Another big concern is safety, and although relatively rare, there have been a few instances over the years where panels have collapsed - highlighting the importance of proper installation.