Used to store perishable food and dry goods for school cafeterias in Cameron Parish, this warehouse was elevated to minimize the risk of flooding from storm surge. All photos: Jessica Wene Photography. Surviving Spills and Storm Surge For the CPSD Warehouses, the biggest risk was being in the direct path of both the hurricane eyewall and storm surge, says Philip Miller, president of AMC. “The building is literally within sight of the Gulf of Mexico,” Miller says. “This is exactly what happened during Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, which had a 17-foot storm surge.” The new structures replace a previous warehouse that was de-stroyed by Hurricane Rita. Because they’re located directly on the beach highway, they are elevated to minimize future risk, Miller says. Their purpose is to store frozen and refrigerated food and dry goods for school cafeterias throughout Cameron Parish. This de-sign-build, public-bid project was designed by Brossett Architect in Lake Charles, La. The Cameron LNG building is built literally in the shadow of the giant tanks containing liquefied natural gas. “These tanks are 300 feet in diameter and 200 feet high and hold more than a ship load of LNG apiece,” Miller says. “The greatest risk is blast exposure from a hydrocarbon vapor cloud that could result from an unin-tentional LNG spill.” The building is a total–precast concrete project “because it pro-vides the greatest value,” he says. “We make total–precast com-petitive with PEMBs or steel-frame buildings by integrating large amounts of MEP [mechanical, electrical, and plumbing] and sprin-kler-system [components] into the precast before shipping it to the construction site. We even apply the roof insulation and roof membrane before shipping the roof panels.” PROJECT SPOTLIGHT CAMERON PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT WAREHOUSES Location: Creole, La. Size: 8000 ft 2 Cost: $2.1 million Owner, Contractor, Engineer, and PCI-Certified Precast Concrete Producer: Alfred Miller Companies., Lake Charles, La. Architect: Brossett Architect, Lake Charles, La. Precast Concrete Components: 38 precast concrete walls pieces in Building A; 31 in Building B PRECAST PROTECTS LIFE, JUNE 2024 11
Ascent Precast Protects Life June 2024: Page 11
