Old Town Park – Chicago, IL

Challenges

For the brick on the Greenpoint Landing F1 tower, the design team was targeting an energy efficient “thermally broken” shelf angle system, and had originally specified a Halfen cast in anchor with knife plate system (Figure 1 and 2). Spacing of the angle knife plate system was specified at 18” on centre for 4,326 linear feet of relieving angle, requiring approximately 2,884 units.

Solutions

In an effort to reduce costs, the contractor suggested a FERO FAST bracket solution (Figure 3) for offsetting the shelf angle.

As FERO became involved at a later stage in this project, the FAST bracket solution needed to accommodate existing wall cavity specifications from the architect, Handel and DiSimone.

FERO was able to accommodate these using custom FAST brackets with a depth of 3-3/16”, slot modified for ¾” bolts and supporting a 4x4x5/16” angle. This project highlights the cost saving proposition of FERO Fast Brackets, as the switch to FAST saved on both material (eliminating more than 1,000 units of the original spec, using only 1,800 FAST Brackets) and labor costs, as the FAST brackets could be quickly installed by a single trade onsite.

Result

FERO’s technical team is available to support designers and contractors in value engineering their projects to reduce costs. On this project, the structural support offered by FAST Brackets allowed for increased spacing and reduced material costs. Additional savings could have been achieved if the anchor channels were not already installed, as the horizontal and vertical adjustability included with FERO Fast Brackets makes such channels redundant. Our team will work with your project specs to ensure costs are minimized through use of the most efficient spacing, anchorage and shelf angle size.