July 2008 - The Giusti Group of Calgary Alberta is forming and pouring the concrete structures for Riverside Quays, six 6-storey apartment condominiums, on the bank of the Bow River, close to downtown Calgary. A total of 623 apartment units and 72 townhouses will be available, with the first two of six phases currently under construction.

Built Green at Riverside Quays

The Statesman Group is a certified builder under the 'BuiltGreen®' program of the Canadian Home Builders Association. Paul DuPlessis, Vice President of Construction, has taken great care to make the project is as green as possible:

• Energy recovery ventilator to preheat incoming air located in each unit;
• Centralized high efficiency boiler system;
• 90% recycled steel used throughout the building structure;
• Mold resistant drywall used in bathrooms and other areas exposed to potential dampness;
• High efficiency EnergyStar® appliances;
• Low emission VOC paints;
• Fastfoot® fabric concrete forms prevent moisture entry;
• Local building materials used whenever possible, with bricks from IXL, Medicine Hat, AB;
• Low flow, dual flush toilets;
• Rainwater harvesting system used to supply the drip irrigation system.

Giusti Group

The Giusti Group of Calgary, began as a custom home builder in 1973, and by 1986 were building multi-family complexes. Giusti has now built more than 600 custom homes and 35,000 multi-family units, and has been forming for the Statesman Group for ten years.

"We are very pleased with the cribbing work of Giusti", stated Paul DuPlessis, Vice President of Construction, Statesman Group. "They keep to schedule and budget, and use innovative forming solutions to achieve these ends."

"Total concrete in phases I and II is 10,450 cubic meters", said Colin Renders, Chief Estimator for the Giusti Group. "The use of single-use lightweight fabric in place of rigid forms reduces labour costs significantly."

Building Healthy from the Ground Up

The project is located beside the Bow River, where the water table is 22 feet below the foundation level of phases I and II.

"As concrete is permeable to water, it is a priority to prevent ground moisture from entering the concrete. The Fastfoot® vapour barrier provides this critical protection", said Paul DuPlessis.

Fastfoot® has a permeance rating of .0628 (grain/hr.ft2.in Hg), far exceeding the 1.0 required to qualify as a vapour barrier. Fastfoot® prevents ground moisture and water vapour entering the concrete footing, thereby preventing mold and mildew.

Forming Logistics

"Because Fastfoot® stays in place, we can form and pour all our pads in one go", said Scott Saunders, Giusti Senior Project Coordinator. "With plywood, we'd have to pour the 125 pads in three goes to minimize plywood, increasing our schedule. Fastfoot® reduced our time by at least a week."

Fastfoot® Performance

"With the bag, labor minimized. Hence more efficient. And the job gets done", confirmed Scott.