U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design What is LEED®? The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. Two members of Speed Fab-Crete's sales team, Ron Hamm and Mitch Hanzik, are newly-accredited Green Advantage Certified Builders, awarded by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. In addition, three Speed Fab-Crete project supervisors, Steve Blackburn, Roger Hamm and Santos Perez, also are newly-accredited Green Advantage Certified Job Superintendents. This means our group of five accredited professionals have knowledge of the latest "green" building practices, technologies and techniques. You may reach them at 817-478-1137 or rhamm@speedfab-crete.com mhanzik@speedfab-crete.com Today's environmentally conscious client prefers structures which are energy and water efficient, durable and disaster resistant, and healthier and environmentally friendly. Speed Fab-Crete's buildings meet and exceed such expectations in today's state of the art construction techniques! The structures are composed of unique precast concrete walls produced in a manufacturing plant environment for 56 years. The inherent composition of Speed Fab-Crete's precast concrete wall building system provides natural advantages for sustainability. The Delaware Valley Green Building Council, a chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, was formed in November 2001 and adopted a "green" mission to advance and promote sustainable and environmentally responsible planning, design, construction and operation of buildings, landscapes, cities and communities, mindful of the legacy we leave for future generations. Read more about the environmental benefits of precast concrete production. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings' performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE recently interviewed Speed Fab-Crete's president, David Bloxom, for an article published in August, 2006. The following is an excerpt from the CCM magazine article.

CCM:: Tell me about Speed Fab-Crete?

David Bloxom:: The company was started in the early 1960s as a spin off of The Dave Bloxom Construction Company, which was my father's company. What we have is an architectural pre-cast concrete panel but it is structurally loadbearing, so the roof system rests directly on the panels. There's no steel superstructure and it is not just architectural precast, it's a combination of both.
    My dad was really doing design-build back in the 1960s, but they didn't call it that. It was just a team approach. Design-build works exceedingly well for our clients and is our predominant delivery method. We wear a lot of different hats: we're a precast producer, we're a subcontractor, we're a material supplier, we're a GC, we're a CM. We clearly delineate ourselves from a GC -- we're not just a broker general contractor, we actually produce components of the buildings we design, we erect them, and we subcontract with other trades for the finish out.

CCM:: What are some of the advantages of design-build?

David Bloxom:: Design-build has been shown to lead to less litigation and less conflict because it's a team approach. Everyone is on board from the start. Independent research shows that design-build delivers a project about 33% faster than design-bid-build.

Construction is underway for the new $5,275,000 Dale Keeling Field House for Everman Independent School District as part of multiple projects being performed by Speed Fab-Crete, a design-builder.

The 24,100-square-foot complex will contain athletic facilities for the school district's 9th grade, junior varsity and varsity football teams. Completion is planned for spring of 2009.

The building is named in honor of Dale Keeling, the district's current Director of Athletics and head football coach, which he has held for 10 years. Keeling garnered two Class 3A state football championships in 2001 and 2002. Last year, Everman was champion of its Class 4A district and played in the state's semi-finals.

Callahan & Freeman Architects designed the angular shaped facility. Architect Charles Freeman said the unusual shape of the building maximizes available space on the project site, which is in an end zone of the football field. Multiple windows of spacious coaches' offices and player weight room face out onto a curved track bordering the field.