Crews make major progress in Safe Center construction
May 31st proved to be a monumental day for volunteers striving to build a construction education center in South Baltimore.
A crew from Excell Concrete Construction delivered three truckloads of material to the site of the future Safe Center and precisely poured 27 cubic yards amid challenging conditions.
Renovating the South Payson Street property, which consists of three rowhomes and previously housed a car wash, has presented contractors with distinct challenges. The Excell crew had to correct the steep slope that ran through the former carwash and address elevation differences between the rowhomes.
“Excell did a lot of due diligence and pre-work to get the concrete set to exactly the right level. They lasered everything and put marks on the walls so they knew where to pour to,” said John Stahl, former president of the BCE Foundation which has spearheaded volunteer efforts to build the center. “There are also a lot of corner points in the building that would have a propensity to crack so Excell used its expertise to set saw cuts in the slab so they don’t crack.”
Creating that level slab “is so important to kicking off the next round of trades. It was a monumental day for the project,” Stahl said.
Once completed, the 3,200-square-foot Safe Center will include a woodshop and classroom space. It will provide National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) accredited training programs in several construction trades to middle and high school students, as well as young adults.
Multiple BC&E member companies are donating time and materials to the project. They include The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Bunting Door and Hardware, Excell Concrete, GWWO Architects, Hatzel & Buehler, Floors Etc. and Temp Air Company.
“We also have some good news recently that one of our other member firms, Leonard A. Kraus Co., has kindly stepped up to help us with the insulation and drywall,” Stahl said.