If you could start building with a product that would save time and money, plus provide significant benefits for future owners, would you do it? Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) does all those things and more, but few have yet explored its possibilities.

Bill Higgs has. And he’s commissioned the largest installation of AAC in North America, reaping big rewards already in speed of construction and marketing advantage.

Lakeside Landings at The Villages is a large condo project in Florida by Higgs’ company, Power Corporation, a builder developer with 36 years of success in multi-family housing. Higgs’ company had built over 1000 of the same type of condo units using conventional construction methods in other locations and was about to do the same in Wildwood, Florida, until he saw a hotel under construction in the area made of AAC materials. His construction manager looked into it as a possible replacement for the conventional CMUs they had always used. When Aercon Florida engineers created a custom-designed integrated system at an installed price, the deal was made.

Phase I is under construction in the project that will eventually have 704 units in 176 buildings, a pool, and a community center at the edge of Lake Miona, making Power Corp the second largest residential builder in the area.

“Right now, we’re delivering two buildings, or eight units per week,” Higgs said. “Aercon’s product is quicker and requires fewer masons. It’s a clean product, put together in a contiguous manner with structural integrity and insulation value that minimizes cooling costs year-round. It’s a win-win situation for us as we build and for the ultimate owners who will inhabit these building for years to come.”

Bob Mason, Power Corp’s vice president/construction, said that both Power Corp. and Aercon were open-minded about generating an integrated system using AAC based on good common building sense. “Between the international and local markets and the increasing price of conventional block, Aercon became highly competitive both from the standpoint of price and quality,” Mason said. “Not many trades are skilled at doing this innovative type of construction, so it was important that Aercon brought the engineering and the installation ability to put together an appealing complete shell package. It’s a combination of materials and people.”

Jim Tackett, VP and general manager of the Lakeside Landings project for Power Corp., says the decision was driven by several things: strength, ease of construction and energy efficiency. “This system gives us a huge marketing advantage because it is four times more energy efficient than our conventional CMUs.” Ease of construction makes the work go faster, saving money for Power Corp., and the strength issue will become an even more important marketing advantage when the next hurricane season rolls around, Tackett said. He considers Power Corp and Aercon pioneering partners in the use of AAC for residential construction.

Aercon’s scope of work for the project includes foundation, slab on grade, and structure up to the trusses. Once the windows and doors are in, Aercon is also doing the exterior stucco, providing a turnkey structure including exterior finish. Mark Shumate, Aercon’s director of construction services, said the structure integrates AAC panels, precast concrete headers framing the larger openings, and CMUs in a fast-to-assemble wall structure. Aercon U-lintel block is the diaphragm of the structure which locks it together at the top and ties it down to the foundation, including anchoring the roof system.

Benefits of this integrated system are speed and ease of constructability. “There is no faster structural building system,” Shumate said. For Power Corp. the impact is significant. Time on site is greatly reduced, allowing them to turn each building over for occupancy sooner with fewer conditions to contend with during construction.

Saving money and lowering risk are not the only advantages, Shumate explained. Once the aggressive building schedule delivers finished units, the occupants have the luxury of the features and benefits of the AAC product. These include thermal, acoustic, fire and pest resistance which are major marketing advantages. All of this is provided at a cost that is competitive, Shumate said, and the next phase of construction will go at a tremendous rate of speed.

Safety goes hand-in-hand with speed as important features of this system according to Kelly Bolin, Aercon general superintendent. Because you build from the inside up, instead of on a scaffold from the outside in, there is much less labor involved and it’s much safer, Bolin said. For a four-unit building at Lakeside Landings, the first and second floors can be erected in about two and a half days, instead of a week to a week and a half for conventional CMU construction. Bolin, who has over ten years of experience with AAC, said they can fly an AAC panel every three minutes. One panel replaces 50 conventional CMUs. “So at the same pace we are going at Lakeside Landings, what we do here in four months with 20 guys would require 150 masons plus 150 laborers supplying them to accomplish,” Bolin said.

So what’s the measure of this innovative new system? Power Corporation will build the second phase at Lakeside Landings, with a total of 704 units built with the Aercon AAC system. Higgs, Power Corp’s president, is so enthusiastic about the project’s success, he said he plans another 190 multi-family buildings in various parts of Florida in the next year using the same system. And the highest complement paid to Higgs’ Lakeside Landings so far? The local building inspector bought the first unit in the first building completed.

Comments from Ronald E. Barnett, PE, Aercon General Manger:

“I don’t know of another product as all inclusive as AAC. It provides structure, fire protection, thermal insulation, acoustic insulation, and can be the finished material as well. AAC brings the workability of wood to an inorganic green material that is completely recyclable, produced with little or no waste, and ready for use after a short 24-hour manufacturing process. Because of today’s economic trends in both labor and materials, the installed price is now comparable to other structural building materials, while the benefits far outweigh them.

“We in the industry are working to educate persons at all stages of construction from development and design to end user. Because AAC impacts so many facets of construction, its appropriate use and benefits need to be explained so that codes and use are in sync. For example, because of its thermal benefits, sizing of the heating and cooling system of each structure needs to be reduced when compared to conventional systems.

“So various testing bodies, code officials and industry organizations are currently working on further research to document best practices using AAC. Some standards have been published, while others are in the works, from such organizations as ASTM, the International Building Code, the American Concrete Institute, the Masonry Society, the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards, the Portland Cement Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASHRAE, UL, the National Institute of Building Sciences and others.

“What is required for AAC to realize its full potential to revolutionize the US construction industry? First, the appropriate ingredients, parts and pieces, and techniques will continue to be documented. Then, installers will get educated on how to estimate a job, judge crew sizes and the required abilities of each crew member. With AAC, you must think more like a carpenter than a mason. You can cut it with a dry saw, shape it, and screw into it without pre-drilling. Interface between other products will be explored for best practices.

“Here are some key points to understand the value of AAC:

“In short, the more people learn about AAC, the more they like it.”