Donnelly College Academic Building

Lithko’s Kansas City team is continuing work on the third phase of the $19.5 million master plan for the Donnelly campus. Our team wrapped up the parking garage and is currently building the new academic building. Our work includes drilled piers, foundations, slab on grade, slab on metal deck, and insulated architectural tilt-up walls.

The project site for the academic building is as tight as it was for the parking garage.   The tilt-up construction on the 50-feet tall walls is an extreme logistical challenge due to the fact there is only 30 feet from the building to the construction fence on all four sides. Our entire team started planning this portion of work very early on in the pre-construction process due to the complexity. We covered the entire building foot print with a casting slab and the crane erected the panels from inside the building, making its own path each time we stood a panel. Adding to the intricacies of the panels, the architectural design made each panel unique. This included different formwork and form liner systems, complicating the exterior finish.

The weather has been a constant factor for our placement schedule. The heat can negatively impact the finish ability of the panels, including some bubbling of the form liner. To add to this, we cannot pour before 7 am due to the close proximity of the neighborhood. Using our planning processes, our team developed successful solutions, meeting all our customer’s schedule milestones. The building will officially open in the Fall of 2020.