Denver, Colorado (12/18/2001) --- The Las Vegas Convention Center and Visitors Authority has gone through two major expansions in the last three years and on both occasions, a Johns Manville insulated PVC roofing membrane was installed. The 2001, $113 million south expansion adds 1.3 million square feet to the facility, which consists of exhibit hall space, meeting rooms, concessions, restaurants and a 700,000 square foot roof area. The total square footage of JM PVC on the Convention Center from all phases now exceeds 2.5 million square feet.
"This is a huge site and presented a number of challenges for the roofing contractor," said Bryan Troell, General Superintendent for PLC Construction Service Inc., the general contractor on the project. "It was difficult getting the materials to the roof. Sometimes we had to close a very busy Desert Inn Road to roof the bridge section that connects to the central halls of the Convention Center. We had bad weather for a couple of weeks which meant it was necessary to get the roofing materials installed quickly before the rain came."
Johns Manville UltraGard® SR-60 PVC membrane and ISO 1™ roof insulation used on the previous expansion was selected for the new south expansion. According to Joe Daniels of D7 Consulting Inc., the roof consultant on both projects, the technical back-up provided by Johns Manville and the entire roofing team was the reason that the specification was utilized by the Convention Authority.
"Past experience between Johns Manville and D7 helped this project go very smoothly," said Daniels. "We requested Tom Vicario, the Johns Manville technical inspector who had worked on the previous project to be assigned to this job because the Convention Authority had a comfort level with him."
PVC membranes are ideal for the Las Vegas market where they have a proven and unequalled history of performance. Climatic extremes, building movement and atmospheric pollutants have not prevented these systems from performing as designed. In addition, white reflective membranes that carry the ENERGY STAR® label can save cooling costs and reduce the wear and tear on air handling units.
The expansion includes a physical tie-in to the existing building. This required extensive use of Johns Manville Expand-O-Flash® expansion joints. The roof area includes high walls with high slopes. Mechanical equipment is centered down the middle of the building on a concrete platform. The platform transition utilizes tapered insulation over the metal and concrete decks and required the membrane to be fully adhered in those locations. Tapered insulation also was used along all perimeters to provide positive slope to drain. The UltraGard membrane and Johns Manville ISO 1 roof insulation was mechanically attached over the majority of the vast roof area. Both this and the previous expansion now are covered under the comprehensive Johns Manville No Dollar Limit Guarantee.
Daniels also complimented the teams led by Mark Dowell of Domingo Cambeiro Corp-Architects and Kodiak Construction, the roofing contractor. He said for the size of job, the project went very smoothly. Mark Dowell agreed.
"Everyone worked really well together on this project," said Dowell. "There were coordination issues and a tight timeframe so the installing contractor needed to know what he was doing. I think the owner and everyone else on the project is very pleased."
Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality building and specialty products. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company has sales in excess of $2 billion and holds leadership positions in all of the key markets that it serves. Johns Manville employs approximately 10,000 people and operates 55 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and China. Additional information can be found at
www.jm.com.
