Wells Concrete, one of the top five precast providers in the U.S., has opened a new office and production facility located at 2145 East Crown Prince Boulevard in Brighton. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will enhance current capability, flexibility, and increase capacity with long line prestressing forms for the Denver market. Wells is consolidating its two existing facilities at 5801 Pecos Street and 301 W. 60th Place in Denver, into the new Brighton location.
“Combining the power of these two plants into one provides a unique opportunity to deliver the highest levels of structural integrity and architectural finishes to our customers.,” said Dan Juntunen, president and CEO of Wells Concrete. “In addition, our ability to maximize capabilities developed by Wells Concrete and Rocky Mountain Prestress, as well as driving future innovation in building systems, will be greatly enhanced.”
The new 122,673-square-foot total precast facility sits on 64.5 acres of land and showcases the unique innovation and engineering of Wells’ internal teams as well as a partnership with PCL Construction, KL&A, and Davis Partnership Architects.
Nearly 300,000 square feet of precast is incorporated into the office, manufacturing and batch plants. The three-story office façade boasts acid etch and formliner finishes in a light grey concrete mix. Integrated enclosure system (IES) lightweight wall panels were used on the west side of the office building and formliner-insulated spandrels over the rest of the office exterior. The elevator shaft boasts black concrete formliner wall panels with illuminated Wells logo signage.
The production facility was designed to be very versatile in order to meet the demands of Wells’ clients. The inventory of forms has increased and can be moved around to fit the needs of any given project. Many of the new forms are long line with prestressing capability for economy and efficiency. This year-round manufacturing facility will produce all architectural precast indoors while using the outdoor forms for structural production. The lifting capacity moved from 15-ton cranes in the previous plant to 25-ton cranes in this new facility, providing the opportunity for additional products of various sizes, higher volumes, a more responsive turn-around, and higher quality. The operations space also includes locker rooms and a lunch area for plant employees.
All of Wells’ Denver employees and departments will relocate to the new Brighton facility beginning mid-May, 2020.
“This project will launch Wells Concrete into the future, far beyond what I realized we could do with the functionality of a new plant – it’s night and day from what we have had in the past,” said Doug McCarthy, director of operations for Western Division. “The project will position the company for strong growth and industry leadership, bringing increased capacity and efficiencies that enable us to serve customers better now and in the future.”
Wells played an integral role in the construction of Denver International Airport, the Village Center Station Buildings I, II & III, One Belleview Station, Colorado Center Tower 3, 169 Inverness, Starz Encore, and numerous total-precast office buildings throughout the Denver metro area.
Photo courtesy of Wells Concrete
