Dec. 21--Construction on Lauderhill's new City Hall has begun on Oakland Park Boulevard.
The old City Hall building was heavily damaged during Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, and since that time, the city has taken up temporary residence in an office building on Inverrary Boulevard.
Mayor Richard Kaplan said he was pleased that City Hall is being built using a process called "tilt up," which means that construction will move along quickly.
"It's coming along," Kaplan said. "They said it would go quickly, and it's moving along pretty fast."
Charlie Cuyler, director of the city's Department of Environmental Engineering Services, said the tilt-up process is like putting together a puzzle. He said once the site is prepared, forms are laid out and nailed together, rebars are inserted, and concrete is then poured. In this case, the city wanted to ensure that City Hall would be storm-resistant, so rebars were placed every four inches, which Cuyler said could withstand winds of up to 180 mph.
"This is the third or fourth tilt-up building I've been involved with," Cuyler said. "Our Fire Station 30, library and police station were also built using this process."
Cuyler said that after the concrete is cured, which could take between seven to 12 days depending on engineering specifications, a crane lifts up the forms and puts them into place. The floor is then put in, which helps to hold the building together. After that, metal I-beams are welded into place.
