This project features a single level, precast concrete parkade for residential parking at the Reflections Student Housing Building located at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The 3,349 sq m (36,000 sq. ft.) underground resident parking structure was erected to supports a four story wood frame condominium for UBC students.

The project developer, Adera Developments, awarded a design-build project for the precast concrete in July 2004. The precaster's in-house engineer, QR Engineering Ltd., designed the precast concrete parkade elements and provided construction drawings.

Erection of the parkade commenced on October 15th, 2004, using a Loran 165 tonne crane. The northern half of the parkade was initially turned over to the contractor to begin the casting of parkade topping and structural condominium wood framing. Erection of the precast concrete elements continued on the southern portion of the parkade. "Just-in-time" precast manufacturing was employed to accommodate the contractor's fast track construction schedule.

Conventional precast elements incorporated into the parkade:

 - 200 mm (8 in) Precast walls / 674 sq.m
 - Precast inverted tee beams - 23 pieces
 - Precast/prestressed double tees - 129 pieces
 - Precast slabs - 9 pieces
 - Cast-in-place columns (2 ft x 1 ft) - 49 pieces.

Double tee spans were limited to a maximum of 13.1 m (43 ft) and a maximum depth of 762 mm (30 in) due to live loads of 200 psf and superimposed dead loads of 120 psf. Asymmetrical loading of inverted tee-beams limited span lengths to 8.42 m' (27.8 ft) and a depth of 0.91 m (3 ft) due to a 150 (6 in) to 300 mm (12 in) differential in slab elevations. Double tee spans and inverted tee beams were designed with closely spaced shear reinforcing to support the heavy loads. A composite 75 mm (3 in) thick cast-in-place concrete topping was cast on top of the parkade.

Self Consolidating Concrete (SCC) was used in the double tee and inverted tee beam element production. The SCC concrete minimized post production detailing, improved product quality and helped to ensure on-time product element delivery.

Owner: Adera Developments
Engineer: London Mah and Associates
Precast: Design and Build: The Surespan Group (QR Engineering Ltd., Surespan Structures Ltd. and Surespan Construction Ltd.)
Precast System and Erection Design QR Engineering Ltd.
Architect: Integra Architecture