An enormous state-of-the-art television and movie production facility fulfills a major need for Massachusetts’ film industry with four sound stages in a $40 million studio complex near Boston.
Lafarge North America is making a strong contribution to building better cities with NewCem slag cement to achieve the high-strength, long-term durability and sustainability goals of New England Studios, a beautiful, state-of-the-art studio complex in Devens, Massachusetts.
Integrating the latest in technology and construction, the world-class film and television production complex includes four 18,000-square-foot connected sound stages with an attached 30,000-square-foot, three-story production support building, including dressing rooms. Adjacent to the studios are two 20,000-square-foot mill buildings, which house light and grip, production construction facilities, mechanical effects and set storage.
The energy-efficient design of the main studio facility included 120 cast-on-site concrete tilt-up walls for ease and speed of construction, as well as to meet the required noise coefficient soundproofing rating of 25. With an average weight of 150,000 pounds, each wall is 56 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 10.5 inches thick. To achieve strict “soundproofing” levels, New England Studios also relied on 12-inch-thick tilt-up concrete panels for the exterior and interior doors, as well as 3 inches of shotcrete for the roof system. J.G. MacLellan Concrete Co., the ready-mix producer for the entire project, supplied a total of 10,500 yards of concrete for the foundation, tilt-up walls and roof system of the studio complex.
All the concrete used in the project contained 30 percent NewCem slag cement and 70 percent Type II cement from Lafarge. Engineered for long-term durability, NewCem slag cement helps achieve low permeability, increased resistance to chemical attack in concrete, greater strength potential and improved workability. The use of slag cement in concrete also contributes to sustainable construction as it saves virgin raw materials, consumes less energy and makes use of a recyclable by-product material of the iron-making process that might otherwise be disposed of in landfills. The result is high-performance concrete with less environmental impact.
As the world leader in the building materials industry, LafargeHolcim has the assets necessary to meet the building and design challenges of today’s increasing urbanization. Globally, LafargeHolcim has 115,000 employees and a well-balanced local presence in 90 countries, with combined net sales of CHF 33 billion (EUR 27 billion) in 2014. In the United States, LafargeHolcim companies include close to 350 sites in 43 states and employ 6,000 people. Lafarge North America Inc., Holcim Ltd and their subsidiaries are LafargeHolcim companies, and together constitute the largest diversified supplier of construction materials in the United States.
