This large, mixed-use development project had an extremely tight construction schedule—the contractor had to place walls very quickly. As shown in Fig.1, shotcrete provided the solution: walls used one-sided formwork, shotcrete was applied, and then the free surface was finished by hand. Forms were then moved to the next wall and reused. With a trailer pump on site twice a week, between 80 and 130 yd³ (61 and 99 m³) of concrete could be shot in an average 8- to 10-hour day.

The scale of the project was immense, with over 230,000 ft² (21,400 m²) of retail and entertainment space that stretches a full city block adjacent to I-10. It includes three levels below grade, and six levels above grade. Traditionally, the walls would be cast-in-place concrete or masonry, but the contractor chose the speed of shotcrete for all of the concrete walls (interior and exterior) on the project. The reuse of forms and the need for only one formed face per wall also contributed to reducing the environmental impact. With crews working only from one side of the wall, congestion on the job site was also reduced.

Placing shotcrete at the Atlantic Times Square Project in Monterey Park, CA. Photo courtesy of American Shotcrete Association