Tornadoes convince a Native American housing authority to construct its latest housing project with concrete.
Westchester Development Co., of Shawnee, Okla., is a Native American-owned general contracting company, and has been involved with the Authority for more than 30 years. Chosen for this project, Westchester worked with Royal Building Systems (Cdn) Ltd., of Woodbridge, Ontario, and used the vinyl RBS 4-inch wall in addition to brick veneer installed afterward on the exterior face of the wall. The manufacturer refers to the system as "concrete forming technology." The CFT is a finished stay-in-place concrete form used for load-bearing and non-load-bearing concrete walls. CFT differs from typical ICFs for several reasons, including the CFT are finished on both sides, termite proof, mold and mildew resistant, have integrated channels for running electrical conduit in the walls, and are custom cut at the factory.