Difficult sequencing of concrete work on the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford has prompted contractor Manafort Brothers to bring in table-type formwork for key portions of the 550,000 sq. ft. project. Once the shallow foundations for the superstructure were complete — requiring 16,000 yd. of concrete and 1,500 tons of rebar — MBI began work on constructing the superstructure. The Convention Center is made up of three floors: two lower-level parking stories and a third-floor exhibition area. The lower-level slab-on-grade was not completed before placing the first suspended level, making the latter more difficult to support.

To form the two slabs for the second parking level and the exhibition floor, MBI rented 80,000-sq.-ft. of Dokaflex formwork from Conesco Doka. Assembled off-site, Dokaflex is trucked onto the project in tables of 13 ft. ∞ 26 ft. and 4 ft. ∞ 13 ft. The larger tables are used for the slab areas, while the smaller tables serve to form supporting beams. The slab thickness for the first level is 9 in.; the exhibition floor slab is slightly thicker at 10 in. to give the floor greater load-bearing properties.

The beams supporting the two slabs are formed with the smaller Dokaflex tables in two sizes: 24 in ∞ 30 in. for the parking level; and 36 in. ∞ 30 in. to support the thicker exhibition slab. The majority of both slabs were formed in bays measuring 30 ft. ∞ 30 ft., each bay comprising two of the larger tables and four of the smaller tables for beams.

According to Conesco Doka Connecticut area salesman Mike Legace, MBI chose to rent Dokaflex tables because of the simplicity of erection and the tables' quick set-up time. For the parking slab, project specifications required forming drains every third day. Responding to the challenge thereby confronting the contractor, the formwork company designed and supplied special tables for these sections. With wooden wedges under two adjacent corners, tables were designed to form 3-in. and zero-inch slopes from opposite corners to a center midpoint. Matched with another Dokaflex table in an opposite position, every third bay of the slab is supplied with an indented drain. Locally based Tilcon is supplying the ready mixed.