Tall Buildings group awards Doka form-positioning technology

An interactive sensor-based tool enabling accurate formwork positioning for cast-in-place concrete structures has earned the Austrian parent company of Doka USA Ltd. recognition from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a Chicago-based organization serving professionals in high-rise design, construction and operation. DokaXact equips surveyors and crews to quickly and precisely plumb and align wall formwork used with Doka climbing systems. Attaining ± 2mm placement accuracy, it consists of multiple sensors attached to defined surveying points of the wall formwork. The devices communicate wirelessly with a centralized processing unit. 

“DokaXact can help build high-rise cores, bridge piers and pylons more accurately in combination with faster forming times. The actual position of the formwork is known at all times of the working cycle—starting from the positioning of the formwork to installing the reinforcement, pouring and curing of concrete. DokaXact digitalizes the positioning and monitoring of the entire wall formwork by transforming the traditional survey method,” says DokaXact Business Developer Dan Zvinca.

The device provides a quality assurance tool to build more accurately, he adds. With its live monitoring function, potential formwork movements can be made visible at all phases, positioning to pouring. Site managers can observe their building tolerances 24/7 from anywhere, allowing preventative actions to be taken in order to avoid cost intensive, post-pour reworks. A DokaXact web portal affords site managers and surveying engineers a reporting, monitoring and analyzing platform to improve and optimize the routines and processes for the next cycle. 

DokaXact took the Innovation Award of Excellence Tall Building category, one of 20 in an annual CTBUH program honoring top developments in technology, urban spaces, and construction methods. The system is a candidate for Overall Category Winner, to be announced during the CTBUH 2021 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference. — Doka USA Ltd., Little Ferry, N.J.; 201/641-6500, 877/365-2872; www.doka.com

The technology speeds pre-pour surveying and includes an app loaded with predefined routines to augment formwork alignment ahead of final position checks.
Leading United Kingdom concrete contractor AJ Morrisroe + Sons Ltd. oversaw the DokaXact commercial debut on London’s Elephant Park development. “The system supported me ideally in daily work,” affirms Morrisroe Surveyor Wojciech Jawor. “I did not need to be present for aligning and plumbing the formwork elements. However, I was able to monitor the site progress from anywhere. This gave me more time and flexibility for other surveying processes.”