Continuation of the success story with the Agricopel project

The company Antares Pré-Fabricados, founded in 1980 by Vilmar Emmendoerfer in Jaraguá do Sul in the Brazilian state Santa Catarina, initially started with the production of industrialized building systems. Already three years later, the company began with the production of precast concrete elements, ranging in scope all the way to entire storage halls. The company evolved in this way to become a pioneer of this construction method in Brazil. By continuous innovations and investments in new technologies, the company achieved a new level of higher quality, durability and cost savings with precast products. With more than 4,000 completed reference projects, Antares became one of the most prestigious manufacturers of precast elements in Santa Catarina. Numerous suppliers of precast elements are located in this part of Brazil, resulting in vigorous competition – which underscores the significance of this construction method.

BFT Editor-in-Chief Silvio Schade personally gained information on the  Brazilian precast industry on the occasion of the Concrete Show São Paulo in August of 2019. He also visited Antares Pré-Fabricados in addition to the companies Engemold, Siscobras and Torri Engenharia. Please see BFT 10/2019 for more details. One year later, Antares celebrated its fortieth anniversary – which, however, due to the Corona pandemic, could be celebrated only with a small number of guests.

Complete carcass delivered

Antares has advanced machines that ensure higher productivity: for example its own fully automated CNC-controlled cutting and bending machine for reinforcement. The array of other equipment includes the company’s own vehicle fleet equipped for delivering and erecting precast elements. This ensures that all stages of work take place under the supervision of specialized engineers, to guarantee the required safety and quality from project start to final erection.

Only recently, another successful reference project was added: erection of the administrative building of Agricopel, a specialist for marketing mineral oil products and automobile accessories, located in neighboring Jaraguá do Sul. The project stands out for its aesthetics and architectural appeal and is one of the region’s outstanding projects. Reinforced columns and slabs as well as prestressed T-beams and hollowcore slabs were used for the structural solution. The connections between the structural elements were implemented by semi-cracking – i.e., semi-rigid connections – representing both a good structural solution and a means for reducing shear stress.

In addition to the precast elements for the loadbearing structure, Antares also delivered the wall and floor elements, i.e., nearly the complete unfinished building structure. Diogo Emmendoerfer, Technical Director at Antares elaborates “I see the significance of this project for Antares and the market because in our region there is a definite trend for more multi-story precast buildings. This concept consolidates from day to day. Precast constructions offer not only better quality, but also reduce final costs and enable longer spans inside. Another reason why this project is so important is that it is the headquarters of a large company in the northern region of Santa Catarina.”

Another important milestone

Brother Tiago Emmendoerfer, Commercial Director at Antares, adds: “We are, of course, very proud of having mastered such a significant project in our immediate neighborhood. Although our plant is located at a distance of a few kilometers from Guaramirim, the Emmendoerfer family has its residence in Jaraguá do Sul, where many other Brazilians with German roots live. In particular the erection time of only 27 days for a building of this kind speaks for itself. The Agricopel construction project is therefore another important milestone in our family history.”

At Antares one is especially proud of the prestressed precast concrete elements of many and various designs: especially columns and beam elements for high-rise and civil engineering construction, manufactured in lengths from 4 to 12 m. Other products are TT (PI) slabs, precast stairs basedon the ABNT standard, floor slabs and roof slabs, wall elements and ventilation panels of various dimensions, retaining wall elements, enclosure elements for agricultural structures, concrete drainage channels as well as water storage tanks and silos made of precast elements.