Mérida gave the starting signal for the construction of the first skyscraper in the Mexican southeast

The Sky will have a height of 160 meters, 36 floors, a shopping center and recreational spaces

(MERIDA, YUC. – SKY CAPITAL).- Mérida will have The Sky tower, an “intelligent” building that, after completion at the end of 2023, will reach a height of 160 meters, with 36 floors, six parking levels and 20 elevators that will connect a shopping center with restaurants, offices , medical offices, corporate and even a terrace.

According to the company Sky Capital, a real estate company in charge of the construction, this work will constitute the tallest skyscraper in the southeast of the country, for which it formed a multidisciplinary team with the best construction and engineering companies in the world capable of assuming the technical challenges who proposed the project.

One of these challenges was located right at the core of the structure, where CEMEX undertook the design and supply of an innovative concrete foundation for the skyscraper.

This material had to maintain a heat of hydration below 75 degrees Celsius (°C) during the massive process of pouring 1,300 m³ of concrete — equivalent to half the capacity of an Olympic swimming pool.  

The heat of hydration is a very relevant factor for the setting of concrete, and depends largely on the type of cement and materials used in the mix.

The temperature with the Mérida cement rose to 79°C, for which it was necessary to develop and evaluate different proposals at the CEMEX Innovation and Development Center, which got to work, and in a short time developed the ideal mixture that The Sky tower needed.

After several tests carried out, it was concluded that the use of cement from the CEMEX Barrientos plant, produced in the State of Mexico, in combination with fly ash from Coahuila, were the necessary ingredients for the ideal mixture that guaranteed control. temperature, however, this involved a huge logistical challenge. 

Transport 800 tons of cement from the State of Mexico to Mérida for a distance of no more and no less than 1,350 kilometers, as well as another 200 tons of ash for 2,500 kilometers from Coahuila to Yucatán.

The company Build a Better Future completed the transfer of raw materials with 50-ton pressurized trucks, which completed 16 round trips to move the cement and five to transport the ash.

Once the materials were delivered, the 1300 m³ of concrete was poured into the foundation of the building during a period of only 13 hours, maintaining the concrete temperature requested by Sky Capital. 

TYT Newsroom