THE GILBERT TEMPLE/ BACKFILL BEGINS

THE FOLLOWING IS A GUEST POST BY WILLIAM HORNER -- THANK YOU WILLIAM!

The Gilbert Arizona Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, being constructed in the town of Gilbert, Arizona. The announcement of the temple on April 26, 2008 came concurrently with the Gila Valley Arizona Temple, and together were the first new temples announced since Thomas S. Monson assumed responsibilities as the President of the LDS church.

According to regional church spokesman Don Evans, the new temple in Gilbert will be constructed near the intersection of Pecos and Greenfield roads in a rapidly growing part of the southeast Phoenix metropolitan area. The announcement came in part as a response to the high concentration of church members in the area, one of the fastest growing member areas, and will help ease the load on the nearby Mesa Arizona Temple.

The Gilbert town council gave its unanimous approval to the requested zoning changes in a meeting on September 29, 2009. Key among the requests was an allowance to build to a height of 85 feet, higher than the existing restriction at 45 feet. The temple's planned 180-foot-tall (55 m) steeple did not require an exemption, as the town does not restrict the height of steeples. While not providing a specific time frame for construction, an anticipated completion within three years was repeated at the meeting.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 13 at 11:30 am (local time).

Ace Asphalt, Phoenix, begins the long tedious task of back-filling the sub-basement for mechanical equipment and a basement, which will house the baptistery.   The work crew is under the guidance of superintendents Kurt Foster and Jose Aguirre.

Foster makes certain the fill material is at optimum moisture before crews bucket it down to the bottom in one ft. lifts.  Blade operator, Dennis Wallace and water-truck operator Mike McKenna, process the fill material from top of the massive stockpile, and finish scraper operator Chris Caldwell moves the material as needed to the several different areas which foreman  Aguirre is monitoring.    From there the material is tested and ready for the next lift.  Foree & Vann, Inc., Phoenix, had the low bid for all geotechnical testing.

Suntec Concrete, Phoenix, is responsible for all the concrete work, some 103,150 square feet; and the hanging of water-proof boarding for all below ground fill areas.  Both Ace Asphalt and Suntec worked on moving the initial dirt and shaping of the basement-steps. Project Manager for Ace is Mike Oliver.

The Gilbert Temple was designed by Architektron, a Utah-based firm with offices in Tempe.  Gregory  Lambright, Principal, will lead Architekton's architectural team.   Okland Construction leads as General Contractor.

Operator Humberto Pedro and foreman Jose Aguirre take a quick pause for a photo op. 

View shows the top of the mechanical station, cranes, and concrete pumping truck in background.

Foree & Vann Project Manager, Jeremy Minnick achieves accurate test results with properly processed and compacted fill areas. 

Tractor operator Severo Guevara, flexes his muscles just before starting up the jumping-jack.

Foreman Jose Aguirre runs one of the two jumping-jacks to achieve maximum compaction.

Orange safety guard is put up to protect the plastic pipe sleeves and future plumbing areas. 

Blade operator Dennis Wallace takes a break from grading to help tractor operator Severo Guevara, shovel fill dirt in the tight areas.

The Okland Team pays a visit down one of the three ongoing fill areas to inspect the waterproofing and close compacting near the building.  The special waterproof board cannot be disturbed or damaged as the fill is brought up in lifts.

Track-hoe operator Larry Ash, extends from the bank of a slope to fetch lose material which shall not be used as fill.

 Broad view of several activities happening in unison. 

 One strategy used by Ace;  Guevara, dumping fill material into the bob-cat, then shifting to the tight areas around the building.  From there it was compacted with the walk-behind compactor and jumping-jack.  Walk-behind compactor was provided by Neff Rental; Sales Rep., Brian Van Kampen.

 Guevara, trucks down a load material to the fill.

 Pipe and dirt crews work together adjusting plumbing while bringing up the fill material.

Safety is a must for the Okland team and everyone on-sight plays a part to ensure safety is insured.  

 
Completion of the temple is expected within approximately two years.

Pictures on the INSIDE!!!

I received an email from this really cool guy named William. Just so happens he helped out down at the Temple site and shot some great photos.

He just gave me permission to share these with you (as in two seconds ago)

These are photos you need a hardhat to capture... take a look and then spend some time looking at William's construction site.

Thank you William!

Click Here

Hard at Work

There's a ton of pictures this time, so I am not going to say too much. However, I did want to acknowledge my son, Jacob. He took some of these photos for me and did a pretty good job! My favorite of his is the one of the crane against the clouds. 

Also, look closely at some of these photos. The workers are so small but if you look close you can see that there seem to be dozens of them hard at work.