At first glance, the project seemed simple enough. The contractor needed to form three 16'6" high foundation walls, one about 325' long plus two others that were about 125' long. To maximize form setting speed, he wanted to gang the forms and use high capacity ties.

The complications that concerned him in‑ cluded pilasters every 25 feet and many rebar penetrations, all along the length of the walls. He wondered if gangs between pilasters would be light enough for his boom fork lift to handle. He also knew that the construction plans, which called for the foundation walls to be poured before the ceiling and floor slabs, meant that the rebar for these slabs would penetrate the wall forms, top and bottom, all along the length of the walls.

Symons devised a simple plan to utilize the Steel‑Ply® system in a horizontal gangform configuration, with 5" Versiform® walers and 50 Kip Taper Ties. The 16'6" x 21' horizontal gang, which weighed just 4,500, was also lighter than a gang with Mini-Walers would have been. The 6' and 3' Steel‑Ply forms, as‑ sembled in a brickwork pattern, are often used in conjunction with handset Steel‑Ply forms to accommodate corners, pilasters and other construction details. In addition, the plywood face on the panels allowed the contractor to drill holes for the numerous rebar penetrations present on this project.

Ross McCune and Project Superintendent Gary Hering were impressed with how well the plan addressed their needs and concerns, but they wanted to inspect assembled conventional Steel‑Ply and horizontal Steel‑Ply gangs be‑ fore making their final decision. They made arrangements to visit their nearest Symons branch to assemble the gangs according to the plans. Once they proved to themselves how easily the large horizontal gang went together, they agreed to the plans and asked for equip‑ ment to ship as soon as possible.