Is there a cost comparison of materials and labours between hollow core slabs and conventional in situ (cast-on-site) concrete available?
The use of pre-stressed concrete Hollow core flooring is a well established construction technique with many millions of sq. m produced annually in a wide variety of countries. These elements have a highly efficient structural design both because of the use of pre-stressing steel reinforcement and voids in cross section geometry to reduce self-weight. Hollow core slabs have around 32% less weight than for homogenous concrete. Comparative costs with cast-on-site concrete construction vary both with technical details of span and load and with local material and labour costs. Generally, longer span slabs are more cost competitive than short spans. For TermoDeck projects, slabs which span 7-20 meters are used. Cast on site is more labour intensive. In Europe pre-cast is always less expensive for spans over 7 meters.
