Building masonry markets: providing pre-engineered designs is one key to getting masonry specified

Masonry Construction, May, 2003 by Diana Granitto

Another significant restoration project was St. Helena Church, a 300-year-old masonry structure in Beaufort, S.C. The church had settled so much that it was leaning out of plumb and had undergone cracking in the exterior and interior wythes. After cabling techniques were used to straighten the building, Jollay's crews went to work repairing the wythes, replacing structural beams supporting a balcony, and completely rebuilding two gable ends.

Jollay Masonry and joint venture partner Atlanta Masonry are currently putting the finishing touches on the Georgia World Congress Center expansion, a 500,000-square-foot addition using just under 1 million CMU and architectural block. The masonry contract exceeds $9 million and includes masonry infill to the steel frame structure and all masonry finishes to the interior.

"Convention centers are good friends to the masonry industry," said Jollay. "They have a high degree of traffic, which leads designers to use masonry for longevity and ease of maintenance."