Apartment building in Mieścisko — erected in January, in snow

In Mieścisko, in the Wągrowiec district, we erected the structure of a three-storey apartment building. Load-bearing external and internal walls, floor slabs and precast balcony slabs went to site. Erection ran in January, with snow on the ground.

In winter, an in-situ schedule slips not because work is impossible, but because concrete refuses to set. Below 5 °C hydration slows to the point where strength normally reached in days can take two weeks; with frost comes the risk of water freezing in the fresh mix and damaging the structure for good. The answer is heated aggregate and mixing water, accelerating admixtures, mats and heated tents — costs that grow with every square metre poured.

In precast, that stage happens in the plant. The element cures in conditions that can be set and repeated, and travels to site at its final strength. Frost then stops being a question of the structure and becomes a question of people and equipment: the crane has wind limits, surfaces ice over, the day is shorter. Real obstacles, but not the kind that move deadlines by weeks.

The wet work left on site is whatever fits in the joints: grout between walls, ring beams, the connections of balconies to the floor. It is measured in litres, not cubic metres, so covering and warming those spots is feasible even a few degrees below zero — unlike heating a whole floor slab.

With a repeating floor layout, the same set of elements returns to the hook on the next level. The erection rhythm settles after the first storey and holds all the way up, which in winter is worth extra: a short day can be planned once you know how many lifts fit into the hours of good light.

See the project: Apartment building in Mieścisko.