MD Science Center - Pervious Concrete

In this week’s EQR Project highlight, we are focusing on our recent completed project for the Maryland Science Center at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

The purpose of this project was to create a demonstration panel for the Maryland Science Center. The Science Center does a lot of tours for children and parents and they wanted to have an area where they could demonstrate how pervious concrete works and explain the benefits.

Pervious concrete pavement is a new and innovate construction material and, as explained by perviouspavemnet.org, “is a unique and effective means to address important environmental issues and support green, sustainable growth. By capturing storm water and allowing it to seep into the ground, it is instrumental in recharging groundwater, reducing storm water runoff, and meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) storm water regulations.”

This project was a group effort for EQR. Our client was the Maryland Science Center, grant funding was provided by UMBC and University of Maryland. EQR did the excavation and preparation of the sub-base, Chaney provided the pervious concrete, and Zecon installed the pervious concrete.

The environmental impact that this project will have is more in theory. This project should provide a great example in a high profile area of pervious concrete. It is a property adjacent to the inner harbor so one can view the harbor and understand the importance of treating the storm water. Hopefully it will create an interest in pervious concrete which has the potential to become a large part of storm water work in the future.