Vulcraft Group recently modeled, manufactured and delivered $487,000 in joist and decking for the development of Regions Field, the new baseball stadium of Birmingham’s minor league team, the Barons.

“Working together, Commercial Metals Company and Vulcraft successfully developed a joist to serve as a ‘substitute’ for the structural trusses, allowing the signature element remains part of the completed stadium,” said Robert Nance, marketing manager at Commercial Metals Company.

Birmingham is often associated with the manufacturing of steel. And based on the look of the completed stadium, one can easily see that the architect chose the exposed structural steel and the elaborate truss system over the main concourse as signature design elements chosen to represent the industrial history of the City of Birmingham.

MBA Engineers, Inc. worked with Vulcraft to determine the joist profile that would best fit the design features. Vulcraft’s K, LH and LDH series joists were chosen for their open web aspects that favored the airy layout. These joists are three of Vulcraft’s special profiles designed to reach longer spans while supporting large loads and accommodating a variety of conditions.

Vulcraft’s 1.5B and 3N roof decking were chosen due to their excellent structural load carrying capacity per pound of steel utilized, and its nestable design eliminates the need for die-set ends. 2VLI composite floor decking was also used on this $64 million project.

After the ballpark’s inaugural season, the Barons won the Southern League Championship, drew 410,186 fans to Regions Field and earned Ballpark of the Year honors from baseballparks.com.

Regions Field also features a variety of metal cladding products from CENTRIA.