Western Specialty Contractors Completes Concrete Work at Minneapolis’ Hennepin Energy Recovery Center Ahead of Schedule

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Experience has enabled Western Specialty Contractors – Minneapolis Branch to complete extensive concrete work at the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) in Minneapolis, MN three days ahead of the owner’s tight one-week schedule.

HERC is a waste-to-energy trash processing facility operated by Hennepin County in downtown Minneapolis. The facility uses the latest technologies to reduce environmental and taxpayer costs as part of the county’s integrated waste management system.

HERC utilizes a tipping floor to receive and process collected trash, which is then incinerated to generate energy for the surrounding community. Ash produced from the incineration process is screened for recyclable metals, then stored in a building before transport to the landfill, therefore reducing the volume of waste and eliminating harmful materials.

The facility’s tipping floor, where trash trucks and front loaders enter and dump their loads onto as temporary storage before going to the incinerator, is made of highly durable concrete to withstand constant impact, abrasion and corrosive liquids from the waste.

Over time, HERC’s tipping floor had become damaged from daily wear with rebar visibly exposed. The Great Rivers Hennepin Energy Recovery Center contracted with Western on June 16, 2025 to perform concrete repairs and re-work of the facility’s tipping floor.

Western’s scope of work included 350-square-feet of partial depth repairs to the concrete floor and replacing existing concrete jersey barriers with a 25 ft x 4 ft wall extension for visiting tour groups to observe the waste management process safely.

Western’s work on the ash building included extending the concrete apron by approximately 8 ft around for loading trucks to push ash into a dumpster to haul away, plus infilling a door with concrete that was no longer in service.

The customer gave Western just one week to complete all the work. Backed by over a century of experience, Western was able to complete the project in just four days and within budget to the satisfaction of the owner.

“We overcame this strict timeline by sending an experienced crew to perform the concrete work and repairs. The crew also worked long hours to meet the customer’s timeline requirements,” said Western Project Manager Evan Halet.

HERC was under a “common outage” while the work was performed, which means the facility significantly slowed down its production/services for a week so Western’s crews would not be disturbed by the constant flow of dump trucks loading and unloading debris near the work area.

About Western Specialty Contractors

Family-owned and operated for 110 years, Western Specialty Contractors is the nation’s largest specialty contractor in masonry and concrete restoration, waterproofing and specialty roofing. Western offers a nationwide network of expertise that building owners, engineers, architects, and property managers can count on to develop cost-effective, corrective measures that can add years of useful life to a variety of structures including industrial, commercial, healthcare, historic, educational and government buildings, parking structures, and sports stadiums. Western is headquartered in St. Louis, MO with 30 branch offices nationwide and employs more than 1,200 salaried and hourly professionals who offer the best, time-tested techniques and innovative technology. For more information about Western Specialty Contractors, visit www.westernspecialtycontractors.com.