Industrialized Construction Solutions Wins SFIA Award for 7-Story Apartments, Design Saves $1 Million

By vertically aligning bearing walls, Industrialized Construction Solutions’ design eliminated the need for concrete and red-iron transfers, streamlining the structure and improving construction efficiency.

Industrialized Construction Solutions’ win was announced during the 2025 SFIA Awards live ceremony and posted online. The SFIA 2025 Industry Project and Product Awards, an annual steel framing industry awards competition, focuses on cold-formed steel manufacturing and construction. Designers, manufacturers, distributors and contractors entered a variety of projects in the latest competition.

Conversion to Steel

How was conversion to metal framing achieved?

The West Point II Apartments owner’s of pro forma did not allow for either a two-story podium or a reduction in unit count. A five-story wood-framed building would have been required without these changes.

The project team instead designed a full cold-formed steel superstructure. Careful design coordination allowed the team to eliminate the concrete podium entirely, reducing both cost and complexity.

The noncombustible structure also produced significant insurance savings. Both builder’s risk coverage and long-term ownership policies benefited from the change. And, the lighter structural weight reduced seismic demands and simplified construction sequencing.

Prefabricated cold-formed steel (CFS) wall panels stand in place near a top floor, part of a system of vertically aligned bearing walls that run down to the foundation.

Several apartments will overlook sweeping views of the city, desert and surrounding mountains.

Design Quality

Did this project make efficient use of metal framing products?

The project team used cold-formed steel to deliver a full seven-story structure without a concrete podium. This approach overcame a key cost barrier within the owner’s financial model.

Early coordination between the architect of record and Industrialized Construction Solutions, the structural engineer of record played a critical role. Industrialized Construction Solutions also served as the prefabricated CFS specialty engineer.

The team aligned bearing walls vertically from the upper residential floors through the first floor and down to the foundations. This strategy eliminated the need for concrete or red-iron transfer systems.

The engineers also studied alternatives to traditional steel components. They designed built-up CFS stud packs instead of HSS members for shear wall hold-downs and balcony supports. This value-engineering solution saved more than $1 million while maintaining performance integrity.

The project used very little structural steel outside the CFS framing. The only red iron installed was a limited number of wide-flange moment frames at the first floor. These frames provided vertical and lateral load paths at large storefront openings.

Stacks of prefabricated wall panels arrive on site, ready to be lifted into place.

Installation Complexity

What difficulties existed on the project?

The project sits on a downtown infill site with limited staging space. The team needed a framing system that supported on-delivery and rapid assembly. The choice? Prefabricated CFS panels. Panelization enabled clean sequencing and minimized site congestion.

The all-CFS superstructure was easy to coordinate. The framing system includes CFS floor joists, which eliminated the need to coordinate separate concrete trades for floor pours. The project team consolidated wall and floor framing under a single subcontractor scope. This approach eliminated trade handoffs and improved scheduling control. Crews gained efficiency as construction progressed.

• CFS framing process reduced the schedule by roughly two to three days per floor
• The lighter CFS floor system provided cost savings and reduced overall structural weight

Despite the constraints of the urban infill site, crews erected the structure in just 75 days. The fast schedule allowed earlier occupancy and revenue.

CFS floor joists and noncombustible structural mag board helped the owner secure significant insurance savings compared with traditional wood construction.

Sheet steel shear walls created straight, true walls and simplified drywall installation.

Manufacturing Complexity

Were special materials involved?

The project originally specified a concrete-filled metal deck floor system at the request of the owner and general contractor. But through owner education and collaborative redesign, the team replaced the concrete system with a lightweight CFS joist floor system. The revised system maintained both acoustic and fire performance.

The team used prefabricated panelization supported by CNC roll forming. Fabricators produced 800S200 joists on demand, which helped avoid supply-chain delays.

Industrialized Construction Solutions’ engineering team used custom-built software to translate structural design data directly from the Revit construction documents environment into production-ready wall panel shop drawings and roll former files. This digital workflow eliminated the traditional PDF shop drawing handoff process between separate design, engineering and fabrication teams. The integrated process reduced coordination risks and prevented schedule delays.

Crews lift the final wall panel into place, topped with a cold-formed steel (CFS) evergreen tree and an American flag.

Crews set the final prefabricated wall panel during a topping-out ceremony on June 25, 2025 — just 75 days after erection began.

Overall Job Quality

How did the completed system turn out?

Panelized CFS construction delivered high dimensional accuracy. Crews achieved consistent alignment across floors and façade elements.

The project used a sheet steel shear wall system as the primary lateral force-resisting system. This system simplified drywall installation and reduced the shimming often required with strap-braced systems.

Prefabrication and careful field coordination ensured the building met the original design intent. The team completed the work with minimal rework or deviation. Quality assurance procedures maintained tight tolerances throughout construction. These measures improved both the visual finish and the building’s long-term performance.

Industrialized Construction Solutions is the 2025 SFIA Industry Project and Product Awards winner in the Efficient Use of CFS Framing category.

Additional Resources

• The Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA) Names 13 Recipients of the 2025 Industry Awards
• SFIA Unveils 9 Winners of the 2024 Industry Project Awards
• SFIA Reveals 7 Winners of the 2023 Industry Project Awards in Online Ceremony