St. Cecilia Catholic Church

St. Cecilia Catholic Church & School: Covered Walkway

Project Overview

For St. Cecilia Catholic Church and School, Contract Fabricating Services fabricated and erected the structural steel for a covered walkway connecting buildings across the campus. The design pairs a sweeping, barrel-vaulted roofline with slender twin columns, giving students, families, and parishioners shelter from Houston’s sun and rain while creating a landmark entry for the campus.

Our Scope

Rolled steel arches: Wide-flange beams curved in a rolling process to form the walkway’s barrel-vault roof sections, each fabricated to match a consistent radius.
Roof girders and framing: Heavy wide-flange girders carry the arches and transition into flat-roof sections where the walkway meets the existing buildings.
Paired round columns: Twin round steel columns at each bay, set on concrete piers, give the walkway its light, open look.
Tie-in to existing buildings: Steel framing connects the new walkway to the edge of the existing structures.
Field erection and welding: Our crews erected, aligned, and field-welded the steel at height across the full length of the walkway.

The Challenge

Curved steel leaves no margin for error. Every arch had to be rolled to the same radius so the roofline reads as one smooth, continuous curve, and each one had to land precisely on its girders. The work also took place on an active school and church campus, so our crews coordinated around students, school buses, parishioners, and other trades while working at height.

The Result

A covered walkway that’s both practical and architectural, protecting the campus community from the weather every day while giving St. Cecilia a distinctive, welcoming new feature. The project shows our ability to deliver curved, architecturally exposed steel on an occupied campus where safety and appearance both matter.