Over the months leading to our annual Design-Build Conference & Expo, hosted this year in Denver Colorado from November 2-4, we will be posting weekly projects that have earned distinction as a 2015 DBIA Merit Award winner. These projects, at a minimum, resulted in highly successful delivery and achieved best value while meeting design and construction quality, cost and schedule goals. These projects will also be highlighted during the Design-Build Conference & Expo on November 3 during an Awards Reception. Please join us by registering for the conference here. This week we recognize the winners from our Industrial, Process and Research Facilities Category.
EnwaveUSA Biomedical District Steam Plant
Challenge Design-Build Project Delivery Addressed:
With University Medical Center construction underway, steam plant completion was expedited to ensure availability of adequate steam service. Design-build delivery helped meet that demand. Late in the design schedule, the owner requested the building orientation be rotated 90 degrees. This challenge required quick coordination and action by both the design and construction teams. The plant’s architectural layout, fuel oil and chemical delivery locations, and fire protection equipment access were revised without delaying project completion. Furthermore, to coordinate sequencing, the agreement included language that required tight deadlines for Burns & McDonnell. While the sequence could have put Burns & McDonnell’s construction management labor budget in jeopardy, in reality it promoted close coordination, collaboration and concurrent work to help mitigate that risk and culminated in successful early completion.
Summary:
The Burns & McDonnell team was charged with the design-build delivery of a district energy plant supplying steam to the New Orleans biomedical district, home of the new University Medical Center, along with the existing Interim Louisiana State University (LSU) Hospital, Louisiana Cancer Research Center, Tulane Health Sciences Center, LSU Health Sciences Center and other healthcare and educational facilities. When establishing the district’s utility needs, the primary project goal was to build a robust plant capable of supporting critical medical services delivery during a major weather event on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, marked by record flooding and 150-plus mph winds. Burns & McDonnell’s robust plant accounts for potential hurricane wind loads and positions all essential operating equipment on or above the second floor, well above the Hurricane Katrina flood plain. The 26,000-square-foot plant enables the University Medical Center’s Level 1 trauma center and other facilities to maintain operations for up to seven days without electricity, natural gas or water service to the plant.
Michelin Red Oak
Challenge Design-Build Project Delivery Addressed:
Design-build allowed Michelin to achieve its product delivery obligations by overlapping and phasing the design and construction activities to meet their fixed start-up date. There were 109 deliverables on the project, with 38 areas that each had multiple phased completion dates. To make things more difficult, an incredible 20 inches of rain fell in just four months during the early stages of the project, forcing the contractor to utilize many of its resources to stabilize the site and continuously remediate temporary roads. Through constant meetings and collaboration with the owner and project team, and reliance upon cloud-based technology that enabled real-time communication, Gray was able to adjust the schedule to ensure that key delivery dates were still achieved.
Summary:
Michelin North America, Inc., South Carolina’s largest manufacturing employer, invested $750 million to construct a nearly 800,000-square-foot facility in Anderson, South Carolina, its ninth project in the state and one that will create hundreds of new jobs. The plant was built in response to heightened demand for Michelin’s Earthmover tires, used by the construction and mining industries. Some tires stand just over 13 feet tall and weigh up to 5.5 tons, with 80% of the tires to be exported, primarily through the Port of Charleston. Michelin’s US10 plant, also known internally as the Red Oak project, marks the fastest greenfield construction in Michelin’s history. Gray achieved the final certificate of occupancy in September 2013, an outstanding 50 days earlier than expected, which enabled the company to begin production of commercially available tires in December 2013. “That we have constructed this state-of-the-art facility in 17 months is nothing short of remarkable,” said Bruce Brackett, senior vice president, Michelin Earthmover & Industrial Tires Worldwide.
United States Cold Storage Distribution Center
Challenge Design-Build Project Delivery Addressed:
The aggressive schedule of this project could not have been achieved within the time-frame allotted without the design-build delivery method. Timing was so critical, many components had to overlap. Site work took place during design, and design took place around procurement. Without being able to accomplish these tasks simultaneously, USCS’s goals could not have been met.
Summary:
Unilever, one of the world’s largest producers of packaged consumer goods, desired to expand its ice cream manufacturing facility in Covington, Tennessee. Three firms were selected to compete for the project. The winning firm would operate the new facility under its own name. United States Cold Storage (USCS) selected Primus Builders, Inc., to serve as their design and construction provider. After a qualifications and selection process, Unilever agreed that the USCS/Primus team was the most qualified to complete the project within budget, schedule and to Unilever’s strict standards for sustainability and quality. The 336,500-square-foot dedicated frozen food distribution facility is located adjacent to Unilever’s existing 815,000-square-foot production facility, making it one of the largest ice cream manufacturing plants in the world.