9/11 Recovery Jobs Highlight Projects Honored for Excellence by Construction Management Association of America

            WASHINGTON, DC - Two major elements of America’s recovery from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 highlighted a diverse array of construction projects large and small honored for excellence at the Construction Management Association of America’s National Conference in Washington this week.

CMAA’s Project Achievement Awards honor projects that exemplify the contributions professional Construction Management makes to successful completion of complex jobs.  Awards were given for projects both publicly and privately owned in four size ranges, along with an international award and a separate award for outstanding program management.

In its largest project size category, publicly owned projects of more than $100 million in constructed value, CMAA departed from tradition by bestowing two Project Achievement Awards.  The winners were:

Public projects of more than $100 million in value - The Owner is the Pentagon Restoration Program and the CMs are DMJM-3D/International, a Joint Venture.  Approximately 400,000 square feet of space required complete structural demolition and reconstruction after the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. More than 50,000 tons of debris were removed from the site.  Crews worked around the clock to bring the building back into operation.  The Pen Ren program set a goal of relocating personnel back into the outer ring of the Pentagon by the first anniversary of its destruction.  In fact, this goal was exceeded by 28 days, with the first tenants moving back into their offices on August 15, 2002. Pen Ren relied extensively on Integrated Product Teams that brought together representatives from all the parties with an interest in the project.  These teams, together with a variety of short-term Process Action Teams, made a huge contribution to meeting the demanding schedule and optimizing communications. At peak times, 1,000 workers per day were involved, and crews worked 20 hours per day, six days a week. This inspiring project truly merited the designation “Phoenix,” invoking the mythological bird that, when destroyed by fire, rose from its own ashes stronger than before.

The other winner is the reconstruction of the subway tunnel for lines one and nine in lower Manhattan, which was severely damaged by the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  The owner of this project is the New York City Transit Authority and construction management was performed by the Authority’s Capital Program Management office.  The extent of damage to this tunnel between Chambers Street and the area south of the Rector Street station was enormous.  Fourteen hundred feet of tunnel was damaged or filled with rubble.  Two fan plants were destroyed, utilities collapsed, and the tunnel was partially flooded.  Capital Program Management took immediate action to stabilize the structures, control the flooding and pump out the water.  Then it began design to meet Governor George Pataki’s target of resuming service on the affected lines by November 2002.  In fact, CPM set an even earlier completion data of September 30, 2002.  The project included reconstruction of the tunnel for one-quarter of a mile, replacement of track, signal work and rehabilitation of stations. Electric power, lights, communications, pumps, ventilation…all of the basic infrastructure of a heavily used mass transit system had to be rebuilt in this devastated area.  The project opened to the public ahead of even the accelerated schedule, on September 15, 2002.  

“In both of these cases, it was profoundly important to return the facility to normal operation as quickly as possible, both for practical reasons and as a symbol of America’s recovery,” noted CMAA Executive Director Bruce D’Agostino.  “Professional Construction Management was instrumental in achieving this goal.”

CMAA’s other Project Achievement Award winners were:

Public project, less than $10 million – The Crystal Springs Water Treatment Plant in Roanoke, Virginia.  The City of Roanoke is the project owner, and construction management was provided by Construction Dynamics Group, Inc., of Columbia, Maryland. When the city started work on a new water treatment plant and turned to Construction Dynamics Group, it knew it had to move quickly.  But no one knew how much more urgent the project would become.  Soon Roanoke was suffering through one of the worst droughts in its history.  The city called on CDG both to fast-track construction of the new plant and to supervise construction and installation of a temporary plant to meet short-term needs.  CDG brought a temporary, three million gallon per day filtration plant into operation in a matter of weeks, while work was continuing on the new five million gallon plant. The entire project was completed in 12 months, just eight days over its original timetable despite the greatly enlarged scope of work.  The plant’s performance goals were met from the very first day of operation.  And a major water crises was averted.

Private project, less than $10 million – “Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta.”  The Children’s Museum is the project owner, and the CM is Silverman Construction Program Management.  The Children’s Museum was designed to occupy the entire ground floor of a high-rise condominium tower overlooking Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta.  When Silverman was invited to assume management of this project, work had stopped, the site had been fenced closed and the museum’s fundraising effort, which depended on meeting a March 1, 2003 opening date, was in jeopardy.  This situation arose from an escalating dispute between the tower’s developer and general contractor. Silverman took on responsibility for interacting with the Museum, the developer, two sets of architects, two sets of contractors and subcontractors, plus direct vendors to the museum, providers of in-kind donations and other participants.  In a long series of very delicate negotiations, Silverman got the project going again, modified the basic contracts to make the project work better for the Museum, and even achieved some significant cost reductions in the process. Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta opened on schedule to an enthusiastic public reception.

Public project, less than $50 million – The Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.  The University owns the project, and construction management was done by Hanscomb Faithful & Gould.  The university intended this center to be a showcase facility, and it contains everything from racquetball courts to a 52 foot high rock climbing wall to indoor and outdoor pools.  It was a complex project, and Hanscomb Faithful & Gould was involved from the earliest design phases.  The CM helped guide the bidding and contractor selection process, supporting project budgeting, scheduling, contract administration, on-site project management and liaison with user groups. The project had to contend with bad weather in its final stages, integrate a variety of owner’s changes, and even had to accommodate a presidential Inaugural Ball in January 2001.  Although the project scope grew by 17 percent, this had no impact on the schedule.

Private project, less than $50 million --  Lehigh University’s Campus Square in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with construction management by Alvin H. Butz, Inc. of Allentown.  The university felt a pressing need to deliver a new 250-bed student housing facility, along with a 150 car garage, a new bookstore and retail space in time for the fall semester 2002.  To meet this deadline, planning, design and related processes had to proceed without the Board of Trustees’ final approval, which could not be obtained until April 2001. Without the involvement of Alvin H. Butz, Inc., this could not have been accomplished.  Butz began pre-design services on a verbal agreement, aided in the selection of a designer, developed a project budget from a minimum of completed drawings, filled in all the gaps in construction documents so that bid packages were ready early and the project could proceed on schedule.  The construction period was short and intense, and once the building was occupied, corrections would be very difficult.  A conflict resolution process was instituted as a preventive process, and Butz’s emphasis on fairness and complete communication helped the project proceed very smoothly to a successful, on-time completion.

Public project, less than $100 million -- The Airside Terminal Building E at Tampa International Airport, owned by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, with construction management by Skanska USA Building.  This is a 270,000 square foot terminal building with 14 boarding gates and a wide variety of other facilities, which was completed six weeks ahead of its original schedule despite a very significant expansion of the project scope after it was underway.  After construction had begun, Delta Airlines, through its own architect, delivered the design for the Delta Crown Room, a significant passenger amenity area. Skanska adapted the project’s construction sequence and set up a design field office on site to streamline the design changes this required.  The company fast-tracked foundations, concrete piers, elevator and escalator pits and similar components so that they could proceed while the remainder of the design was being completed.  In the end, a project that normally would take 22 months was completed in less than 17 months, six weeks ahead of an already-compressed schedule. Skanska managed nearly 30 subcontractors with a peak force of 500 trades people. The client commented, “Not only did your group deliver the nation’s first fast-track, design-build aviation terminal, but it was accomplished ahead of schedule, below the allotted budget, and of a quality of which we can all be extremely proud.”

Private project, greater than $100 million --  Our largest size category embraces projects worth more than $100 million.  In the private sector, this year’s Project Achievement Award goes to General Motors’ Corporation’s Vehicle Engineering Center Tower at GM’s Warren Technical Center Campus in Warren, Michigan.  Construction Management was provided by Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc.  The Vehicle Engineering Center, or VEC, is a new eight-story, million square foot tower integrated into an existing facility, which is also being completely renovated.  The entire Warren Technical Center campus was designed in the 1950s by famed architect Eero Saarinen.  Even before construction began, PB was able to help the client identify nearly $100 million in cost savings.  During construction, one additional complexity was the need to manage relocation of some 8,000 employees to the tower.  Indeed, one of PB’s achievements on this huge project was to manage the new construction without disturbing work in the existing building, with which the tower is interlocked.  PB used a secure, web-based project management system to coordinate the project and facilitate better communications.  And the CM worked closely with a high level oversight committee, providing the committee with an innovative new cost-tracking and forecasting tool.  Cost growth, including client-driven scope changes, was less than seven percent of the entire program. A huge, complex project in a very visible setting certainly presents a challenge to a construction manager.  Parsons Brinckerhoff met that challenge, and has earned a Project Achievement Award for it.

Excellence in Program Management -- Program management applies the professional discipline of construction management to a capital improvement program involving one or more projects from inception through completion. Each year, CMAA identifies an outstanding example of professional program management for a Project Achievement Award. This year’s winner is the Pier 400 Container Terminal Project built in the Port of Los Angeles for owner Maersk Pacific, Limited. Construction management was by DMJM Management.  This is the largest proprietary container terminal in the world, located on 484 acres and including 17 buildings and gate facilities with a combined footprint of 290,000 square feet.  It was completed 13 months ahead of the owner’s original schedule.  In fact, the job even beat the greatly accelerated schedule.  Among the many complexities facing DMJM was the fact that the island site had only one point of access, so material deliveries, project lay-down areas, contractor parking and other factors needed to be carefully addressed. In addition to this coordination, important time savings were gained through preparation of bridging documents and fast-tracking of portions of the construction while design was still in progress.  DMJM divided the project into three distinct Design-Build packages, and awarded the contracts in phases.  Contractors were pre-qualified to assure quality.  A large and complex project, delivered ahead of schedule, under budget and with no claims or lost-time injuries, all in the context of a demanding site.  Those are the achievements with which DMJM has earned this distinction.  

International Project of the Year -- The winner is the Sheppard Subway Project in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by the Toronto Transit Commission with construction management by Delcan-Hatch Joint Venture.  Originally the Sheppard Subway was one of seven projects in a rapid transit expansion program approved by the Toronto Transit Commission.  Delcan-Hatch was chosen to provide program management for this large undertaking.  However, due to economic conditions this has been, so far, the only project chosen to proceed.  Sheppard Subway is the first new subway line in Toronto in nearly four decades.  The 6.4 kilometer line was built largely underground, at a total cost of nearly $700 million U.S.  It includes five passenger stations, as well as three operational track crossings and two connections to an existing subway line. In all, the project involved more than 50 design and construction contracts, and construction techniques including tunneling, demolitions, deep excavation and multi-level concrete structures.  The Sheppard Subway project used a streamlined, integrated team organization with a concerted effort to minimize layers of management.  After eight years in the works, the subway opened to riders in November 2002 both within its budget and with a remarkable record of safety.

To view more great CM/PM projects, click here.