The project had a 12-week window in the summer to complete all work in and impacted by the renovation portion, which included asbestos abatement, building demolition, geothermal well tie-in and a two-story radius wall handicap ramp.
Logistically, drilling, piping, connecting and grading over 55 geothermal well fields were located right in the middle of the project. Well locations had to be shifted to allow more clearance to adjacent new construction, and the entire well field became essentially land locked to large equipment until school was out of session and a portion of the existing building demolished.
The completion of a basement area was directly impacting the backfill and completion of a flanking slab on grade wing. A structural detail called for a half height poured wall capped with an adjacent slab. The remaining portion of the wall was to be cmu. The slab was on a separate sequence which couldn't be completed in time to support the cmu wall and decking above. An alternate detail was developed in the field to run the cmu wall independent of the adjacent slab work. The deck above was poured immediately thereafter and backfill commenced as soon as the deck came up to strength.
Maintaining continuity between the Ferguson Township and Mount Nittany projects was crucial. We implemented a completely electronic document approach, with the exception of one, full-size set of drawings in each field trailer.
The Mount Nittany trailer office was the hub of all information using Submittal Exchange as the platform for uploading and sharing information. The trailer did not house s binders, shop drawings or file cabinets. All documentation was stored electronically. Meetings typically involved up to 25 participants and were conducted in a paperless fashion by projecting the agenda onto a wall mounted flat screen monitor. Remote participants were included via Citrix Go-To-Meeting. This digital format allowed us to quickly queue any RFIs, schedules, field reviews, photos, etc. as needed to answer or address questions during the meetings. Minutes were accessed from the website. The reduced clutter in the field trailer did not go unnoticed. The first time the Code Inspector stopped in, he asked where we kept all of our project documents. We explained it was all maintained electronically and could be accessed anywhere, anytime by anyone with a computer and internet access. We were the hub of all information for two projects occurring concurrently.
On behalf of the State College Area School District I wanted to express my deepest gratitude to all those in your construction management firm who helped make our school projects a success.
Of special note is the extraordinary efforts exerted by Rick Thomas and Scott Miller during this past week. While these gentlemen worked tirelessly throughout the projects, they went above and beyond to get Ferguson Township Elementary open for the first day of school. Throughout the process, I felt like I was equipped with best partners to make this daunting task a reality. I offer my most sincere thank you to Scott and Rick.
Hoping we work together again soon.
Ed Poprik
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL PLANT
State College Area School District