Design-Build: Delivery Method Still Growing in Popularity

Corporations and governments in the Southeast are increasingly turning to design-build.

By Debra Wood

The design-build delivery method continues to grow in both public and private construction projects in the Southeast.

"We're quoting more and more of this kind of work," said Kevin Burton, project director for CH2M Hill Lockwood Greene of Spartanburg, S.C. "It's easier for [owners] to manage if there's a single point of responsibility."

Richard A. Belle, vice president of public affairs and information for the Design-Build Institute of America, said studies show design-build is on the rise, with owners of 38 percent or more of new nonresidential projects opting for the delivery method. He projects it will hit 50 percent within the next decade.

"Particularly when there is no wiggle room in the budget or schedule, design-build becomes a more attractive vehicle," Belle said.

Private Projects

CH2M HILL Lockwood Greene began construction in April on a $125 million, 700,000-sq.-ft. design-build gypsum wallboard manufacturing plant in Georgetown, S.C., for American Gypsum Co. of Dallas. The plant is going up adjacent to Santee Cooper's Winyah Generating Station and will use synthetic gypsum created by the power plant's scrubbing process.

In addition to constructing the building, CH2M HILL Lockwood Greene is providing engineering and procurement of equipment based on the owner's specifications. The project's completion is scheduled for late 2007.

"Everyone wants to postpone [construction] as long as they can because the market is changing so quickly," Burton said. "Design-build allows them flexibility and pushes the responsibility down to firms like ours that do this regularly and are comfortable taking on a little risk to manage a job."

In St. Petersburg, Fla., The Austin Co. of Cleveland began designing a production and warehouse facility two years ago for Cox Target Media of Largo, Fla. The $50 million, 500,000-sq.-ft., steel-frame and tilt-up concrete facility broke ground last year and is expected to be complete in January.

The relatively long design time for a design-build project was needed to give the owner time to select automation and other equipment.

"There is so much evolution and development going on with technology that goes into a manufacturing plant," said Michael G. Pierce, senior vice president of sales and marketing for The Austin Co. With design-build, "a lot of the decisions are made while the building is under way. They're squeezing the latest technology against the earliest delivery of equipment."

Austin has divided the job into four sections. As it completes construction in a quadrant, it turns it over to Cox to install the equipment. The building boasts sustainable design features, such as a flywheel-driven backup battery, enhanced natural light and use of recycled materials.

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Cardinal Health of Dublin, Ohio, took a different approach to building its distribution center, allowing The Conlon Co. of Marietta, Ga., to design and build a 330,000-sq.-ft., $15 million warehouse before all of the equipment was secured.

Conlon continues to modify designs to accommodate the equipment. The steel frame and tilt-up distribution center will finish in October.

"[Industrial facilities] are fairly easy to do design-build," said Scott Austin, vice president of Conlon. "If I had a shell warehouse design-build, I would eat that up."

Quicker delivery drives many of the design-build projects, including the Bass Pro Shop and distribution center in Macon, Ga. This spring, Choate Construction Co. of Atlanta completed construction of the 450,000-sq.-ft. distribution center within 13 months.

Macon Bibb County Industrial Authority owns and developed the building, and Kathy Bowden, executive director of the authority, said speed was the determining factor in using design-build.

In Florida, the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers opted for design-build delivery for their new $35 million corporate headquarters and training facility. Hunt Construction Group of Tampa, in a joint venture with Sierra Commercial Construction of Laurel, Md., began the project in August 2005.

Mark McCaskey, project director for Hunt, said the job should wrap up in September.

The job consists of a two-story, 115,000-sq.-ft. office building and a one-story, 22,000-sq.-ft. training facility, maintenance building, guard shack and three practice fields.

The team selected design-build "to allow a quick start, fast track through construction and having a single responsible entity," McCaskey said.

Public Work

Speed can also sway governments to select design-build. Such was the case for the city of Savannah, Ga., in its development of a new four-level, 1,100-car, underground parking facility and restoration of one of the city's historic squares atop the parking structure.

The city tore down an existing parking structure and secured subterranean rights for that site, which W.B. Barnard Co. of Atlanta will develop into a hotel and office complex. The post-tensioned concrete parking structure, with a 2.5-ace footprint, will serve as a foundation for those private buildings.

"The private part of the partnership was anxious to get things moving and [design-build] was a faster way to move forward," said Bob Scanlon, project manager for the city. "We're 40 ft. in the ground and less than two years from when the developer first came to us with a concept."

Batson-Cook Co. of Atlanta began construction before drawings were complete. During excavation of the site, which is about 1.5 blocks from the Savannah River, crews hit water at 22 ft. and began dewatering.

The company contracted with Riato of Japan to install a secant wall around the entire site. The wall reaches down 95 ft. to a clay layer and eliminates almost all of the water seepage. It will stay in place and become part of the garage's waterproofing system.

"We anticipate having to run dewatering as long as the garage is there, but the inflow is expected to be fairly low volume," Scanlon said.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando began construction in May on the 280,000-sq.-ft., 10-building Graceville Prison, in Graceville, Fla. The GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., will operate the $68 million, 1,500-bed facility for the Florida Department of Management Services.

The project consists of three two-story housing buildings with precast cells erected in place and several pre-engineered metal buildings.

Mike Odom, project manager for Hensel Phelps, said design-build helped save time, and the project should complete next September.

In Tallahassee, when Florida State University moved up plans to build DeGraff Hall, the school opted for design-build with a team with dormitory experience and off-the-shelf drawings that could be tailored to the project's needs.

"The schedule was so tight when we advertised for this project, the only way teams were going to be able to make the schedule was to come in with a design on the shelf," said Lisa Durham, senior project manager for FSU.

Culpepper Construction of Tallahassee began demolition of an existing dormitory in August 2005 and began construction on the 157,000-sq.-ft., two-building, five-story, 706-bed dormitories with documents only 75 percent modified for the site. The project must wrap up in time for the 2007 fall term.

Speed of construction also factored into the North Carolina Department of Transportation's decision to widen 2.1 mi. of Interstate 40 near Asheville. Taylor and Murphy Construction Co. of Asheville received the $42.9 million contract to add an outside auxiliary lane and an inside lane in each direction. The project includes several bridges, noise walls and utility work.

"The efficiencies of the design-build process result in a shortened project delivery time, which will enable the department to meet the needs of this region much sooner," said NCDOT spokeswoman Lisa Crist Crawley. "The project was also a good candidate for design-build because it is fairly complex, and having one contractor oversee the entire process significantly simplifies the management of all the project's aspects."

In Lauderhill, Fla., the simplicity of working with one entity convinced Broward County Parks and Recreation Division to select the design-build delivery method for its new $35 million, 110-acre Central Broward Regional Park.

Seawood Builders of Deerfield Beach and H.J. Russell & Co. of Atlanta received the contract in 2005 to design and build a 5,000-seat, 20,000-sq.-ft. field house with a 560-ft.-diameter multipurpose field for soccer, cricket and football, nature trails and a jogging path on the former AT&T ship-to-shore antenna farm. The park should open at the end of 2007.

"[Design-build] is one of the simpler ways to address a construction project, because you're hiring a team, rather that two individual companies," said Bob Harbin, director of Parks and Recreation. "It's worked best for us."

Architectural firm VOA Associates of Orlando, which designs for U.S. military clients, is serving as the design partner on two projects being built by Sauer of Jacksonville, Fla.

At Fort Bragg, N.C., the team is renovating Kennedy Hall for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $10 million job includes demolishing the existing building to the shell and reconfiguring the interior spaces for general-purpose administrative and high-technology classroom space. The team received the contract in June 2005, with completion scheduled for March.

The team also is building the Space and Naval Warfare Electronic Integration and Support Facility at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C. It began work on the $10.6 million, 55,000-sq.-ft. laboratory and office space in September 2005 and expects to complete the job in April.

Ted Fery, a principal with VOA, said he anticipates that the military will continue using design-build. "Design-build is gaining strength," he said. "The steam has not run out."

USEFUL SOURCES:

Ellis Square http://www.theellisproject.com