Project Team
Owner: General Services Administration.
Construction Manager: Beers Skanska, Jacksonville.
Design Architect: HLM Design.
Associate Architect: KBJ Architects, Jacksonville.

Taking the top Judges' Award in the 2002 Best of Florida Awards is Beers Skanska and its $83 million, 15-story U.S. Courthouse project in downtown Jacksonville. This year's Best Of judges agreed that this project qualified as the Judges' Award after a thorough examination of all of the entries. In discussing possible contenders for this top award, each judge presented two projects that he felt could be considered for the Judges' Award.

While several other projects were nominated by one or more of the judges, only this U.S. Courthouse project was mentioned by each judge as worthy of consideration for the Judges' Award. When that occurred, the panel of judges turned their collective attention to the courthouse project, reviewing it again to determine if, in fact, it was worthy of this top award.

Judges cited the complexity of the building's design and construction, the tight site conditions, as well as the testimonial statement from the project owner, General Services Administration. This statement read, "Beers Skanska has truly partnered with GSA on this project. Issues are resolved quickly and professionally." - Jerry Wall, project executive with GSA.

The 457,416-sq.-ft. facility will house the following agencies: U.S. District Court and Clerk of Court; U.S. Magistrate Court; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Attorneys office; U.S. Probation office; and non-court-related federal agencies. The courthouse features eight district courtrooms, one circuit courtroom, four magistrate courtrooms and four bankruptcy courtrooms.

From the start, the team was challenged with a serious budget problem that had to be resolved in order for the project to proceed. In the first 90 days, the team identified approximately $5 million in cost-savings suggestions. Through ongoing meetings, where the team reviewed these suggestions, the team incorporated roughly $3 million in savings into the contract documents, and the project proceeded as planned.

A key coordination issue for the courthouse was the development of mechnical, electrical and plumbing systems' coordination drawings.

The owner's tough blast criteria created a significant budget conflict for this project. The $12 million building envelope came in 25 percent over budget. Beers Skanska's team suggested teaming up with the curtain wall contractor to review the components of the project with the blast consultant.

After the team re-evaluated GSA's criteria, it decided to implement a unitized curtain wall system that complied with the criteria. The system was glazed in the factory, improving quality of fabrication and the system's water tightness. Additionally, the team estimated that the system would install in approximately half the time and save significant dollars. Beers Skanska reported that the curtain team was able to eliminate approximately 80 percent of the budget overage for this portion of the project.

At the time of Beers Skanska's selection as construction manager, the project's budget was $75 million. After soliciting subcontractor pricing, however, project costs totaled approximately $82.5 million.

Part of the reason for this were the new blast design criteria implemented into this project as a result of the bombing of the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. These design requirements, reported Beers Skanska, resulted in a more expensive structure and exterior enclosure, partly because of the limited knowledge of available systems. After receiving these bids, the project team was able to research the matter more intently, and eventually identified a system that met the design criteria while also saving the project owner roughly $1 million.

Project owner GSA also desired a very specific elevator system, which carried a $1 million premium over other alternatives. Beers Skanska officials provided the owner with lower cost options, and also provided life-cycle costing for this item. When able to review both sets of information, GSA opted for the elevator equipment that featured a 40-year life span, versus a 25-year life.

Records, reports, monitoring systems and information management systems were primarily controlled through a singular project management software system. Records and reports were available in "real time" for items such as requests for information, product data and shop drawing submittals, change control, contract drawings and meeting minutes. Independent tracking systems included concrete pour card tracking, rebar material quantity tracking, deficiency correction reports and punch-list control tracking.

In addition, Beers Skanska implemented the use of a project-specific website. This website allowed the owner, architect and contractor to readily obtain current project data. Subsequently, other user groups that would occupy the facility could also access the information.