Laying the Groundwork
Municipal Project DemandsChallenge Construction Teams
By Nicole Achs Freeling
Contractors face a myriad of special demands when it comes toconstructing municipal buildings. These projects are frequentlyfast track and require contractors to work from plans and specificationson which they had little input.
Because budgets and designs are approved in advance through a political process, virtually no possibility exists to make changes midway through the work. With projects awarded largely on a lowest cost basis, margins are often razor thin. Meanwhile, the municipal procedure demands an unusually detailed amount of documentation and accounting. On these projects, time is short, budgets are tight, and paperwork is long. 
How can contractors meet these demands? According to Mark Smith, Project Manager at Parsons Electric, it takes three critical attributes: astute scheduling, owner and contractor teamwork, and a proactive attitude.
Working from the Driver’s Seat
“When working with outside plans, it is important to scrutinize the building strategy ahead of time and work closely with the owner to address potential issues before problems arise, which can slow the project down,” says Smith.
Most corporate projects are design-build, which is reputation and customer driven. But municipal projects are usually plan-spec, an approach focusing heavily on bottom line cost. According to Smith, the key to working on plan-spec projects is to stay as far ahead of schedule as possible.
“You can control the job if you are far enough ahead of everyone else,” Smith says. “Then you’re in the driver’s seat. So you try to do the work on any piece of the project you can at the earliest possible point.”
Creating a Building Inside Out
Two Minnesota municipal sector projects recently tested this process. The Orville L. Freeman office building is a 324,000-square-foot, five-story structure that will house Minnesota’s departments of health and agriculture. It features a mechanical penthouse and a multiwindowed exterior designed to reflect the architectural character of the Capitol District. Created of precast panels and a curtainwall system, the building includes an urban plaza that links the office with adjacent laboratory buildings.
Construction was unusual from the beginning since it required an “inside-out” completion. Delivery of the precast panels that form the exterior would take several months. Yet the building was on a fast-track timetable.
“It was a $53 million project completed over 16 months, which equates to $318 spent per minute on construction,” says Mike McGowan, Project Manager for Adolfson and Peterson, general contractor on the Freeman Building. According to McGowan, such a project usually takes approximately 24 months. 
Due to the exterior delivery delay, Adolfson and Peterson began with the building’s interior after wrapping the exterior frame in plastic sheeting. “We ended up bringing the interior to a finished state before the building skin was even completely put on,” McGowan says.
The building was also created with a pouredin- place concrete foundation. “It took a lot of coordination during the actual pours because we had some of our electrical work in the slabs,” says John Axelson, Project Manager at Parsons.
Working space on the project was limited because the structure spanned to the edge of property lines. Things were so tight that Adolfson and Peterson assigned one employee to work solely on coordinating deliveries, ensuring each one arrived as planned.
“With such a tight schedule and space constraints, it was important for contractors to not only communicate but stay out of each other’s way,” McGowan says. “The major subcontractors did a good job of coordinating with our superintendent. Parsons did a great job of not getting in our way for pour schedules. We didn’t have to wait for them, which accelerated our pour schedule and allowed us to complete the structural concrete before the cold weather set in.”
A Home for Human Services
Also in the works is Minnesota’s new Department of Human Services (DHS) facility, a 407,000-square-foot, eight-story building that will consolidate a department now working from eight leased offices into one location. The structure is scheduled to open in the fall of 2005.
The DHS building was designed as an inviting and uplifting space for those who work in it and those who visit. This reflects the department’s mission to increase opportunities and raise the standard of living for those in need.
The exterior uses buff-colored Minnesota limestone, traditional red brick, and modern glass, echoing capitol buildings to the north and the character of downtown St. Paul. The L-shaped building also features large windows to provide natural light and views of city landmarks, including the Capitol, the St. Paul Cathedral, and the downtown skyline.
Wide corridors, dubbed “interior streets” by the architect, lead to “community interaction zones” such as conference rooms, coffee bars, lounge seating, and a cantilevered atrium. The building sits back from the street, and the grounds in front are landscaped with trees, plantings, and park benches.
The DHS building also includes a massive voice and data communications system. “It’s the Cadillac of technology infrastructure,” says Wendy Boosalis, Technologies Division Manager at Parsons. “This is a very large, cable intensive project, using state-of-the-art cable and connectivity,” Boosalis says. The project involves approximately a million feet of cable packed into a relatively small space.
Unique Elements
These two municipal structures share a unique element: a 6-inch raised floor with all The DHS building’s exterior uses buff-colored Minnesota limestone, traditional red brick, and modern glass. Photo courtesy of BWBR Architects Project Profile the electrical work, cabling, and ductwork underneath. “Working under the floor rather than overhead requires a more aggressive approach,” says Smith.
Working overhead makes scheduling more flexible since the cables and conduits are installed before the ceiling. But floors are installed early in the project. “Work is restricted because of the floor schedule,” Smith notes.
Like the Freeman building, the Human Services project was also on an accelerated timetable. To compensate for delays in budget approval, “we did in 14 months what would usually take two years,” Smith says.
According to Smith, shrewd scheduling is key to meeting timetables. “The idea is, don’t wait for the schedule to tell you when to do it,” he says. That method, he says, helped keep crews as small, efficient, and consistent in size as possible, which was necessary to meet the extremely tight budget.
Ultimately, a proactive approach to working ahead, the ability to work with the owner to smooth over design dilemmas, and coordination with other trades enables a contractor to address the demands of these projects successfully.
Tim Maher, the state’s representative for the Freeman building, appreciates this approach. “There were a lot of electrical and design challenges,” he says. “But Parsons is a team player and a joy to work with.”
