EllisDon Construction

Coordinated construction┬áDowntown Calgary is in the midst of a changing skyline. The construction of the Jamieson Place complex will provide the city with cutting-edge design and technologyÔÇöand one of its first LEED Silver buildings, Andrew Pelis learns.  Large design and construction projects are often fraught with problems, and the challenge of combining accurate forecasting, technology and experience means that EllisDon Construction is perfectly equipped for the task.  Upon completion, the Jamieson Place project, which is costing $210 million to construct, will offer up a five-level, 240,000-square-foot underground parkade and a 38-story, 920,000-square-foot office tower. The lowest three levels will contain retail space, a winter garden and public space. The structure will be cast-in-place reinforced concrete clad in curtainwall, granite and metal panels. All this will be put in place in under three years, with first occupancy scheduled for December 2009.Overseeing operations and ensuring that the project meets all required LEED standards is Shane Beazley, senior project manager at EllisDon Construction for the past eight years. ÔÇ£Our main challenge is building in a very tight space and ensuring deliveries arrive at the right time. It involves tremendous coordination and a lot of planning. When weÔÇÖre digging the hole, weÔÇÖre already planning the logistics of building the 38th floor, calling on our foresight and experience,ÔÇØ says Beazley.ÔÇ£During this project we worked closely with BentallÔÇÖs design team, led by Karen Skjei of Bentall and Gibbs Gage Architects, to control costs and accelerate the project schedule. We value-engineered the floor slabs to come up with the fastest, most productive installation. We also changed from concrete to steel in the winter garden space to assist in manpower constraints that we could foresee. This pre-planning avoided a potential slowdown in our schedule to keep building the tower while building the lower podium area at the same time.ÔÇØ The LEED Canada Rating System recognizes leading-edge buildings that incorporate design, construction and operating practices combining healthy, high-quality and high-performance advantages with reduced environmental impacts. Accreditation required EllisDon to meet stringent rules, as Beazley explains. ÔÇ£The Jamieson Place complex is a LEED Silver building, so it must meet LEED standards as a sustainable building. The design has included bicycle parking and storage complete with locker room, a recycling center, a reflective roof to minimize the urban heat island effect, low-flow water faucets, measurement and verification of tenant power and water consumption, and the use of FCS-certified wood to ensure that wood used on the project is from a sustainable forest. The construction team must also follow strict standards, such as separating and recycling all waste that leaves the site, ensuring indoor air quality by covering, sealing and cleaning all ductwork, as well as erosion and sediment control around the site. The entire process is monitored and tracked by Enermodel Engineering.ÔÇØAdditionally, the company has faced restrictions on certain supplies; in order to comply with regulatory requirements, some materials can only be transported within a certain distance of the Calgary site in order to reduce the environmental impact.So how exactly has EllisDon overcome so many potential pitfalls? ÔÇ£As we have completed several successful projects with Bentall Real Estate Services, Jamieson Place was negotiated in summer 2006,ÔÇØ states Beazley. ÔÇ£Immediately following the award of the project, EllisDon began discussions with the design team. The design is fast-tracked and is ongoing while we are building. We completed extensive design reviews with the architect and consultants from October 2006 through the start of demolition and excavation in December 2006 until the construction drawings were ready in October 2007. Our primary role with the design of the tower is to provide cost and constructability advice both to Bentall Real Estate Services, the ownerÔÇÖs representative, and Gibbs Gage Architects. At an early stage we brought on board mechanical contractor S.E. Johnson, electrical contractor Trotter and Morton, and curtainwall contractor Sota Glazing, who were engaged in the design stage of the project and assisted in getting a design that is economical and can be built within the required timelines.ÔÇØ Speaking with Beazley, it quickly becomes apparent that thinking ahead has played a major role in EllisDonÔÇÖs success. Little surprise, then, that the company formed in 1951 has seen a number of major firsts within the construction industry, including becoming the first contractor in Canada to purchase and operate its own tower crane back in 1951; the first building company in the country to fully computerize accounting and cost control systems; and in 1971, one of the first to launch a Corporate Safety Strategy to improve safety on all job sites. This final point played a crucial part of EllisDonÔÇÖs design input on the Jamieson Place project, and working closely with the designer to iron out potential pitfalls has saved both time and money. ÔÇ£As part of the whole constructability review we look at the design, and if we see anything that will slow production or not give the desired result to the design team, we flag those details and make alternative recommendations. We provided constant feedback to the design team. Gibbs Gage Architects is one of the premier designers in the city, so many of the details on the tower are similar to other towers they have designed that have proven effective,ÔÇØ Beazley asserts.Much of the Jamieson project calls for subcontractors. There are currently 218 people working on site (115 of whom work for EllisDon); this figure will peak at around 300 in due course. Given that there is a lot of construction in Calgary at present, it can be difficult to attract the best workers at a competitive rate without compromising budget. One thing that has helped the company and subcontractors alike is the companyÔÇÖs in-house-designed project management software, EdgeBuilder, ÔÇ£This software enables subcontractors to do anything from day-to-day construction activities such as requesting drawing details to reviewing changes to reviewing status of progress payment. All that can be done through EdgeBuilder. It makes us more efficient in our day-to-day work. We issue everything out through our information management system; itÔÇÖs a database anyone on the project can view. It has cut down our day-to-day administration.ÔÇØSupply chain management is of course a key driver for any business. Imagine then the difficulties a construction site is faced with, given confined space for storage, logistical difficulties in a downtown area and a tight deadline for completionÔÇöin other words, no margin for error.ÔÇ£Approximately 95 percent of our materials are supplied on a just-in-time basis because of our space restrictions,ÔÇØ Beazley explains. ÔÇ£Because we are located on a downtown site, we have very little room to store things. Our supplies therefore have to arrive exactly when we need to install them. Part of our job is to track and monitor our project schedule and ensure deliveries come when we need them, and not too early and not too late. A lot of the equipment also needs to be purchased and ordered months ahead of when it is needed, so any blips or slow-downs or speed-ups affect the decisions we made eight months previous.ÔÇØCapital expenditures run into millions of dollars, and much of the equipment comes from sister company Oxford Builders, which provides, among other things, cranes, buckets, forklifts and shoring posts. EllisDon Construction has adopted a strategy of leasing equipment where possible to cut costs. Additionally, raw materials such as granite and glass are brought in from Quebec and the United States, respectively, while other essentials include elevator equipment, distribution equipment and mechanical equipment. As with most industries in recent times, EllisDon has had to face up to the reality of rising material and labor costs. To help keep costs down, the company has forged long-term relationships with key suppliers to ensure prompt delivery of materials ordered at preferential rates, often months in advance of delivery, to help offset further price increases. ÔÇ£We have a number of longstanding suppliers that we depend on to service us well. We have seen significant increases in both material and labor costs. To mitigate these issues, we try to get our tender packages out as quickly as possible. The downside of that from a design perspective is that we can be dealing with changes and issues after the fact, but securing subcontractors early was crucial to the success of the project. We make a point of planning for and communicating all escalation costs as best as possible.ÔÇØSo despite all the challenges confronting EllisDon, the experience of Beazley and his team keeps the Jamieson Place project on target. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre achieving outstanding productivity on the tower; we are within our forecasted costs two years ago, even with the escalation of costs that has occurred. We always look for ways to be more efficient when we build. This has been achieved by our experienceÔÇöafter all, we do these large projects all the time. We have an engineering department that figures out the most efficient way to build. They will look at the logistics and determine where to set up our cranes to maximize efficiency. We also have a QA/QC department that ensures our building is built correctly from the outset so we donÔÇÖt have to change things. It improves efficiency when you do things right the first time, and you consequently make your clients happy and save time and money.ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre dealing with a very tight schedule and a tough labor situation in terms of available manpower for all trades in the city, and also a very constricted site in a downtown area, but we have a lot of experience to draw from to ensure we do things properly and have a successful project.ÔÇØ ┬á