Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fulton County, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and the City
of Roswell had to approve this unconventional submittal method. Their review and
approval of multiple packages were necessary. While drawings were being submit-
ted and approved, specification sections were being written. This allowed for most
of the process equipment to be procured prior to the contract drawings being com-
pleted. This required close coordination between the design-builder and the various
vendors and subcontractors.
The design-builder used construction methods that accelerated the schedule.
Precast beams, columns, and “IDecks” were used in lieu of cast-in-place concrete for
most of the buildings. This design and construction method accelerated the sched-
ule by three to four months. Another approach to accelerate the schedule was to have
the electrical subcontractor work during design to ensure that nearly all conduits
were located in the concrete pours. While this required the concrete design of the
project to take longer, the period of time from setting of equipment to startup went
much more quickly. Further savings resulted from using polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
conduit in lieu of PVC-coated rigid conduit. This was also a more desirable finished
product for the owner aesthetically, as well as a better use of space.
With design and construction progressing concurrently, it was imperative that
a strong quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program be followed. A
project-specific QA/QC plan was developed and distributed prior to the start of con-
struction. This plan described standards for the different disciplines of construction
and how those standards would be measured. The owner and design-builder were
all familiar with the plan and referred to it throughout construction. A full-time
quality assurance manager was dedicated to this task for the duration of the proj-
ect. There was also a full-time representative dedicated to quality assurance from
the designer. Fulton County had three full-time inspectors to supplement the team.
These different representatives all had the same goal of confirming the delivery of a
quality product in accordance with the contract documents.
Why the Owner Chose Design-Build
The risks identified for the project were assigned to the parties that were best able to
manage the risk. The owner made it clear during the selection process and through-
out design and construction that one of the reasons it selected DB was its desire to
minimize the amount of risk allocated to the owner. The success in achieving this
goal is demonstrated by the fact that the project was completed on time and without
a single change order.
Lessons Learned
Cost-effective solutions to engineering were more easily developed by the design-
builder due to having constructability experience within the design-builder's team.
This is a significant advantage over traditional DBB. Some examples where having
the involvement of the contractor in the design process enabled more cost-effective
solutions are:
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