With Consigli’s pre-fabrication and self-perform experts, the project team identified a viable, cost-neutral solution for the building’s exterior wall panels to save on schedule. Upon presentation to and approval from the University, Consigli planned and executed the pre-fabricated exterior wall panels to condense a traditionally six-week building enclosure timeframe into just two weeks with its own self-perform craftspeople.

Design

Engaging the right design partners confirms accurate design details of pre-fabricated building elements and mitigates the risk of rework once materials leave the warehouse.

Consigli engaged a third-party delegated design team to review and confirm details for connections on the exterior wall panels. Excel Engineering, a specialty engineering firm with expertise in cold form steel, was hired to detail the panels and confirm all structural details. Excel converted the façade into panels that could be transported from Consigli’s pre-fabrication facility to the jobsite as they were ready to be installed.

Pre-fabrication

In addition to improved quality control and productivity, implementing pre-fabrication strategies on higher education projects takes work off campus and minimizes on-site construction activity.

Self-perform at Pre-fabrication Warehouse

At Consigli’s regionally based pre-fabrication shop, self-perform crews assembled 130 panels totaling 15,000 sq. ft. to enclose the residence hall addition. For eight weeks, five self-perform craftspeople precisely fabricated all exterior wall panels in sequence of how they would be placed on the building. This process brought approximately 1,800 hours of labor hours off of the University’s campus and into the warehouse, reducing on-site construction traffic and supporting a quieter job site in the process.

The well-lit, heated, ground-level space at the warehouse provided an ergonomic working environment—one that a construction site cannot always guarantee among the noises of intrusive trades on site, especially amid February weather in New England. When preparing the panels for load and delivery to site, the project team employed a project-specific quality assurance checklist developed and implemented by Consigli’s Quality department to safeguard the quality of every panel. All dimensions and details were reviewed on multiple occasions, and once each panel passed inspection, the panel was loaded on the flatbed to leave for the site. Panels were loaded onto four flatbed trucks for just-in-time deliveries so the panels could be picked and flown directly onto the building upon arrival to the job site.

Delivery & Installation

Parallel processing of material fabrication and installation supports faster, higher-quality construction by simultaneously managing multiple trades.

Pre-fabricated Exterior Wall Panel Install

While the crew in the pre-fabrication shop fabricated panels and loaded the trucks, six Consigli craftspeople at the jobsite received and unloaded the panels to be flown and placed on the building. Consigli’s simultaneous workflow—also known as parallel processing—maximized time both on site and in the warehouse. The Consigli field team had pre-checked the concrete foundation wall perimeter at the jobsite to ensure it was flat and level to quickly and accurately receive the first-floor panels set to rest on top of it.

The fast-tracked, two-week installation in February allowed the project team to enclose the exterior and start heating for interior tradework throughout the winter. And, because the building was enclosed and work was moved indoors, the construction site quickly quieted for the campus community, especially for the students in the adjacent dormitory.

The benefits of Consigli’s hands-on ownership of the pre-fabricated exterior wall panels went beyond the accelerated project schedule. Exterior wall system pre-fabrication ensured a quality product was fabricated and installed efficiently and with the campus’s best interest in mind—from decreased on-campus activity to the maintenance of a clean, safer and substantially quieter construction site.

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How does Consigli—which has planned and built more than fifteen projects incorporating timber solutions—coordinate and collaborate with our project partners to plan and deliver high-quality timber structures? With extensive experience analyzing, procuring and installing mass timber, Consigli’s interdisciplinary approach supports our clients—like Bowdoin—in making cost-effective, schedule-driven decisions when planning a mass timber project.

Initial Design

Rigorous pre-construction planning is a must when it comes to mitigating potential cost, schedule and quality impacts associated with a mass timber structure.

• Early Detections of Issues: The smallest details matter when it comes to achieving the desired look and function for such a specialized finish product. Incorporating design intent into early models helps guide crucial design considerations to be incorporated into fabrication documents and allow for timely timber release.
• Structural Reviews: Structural drawing reviews help analyze column spacing, spans of timber elements, choices of direction of primary girders and varying strategies for mechanical ductwork and plumbing routing. The review process can potentially result in cost saving through elements including reducing beam sizes and floor plate thickness.
• Cost Competitiveness: In today’s ever changing and challenging materials market, mass timber has remained relatively steady in pricing. This certainty allows mass timber to be priced early with greater assurance of costs as the project progress. Depending on the application, mass timber pricing can be very cost competitive when compared to steel and concrete and has additional cost benefits in terms of fit-out costs. Mass timber can also remain exposed, reducing the costs of expensive interior finishes on a project.

Selection & Sourcing

Timber species selection can affect the mass timber manufacturer. The right decision-making can support early internal estimates and analyze specific species for the best fit.

• Wood Species & Material Finish: Material selection has a significant impact on the choice of timber manufacturers. From aesthetic to strength of structural design to lengths of members, Consigli can help evaluate timber species and offer options that satisfy aesthetic and structural need.
• Deep Knowledge of Supplier/Manufacturer Market: A strong list of suppliers, both domestic and foreign, ensures competitive pricing for initial bidding during earlier phases of design. As the mass timber is fully designed and released for fabrication, a well-established market knowledge is crucial in bidding installation.

Coordination & Release

Coordination model completion ahead of Construction Documents is critical to final fabrication shop drawings for mass timber. With timber lead times ranging from 16 to 24 weeks from final drawing approvals, time is of the essence.

M/E/P coordination for a mass timber structure.

• M/E/P/FP Coordination: Mass timber penetrations for M/E/P/FP systems must be carefully planned and integrated into fabrication documents. Coordination models for these penetrations allow all pathways to be designed and manufactured in shop in lieu of in field; this is crucial as field cutting is prohibited for this level of finished product.
• Design-Assist Engagement: Engaging design-assist partners for M/E/P/FP systems and mass timber allows the project team to coordinate within the working design model. Creation of CD-level documents through design-assist, even as the rest of the design is in early stages, supports completion of building systems and architectural features for a release of timber well ahead of CDs, mitigating the challenge of timber long lead times.

Delivery & Installation

Careful attention must be paid to the handling, installation and protection of mass timber to maintain the material’s integrity. Hands-on installer experience is imperative when planning a successful mass timber project.

Mass timber logistics & installation considerations.

• Logistical Planning Handling & Installation: Development of the right logistics plans for efficient installation—accounting for any potential double handling and required special care—is paramount to creating schedule certainty through installation. The right project partners develop proper delivery, loading and sequencing unique to each site.
• Protecting your Investment through Insurance & Temporary Protections: Consigli’s in-house Job Site Insights platform allows our clients to protect their investment through floor-by-floor detection of potentially damaging elements to the timber structure, including water, fire or any other elements that may stain or mar the finished product. Additionally, temporary protection is often required and includes the use of hard walls held off the timber columns for UV and moisture protection, floor plate protection from UV, moisture and foot traffic, maintenance of humidity and temperature post close-in. The most effective timber structure protection is speedy building enclosure to reduce environmental impact on the timber itself. Once enclosed and final systems are brought online, maintaining proper humidity levels is critical to keeping the timber looking and functioning at its best.
• Self-perform Capabilities: Consigli self-performs mass timber installation and protection, giving us added control over schedule, quality and continuity of installation because we are that much closer to the product. Our 650 in-house craftspeople share our standards for quality and are a strong additional resource to call upon to get work done on time.

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Design

When planning an aggressive project schedule, utilize repetitive design details to ensure quality and efficiency as multiple elements are built simultaneously off-site.

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

The concrete foundations at Johnson Pond Houses were designed to eliminate on-site formwork and ease transportation to site. Consigli’s Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) team developed 35 concrete panel shop drawings to be repeated for each building. Each panel included every penetration, lifting device, reinforcing detail and finishing requirement, with concealing joints between panels. Foundations Engineer of Record Trillium Engineering reinforced details and accelerated drawing approvals.

To confirm there were no conflicts between the concrete, volumetric modular structural unit models, embeds and site work, each panel type was digitally modeled and clash-detected with the structural unit models. Drain lines, HVAC system louver openings, boiler vents, sprinkler drains and electrical conduits were modeled and sleeved in the panels based on the 3D model of Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection (M/E/P/FP) systems.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

KBS Builders Inc. (KBS) pre-fabricated structural units that allowed in-factory framing, electrical, plumbing and fire protection installation. Consigli and the Kaplan Thompson Architects design team engaged M/E/P/FP design-build subcontractors for weekly coordination meetings to advance the design with KBS. With 18 structural units per building repeated across four houses, coordination and review of KBS shop drawings were required twelve weeks prior to on-site delivery.

The design-build delivery of the four repetitive buildings allowed the team to rapidly adjust design details and apply adjusted concepts from the first building to the last in real time for schedule and quality improvements. The structural units were designed to deliver nearly complete interiors for all spaces except the corridors and pre-cast basements.

Pre-fabrication

Traditional on-site construction limits simultaneous trades on site, due to its inherent sequential nature (first comes site work, then foundation, framing and so on). Pre-fabrication supports faster, higher-quality construction by simultaneously managing multiple trades and delivering materials to site only when installation-ready.

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

Consigli Self-perform in Pre-casting Yard

With zero flexibility on structural unit delivery, the team had only four working days to set the foundation walls for each building. Consigli turned the parking lot adjacent to the project into a near-site pre-casting yard to construct foundations during sitework, allowing the team to pre-cast and pre-kit the panels on truck beds for just-in-time (JIT) delivery once the site was ready.

From the VDC group’s detailed drawings, Consigli’s self-perform team formed and pre-casted each of the 140 panels. A heated form structure supported rapid pre-cast at ground level, reducing jobsite hazards such as weather-caused slips and potential soil/excavation collapse in the foundation holes. The Consigli carpenters’ pre-casting system formed, reinforced, casted, cured and stripped panels on a five-day cycle.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

Structural unit pre-fabrication occurred simultaneously with site preparation, foundation and steel fabrication, all of which converged on the date units were delivered to site. Each 18-unit building took 20 working days to pre-fabricate, including the installation of M/E/P systems, insulation, operable windows, an exterior air vapor barrier and a highly insulated exterior wall system to provide a Net Zero Ready structure. The interiors of the bedroom units, bathrooms and common area rooms included the installation of drywall, light fixtures, electrical outlets, flooring and finish paint.

Delivery & Installation

Pre-fabrication reduces on-site labor density, ensures manpower consistency and decreases safety incidents. To reap the benefits of off-site prefabrication against an aggressive project schedule, extensive coordination of trades is essential. 

Pre-cast Concrete Foundations

Concrete panels were delivered just-in-time and placed with a crane with structural steel support beams. Consigli’s self-perform installers set the entire foundation wall system in less than three days—from the first panel being set to the start of wood sill plate installation.

Threaded inserts allowed clean picks off the panels’ sides. Embedded cam rotational picks rotated the panels from their flat to vertical positions for installation. Temporary bracing held the panels in place while awaiting structural unit installation, and top embeds were set to lock in the units come time for installation.

Volumetric Modular Structural Units

Structural Unit Installation

Structural units were delivered in two stages per building (left and right side, two-floors high). In typical pre-fabricated structural unit assembly, units fit with no openings to the exterior. Unique to the Johnson Pound Houses, the structural units had openings for corridor connections when set in place. Keeping each building weathertight between setting units and getting the roof tilted required careful, multi-trade coordination.

Consigli reviewed punch list items throughout construction, catching deficiencies when work was first put in place. Every item delivered was immediately quality reviewed, further accelerating the completion of each building by taking early corrective action.

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In this video series, Consigli looks at components of net zero carbon construction and implementation with our partners. Our first feature is Hotel Marcel, a certified historic renovation that repositioned a former office building into a hotel, targeting Net Zero Energy, Passive House and LEED Platinum certifications.

Sustainable Energy Production

Looking at operating costs over a five-year period, the investment in net zero operations ultimately pays for itself.

As a net zero energy building, the hotel generates 100% of its own electricity, heat and hot water with a rooftop solar array and solar parking canopies—totaling over 1,000 solar panels—with no fossil fuels used for the building’s power or heat. Hotel Marcel is its own energy island, supported by a battery-equipped solar microgrid to power the hotel, feed power to the grid during peak times and maintain power to the building during grid outages. The building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) rating is projected to be 34 kBtu per square foot, which is 80% less energy than median EUI for hotels in the United States.

Building Electrification

Technology, like lighting through an ethernet system, allows what was historically one of the least energy-efficient building operations to greatly reduce energy use and operational costs.

Hotel Marcel houses all-electric kitchen and laundry facilities—some of the largest energy-use areas in hotel operations—and utilizes low-voltage Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology to significantly reduce energy use across the entire building. Building-wide PoE powers and controls all lighting and window shades, enhancing operational control and reducing lighting energy use by over 30% compared to conventional lighting systems.

High-efficiency Mechanical Systems

The right mechanical systems can reduce monthly heating and cooling expenses while fostering improved indoor environments through ventilation and exhaust air heat transfer without direct air mixing.

Carefully selected mechanical systems at Hotel Marcel, specifically Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) air-source heat pumps and Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV), support energy-efficient heat recovery and improved indoor air quality in the hotel. The VRF systems at Hotel Marcel can recover heat from cooled spaces for use in heated spaces and vice versa, enabling multiple indoor zones to operate on the same system from the same main compressor unit. The ERV recycles heat energy from the building’s exhaust air to pretreat outside air, reducing load on the HVAC unit and the required capacity of the mechanical equipment. ERV operations are essential for achieving great indoor air quality in high-performance, airtight buildings like Hotel Marcel.

Airtight Envelope Design & Moisture Control

Historic restorations requirements and regulations are not an end-stop for sustainable construction. Innovative building strategies can maintain a building’s historic integrity and deliver solutions for a more sustainable future.

Key to an energy efficient building is a well-insulated envelope with interior and exterior insulation, especially when targeting Passive House. However, at Hotel Marcel, the historic concrete façade could not be modified. Through interior spray foam insulation, the project team created an airtight, high-performance envelope while leaving the exterior untouched, aside from minor caulking improvements. Great care was taken in selecting an environmentally preferable spray foam with low embodied carbon and minimal off-gassing. Coupled with the installation of high-performance window, multiple layers of spray foam insulation ensure an airtight envelope protected from the impacts of outdoor moisture.

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Founded by a registered P.E. and a NASA engineer, Rugged Robotics’ inaugural product tackles the challenge of field layout. Traditionally, field layout is performed using tape measures, chalk-lines, and surveying equipment to manually mark the location of walls and mechanical systems. Rugged Robotics automates this process, marking fully coordinated designs directly on to concrete floors using small robotic vehicles. Using the rover, construction workers can print much more information than typically seen on a manual layout, reduce the time spent reviewing plans, and as a result, conduct faster, more accurate installations. It also helps eliminate potential oversights and errors in the manual layout, which can impact multiple trades, and result in incorrect installation, delays, and rework.

Recently, the Rugged Robotics rover was put to the test at Cambridge Crossing – Parcel H, where Consigli is building the new headquarters for Sanofi, one of MA’s largest life science employers. At Parcel H, Rugged delivered a multi-trade layout on six floors covering more than 240,000 square ft.  Their automated layout resulted in improved coordination, reduced errors, and significant time savings on the front end.

“Consigli truly believes in our solution and together, we are working to improve the construction industry,” said Derrick Morse, co-founder and CEO of Rugged Robotics. “As someone who is passionate about the construction industry, it has been thrilling to be in the field and working alongside the Consigli team.”

“At Consigli, our leadership and technology teams are always looking for ways to make construction projects more accurate and efficient, and maximize the allocation of resources on each site,” said Jack Moran, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP and Consigli’s director of VDC and Integrated Services. “We see technology as a way to support our workforce and to meet the construction demands of the future. Rugged Robotics proved its value with an automated tool that exceeded our expectations and worked in synergy with our team.”

Following the pilot, Rugged and Consigli continue to collaborate as Rugged refines, deploys and scales its solution. Future Consigli projects utilizing the robots are already in the works!

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The building will also include training facilities, biotech wet lab space, clean rooms, office and event space for small to medium-sized life sciences companies to support economic growth, jobs and private investment in the region.

“Our administration is focused on ensuring the benefits of Massachusetts’ thriving life sciences sector are experienced throughout the entire Commonwealth,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Investing in the Berkshire Innovation Center will help expand the capacity and capabilities of this region’s entrepreneurial community to drive job creation, retention and outside investment in Western Massachusetts.”

The Berkshire Innovation Center is a collaborative, non-profit organization, that serves as a catalyst to innovation in the Berkshires. The mission of the BIC is to support small and mid-sized advanced manufacturing companies in life sciences, the life sciences supply chain, and advanced manufacturing, with the ultimate objective of spurring economic growth, jobs, and investment in the region. The BIC is made possible thru grants from The Massachusetts Life Science Center, The City of Pittsfield, Mass Development and Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA). The Innovation Center will act as a focal point for collaboration and networking, provide leadership and mentoring through the center’s alignment of private sector companies, research institutes and educational partners to accelerate technologies, innovation and the development of new businesses and a highly valued and skilled regional workforce.

The post Consigli Breaks Ground on Berkshire Innovation Center first appeared on Consigli Construction.

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The BIC will provide access to advanced research and development equipment used for rapid prototyping, product development and testing as well as customized workforce training, state-of-the-art labs and conferencing facilities. The project team’s pre-construction planning is well underway and an official groundbreaking is anticipated this fall.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Consigli,” said Stephen Boyd, the BIC’s chairman. “Consigli brings expertise and experience to the table when it comes to building research and innovation spaces of this size and sophistication.”

“The Berkshire Innovation Center is a transformational project for the Western Massachusetts community,” said Mike Walker, director of operations at Consigli. “The facility will provide local technology companies with access to a first-class maker space and state-of-the-art equipment that will help them compete in this new era.”

The Berkshire Innovation Center is a collaborative, non-profit organization, that serves as a catalyst to innovation in the Berkshires. The mission of the BIC is to support small and mid-sized advanced manufacturing companies in life sciences, the life sciences supply chain, and advanced manufacturing, with the ultimate objective of spurring economic growth, jobs, and investment in the region. The BIC is made possible thru grants from The Massachusetts Life Science Center, The City of Pittsfield, Mass Development and Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA). The Innovation Center will act as a focal point for collaboration and networking, provide leadership and mentoring through the center’s alignment of private sector companies, research institutes and educational partners to accelerate technologies, innovation and the development of new businesses and a highly valued and skilled regional workforce.

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In honor of Earth Month, we’re sharing some of our efforts to be leaders in sustainable construction; from reevaluating our company-wide processes to creating sustainable construction projects.

Employee Education

Providing high-quality training and education to our team is critical.  We’re bringing in industry experts – on topics as far reaching as jobsite recycling to advanced energy design— to ensure our people have access to the most up-to-date and cutting-edge information available.  And that’s not only building awareness— it’s also getting our team excited about sustainability.

Contributing to the Conversation / Research

Currently, our Director of Sustainability, Steven Burke, and Supply Chain Manager, Jon Burton are collaborating on an initiative (with the assistance of a team of Babson MBA students) to reevaluate how we’re managing construction waste.  Typically, most consideration is given to recycling on the front end of a project, such as salvaging materials during demolition; this team is evaluating reuse options at project close. Since waste is the single biggest environmental impact we have as a company, minimizing it is the greatest positive impact we can have.

Reevaluating Metrics

There are many metrics within our industry that evaluate the “greenness” of construction companies, which are a great start. At Consigli, we use a system of qualifications that goes beyond our revenue on green projects in a given year.  This extends from our environmental impacts to the health and wellness of our employees: our office space, employee benefits program, retention rate, training options, and encouraging our employees to invest their time in philanthropy and volunteer hours.

Helping Clients Navigate Certification Options

In many ways, delivering a LEED-certified job has become the baseline for sustainability.  We work with our clients to offer sustainable choices, whether they have LEED aspirations or not.  Many cities have implemented specific regulatory requirements that require higher green standards, including Boston, which requires buildings over a certain size to meet LEED certified levels.  In these locations, the additional cost for actual certification is minimal.

Improving Firm-wide Impact

We’re focusing on improving our company processes in the field.  For example, we’re taking anti-idling measures during materials deliveries to minimize negative air quality impact; we’re also protecting delivered materials when they’re on site to prevent them from becoming wet and thereby expose occupants to mold.

Selecting the Best Materials

The current version of LEED (V4) has led more manufacturers to disclose the environmental impacts of their products.  In addition to communicating the new transparency standards to our tradespeople, we train them on why these standards are important and what they’re providing.  And while currently the new standards are more about the disclosure of the impact than about changing the products themselves, it is resulting in a marketplace shift; over time manufacturers who build better products with less harmful ingredients will be rewarded, leaving a more positive legacy for future generations.

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The facility will be a hub for STEM research, public policy development and entrepreneurship. Consigli will serve as the general contractor on the project. The complex will be the future home of University at Albany’s first-in-the-nation College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity.

“This project embodies the core priorities of our unfolding strategic plan that will ensure University at Albany’s position as a world-class research institution for years to come,” said University President, Havidan Rodriguez.

The new facility will include classroom and office space; research labs; specialty instrumentation facilities; an emergency preparedness situation room, weather research and instruction map rooms and observation facilities; business and technology transfer services offices; and conference facilities. A pedestrian path from University at Albany’s existing perimeter road as well as shuttle bus service from Uptown Campus buildings to the new building will connect ETEC to the main academic podium.

“As a company, we are aware of the vital role that New York’s colleges and universities have on the economy, in addition to furthering the advancement of emerging technologies and entrepreneurial leadership,” said Greg Burns, president of New York Operations for Consigli. “This building will aid University at Albany in this realm, as well as bolster its strategic vision as a world-class institution.”

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