Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Client: McCarthy Building Companies
Size: $4.8 Million
THE PROJECT
Guarantee Electrical Company’s (GECO) role was to provide preconstruction planning and 3-D modeling together with installation of a new 2000 Amp electrical service and distribution with emergency backup generation supporting the Plant Science Center’s expanded operational footprint. In addition, GECO provided advanced lighting and lighting controls throughout, including the new 95 seat theater as well as rough in for its state-of-the-art audio, video, and teleconferencing capabilities.
OUR APPROACH
In addition to providing preconstruction planning and 3-D modeling providing design-assist services in support of an aggressive construction schedule for the addition, GECO made abundant use of its 15,000 sf prefabrication facilities to provide labor-saving pre-assembly of wire-mold, surface-mount raceway and overhead lab carriers and conduit for both electrical and low voltage distribution.
OUR WORK
Modeling and preconstruction design-assist planning helped general contractor McCarthy to successfully coordinate the MEP for the new addition. Providing much of the distribution in-slab meant that permanent power could be supplied to site early, keeping down costs of construction. In addition, the freeing up of space was especially valuable in a site so dependent on building automation and advanced mechanical systems. Equally effective was the contribution of GECO’s prefabrication effort, which enabled the teams to supply surface-mount race-ways and wire-mold to the job-site on a just-in-time basis, helping to reduce congestion and further the productivity of the crews.
SUCCESS
The net result of GECO’s contributions with design-assist and its approach to productivity enhancing prefabrication was that in spite of numerous challenges impacting schedule and the overall complexity of an advanced bio-science facility, the electrical portion of the project came in below its anticipated budget. In addition, the project which consumed roughly 24,000 man hours proceeded throughout without a lost time incident or injury.