Contractors continued to explore ways to expand their businesses, enhance collaboration, and boost productivity.
Many pros found answers in their embrace of technology. Skanska’s project planning team developed Skanska Metriks, which provides benchmarking data to help evaluate the parameters of a building’s systems relative to similar projects. PCL Construction partnered with Nureva to develop and launch Nureva Visual Planner, which enables teams to effectively visualize, coordinate, and plan project activities in person or remotely. Ryan Companies is using AI, specifically computer vision, to monitor projects by placing multiple cameras around jobsites to “see” what is going on.
At the start of 2020, Swinerton acquired two Boston Dynamics SPOT quadruped robots to use as tools for automating field data capture with attached lidar scanners, 360 cameras, and other payloads. Clancy & Theys implemented drone technology for marketing, preconstruction, and construction. Its latest drone approach captured the construction site prior to major concrete pours.
Throughout 2019, Arc Building Partners worked to integrate a management operating system (MOS) that allows the firm to incorporate tools, meetings, and behaviors used to manage teams and processes. Walbridge designed and built out virtual meeting rooms with large, collaborative technology walls to improve communication between program offices.
Contractors are more receptive than ever to ways that help get projects done faster. Level 10 is using SpeedCore on its new 200 Park Ave. project in downtown Sunnyvale, Calif., scheduled for completion in 2023. This is the first project in that state to use the new hybrid core system, a concrete-filled composite shear wall core that takes 40% less time to erect than a comparable cast-in-place reinforced concrete core.
Modular design and construction are also saving contractors time and money. Lendlease has been rolling out Wellness Pods, a patent-pending solution that the firm claims are the first fully functioning modular restrooms introduced to the industry. The pods are engineered to be hoisted vertically, so they can be deployed on high-rise projects.
M.C. Dean invested $25.1 million to expand its ModularMEP Manufacturing and Systems Integration Facility, which serves as the home for the firm’s product line of large-scale, fully-integrated, modularized power, electronic security, and telecom systems and rooms that are designed, engineered, integrated, tested, and pre-commissioned before being transported to project sites across the U.S.
Factory performed prefabrication in general is becoming integral to contractors’ estimating and delivery efficiencies. Balfour Beatty, in a joint venture with LF Driscoll, is part of an integrated project delivery (IPD) team building The Pavilion, a flagship hospital for Penn Medicine in Philadelphia scheduled to open next year. By standardizing the building’s structural floor plate and interior design early in the project, the team was able to prefabricate mechanical racks, bathroom pods, and zone valve boxes in a 60,000-sf offsite warehouse. CG Schmidt launched its own prefab center, housed within its existing yard operations. On a recent freestanding clinic project, prefabrication of the wood framing allowed for all walls and framework to be erected in two days.
While nonresidential construction currently consumes a sliver of mass timber produced, the use of these engineered wood components is growing for many different projects. In June 2019, HITT Contracting opened Co|Lab, an R&D facility in Falls Church, Va., the first commercial mass timber structure in that state. DPR Construction used cross-laminated timber panels in the construction and renovation of the firm’s new office space in Sacramento, Calif. And Nabholz Corporation finished construction of the University of Arkansas’ Adohi Residence Hall, the country’s first large-scale mass timber residential hall.
U.S. contractors become leaner machines
In 2019, nonresidential construction spending rose 2.8% to $782 billion, according to Census Bureau estimates. During that period, Summit Contracting Group broke ground on a dozen projects for repeat customers, including one whose contract value is the largest in the firm’s history: Novel Midtown, a mixed-use development in Tampa, Fla., showcasing 390 units in three buildings with 341,055 sf of livable space and 206,000 sf of retail.
Lean construction practices that minimize waste are catching on. More than 141 people enrolled in Gilbane’s Lean Practitioner program, a blended learning solution where the knowledge and experience of the participants work together to create a depth of expertise upon which they can build on. Sixty-two participants completed the program to become certified Gilbane Lean Practitioners.
To encourage Lean practices, Robins & Morton held their inaugural Building Forward Connect event in March 2019. The two-day event brought together more than 600 attendees.
ALSO SEE: 2020 GIANTS 400 Contractor Rankings
• Top 135 Contractors: Turner, Whiting-Turner, and STO Building Group head the rankings of the nation's largest general contractors, CM at risk firms, and design-builders for 2020. See the complete rankings.
• Top 85 Construction Management + Project Management Firms: Jacobs, CBRE, VCC, and JLL top the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for 2020. See the complete rankings.
For the full Giants 400 rankings and bonus categories, visit: BDCnetwork.com/Giants2020.
Pictured: Arlington (Va.) Public Schools Heights Building. Photo: Jim Tetro, courtesy Gilbane
VJS Construction Services practices Lean Schedule Management, which enables its team to focus on efficient workflow, eliminating waste and over burdening of resources by looking at the project as a whole versus as a sum of its components. On VJS’s recently completed Fairway Knoll project in Germantown, Wis., the Phase-1 turnover was completed five weeks earlier than scheduled.
On the M&A front, STO Building Group added two companies: BCCI Construction Company and Layton Construction. In September 2019, Cortland Build acquired Pure Multi-Family, a Canada-based REIT that owned and operated communities in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Phoenix.
To support its burgeoning client base in the U.K., Cumming added construction consulting teams in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Stoke-on-Trent. Burns & McDonnell, which hired nearly 1,400 people globally last year, launched its first new brand in the firm’s history with 1898 & Co., a future-focused consulting and technology solutions arm. And McCarthy Building Companies expanded its expertise with the launch of McCarthy Mapping, a specialized service that helps owners and project teams accurately locate buried utility lines and other underground hazards before they potentially impact construction projects.
Related Stories
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 29, 2024
More than 1.2 billion sf of office space have strong potential for residential conversion
More than 1.2 billion sf of U.S. office space—14.8% of the nation’s total—have strong potential for conversion to residential use, according to real estate software and services firm Yardi. Yardi’s new Conversion Feasibility Index scores office buildings on their suitability for multifamily conversion.
Museums | Aug 29, 2024
Bjarke Ingels' Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art conceived as village of 12 pavilions
The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 28, 2024
Cities in Washington State will offer tax breaks for office-to-residential conversions
A law passed earlier this year by the Washington State Legislature allows developers to defer sales and use taxes if they convert existing structures, including office buildings, into affordable housing.
Industrial Facilities | Aug 28, 2024
UK-based tire company plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S.
ENSO, a U.K.-based company that makes tires for electric vehicles, has announced plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S. The $500 million ENSO technology campus will be powered entirely by renewable energy. The first-of-its-kind tire factory aims to be carbon neutral without purchased offsets, using carbon-neutral raw materials and building materials.
Building Technology | Aug 23, 2024
Top-down construction: Streamlining the building process | BD+C
Learn why top-down construction is becoming popular again for urban projects and how it can benefit your construction process in this comprehensive blog.
Airports | Aug 22, 2024
Portland opens $2 billion mass timber expansion and renovation to its international airport
This month, the Portland International Airport (PDX) main terminal expansion opened to passengers. Designed by ZGF for the Port of Portland, the 1 million-sf project doubles the capacity of PDX and enables the airport to welcome 35 million passengers per year by 2045.
Adaptive Reuse | Aug 22, 2024
6 key fire and life safety considerations for office-to-residential conversions
Office-to-residential conversions may be fraught with fire and life safety challenges, from egress requirements to fire protection system gaps. Here are six important considerations to consider.
Contractors | Aug 22, 2024
Growing a $250 million business by focusing on preconstruction, with Wes Palmisano
One of the most critical aspects of successfully growing a construction company is the often-overlooked preconstruction phase.
Resiliency | Aug 22, 2024
Austin area evacuation center will double as events venue
A new 45,000 sf FEMA-operated evacuation shelter in the Greater Austin metropolitan area will begin construction this fall. The center will be available to house people in the event of a disaster such as a major hurricane and double as an events venue when not needed for emergency shelter.
Contractors | Aug 22, 2024
Why all construction business problems are people problems, with Eric Anderton
In the chaotic construction world where systematization is not a norm, it’s safe to say that people’s problems remain the biggest main challenge.