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According to a study in 2004 by construction industry consultants, Zwieg- White, 80 percent of respondents predicted an increase in the use of design-build over the next five years. With governmental agencies like the federal General Services Administration state governments and universities backing the trend, the practice is sure to pick up in the Northwest.
The main attraction for owners is that on difficult projects the contractor takes more of the risk for the project's success. In turn, the contractor gets more of the control over design and scheduling. The owner often ends up with a better end product, built for less money in a shorter period of time. The same ZweigWhite study reported that contractor profits are higher than with traditionally bid projects.
When the U.S. Navy decided to build a high tech, small arms training facility at the Bangor submarine station on Puget Sound, it may have considered traditional contracting methods, but the facilities' James Bondsian qualities led build Navy to "build . . . design-build." Constructed by PCL Contractors, of Bellevue, Wash. and designed by TetraTech, Seattle, the facility includes four firing ranges and a section that simulates different combat situations. The complex computer equipment, the high-tech requirements of the firing range and the sophisticated mechanical systems made design-build the most economical way to proceed. Major subcontractors on the project were Action Target, of Provo, Utah and Carey Heating and Air Conditioning of Chicago, Ill. Classrooms and offices are also part of the design.
"The Navy issued an RFP and we competed against three other general contractors," said Chris Cummings, project engineer for PCL. "With something as complicated as this, the subcontractors have to take a role."
"Design-build is the cheapest way to build one of these," said Ryan Lowe, project manager with Action Target. "There is a lot of stuff most architects will never know about, because our equipment is highly specialized and the building needs specific configurations."
Of the 70 firing ranges Action Target builds annually, only a handful are design build contracts. "The typical construction time is 15 months, but PCL finished in less than half that time because design build made the project run so much faster," Lowe said.
Specialized systems include a total containment trap which collects spent bullets automatically and packages them for recycling. The retriever-based target system can be set up to score via a computer, or with old fashioned paper targets. All the ranges are clad in armor-rated steel, about 10 times harder than structural steel.
If high steel prices have hit other contractors hard, Action Target has been steam rolled. Prices for the steel it uses have gone up 300 to 500 percent in the past three years, Lowe said. "We use about 10 percent of the world's supply of that type of steel, primarily competing with other military uses."
As complicated as the training apparatus is, the HVAC system is even more so. As weapons discharge and bullets explode, lead, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide particles become airborne. The HVAC system brings toxins immediately down range from the shooter. The system changes out all the air in the building every 90 seconds, Lowe said. The HVAC system includes ceiling mounted 180 degree air delivery systems and a design which makes plenum walls obsolete.
Design-build was also key to meet the owner's goals at the Central Computer Facility for the state of Oregon. It will house several servers, administrative space, and all of the mechanical support needed for that type of a building.
It may not have the added excitement of flying bullets, but is going up just as quickly. Being built in Salem by J.E. Dunn, Portland, the $18 million, 45,000-sq-.ft. project was started 12 months ago and is now close to completion.
Dunn teamed up with Yost Grube Hall Architects, Portland and Mazzetti & Associates, a San Francisco mechanical contracting company. During the course of the project, Mazzetti bought out CBG a Tigard-based mechanical firm.
"The state of Oregon has not used design-build for many years," said Mike Moore, project manager for J.E. Dunn. Because this project had to be done so quickly, design build was the way to go.
The owner had a program for the basic layout, which contractors used to order the long lead items, such as steel and mechanical and electrical components.
"We had to bid those items out, even before we had the drawings in order to meet the time requirements," Moore said.
Workers in the field used to a full set of drawings referred to engineer's notes and drawings on scraps of paper.
"We were literally doing this on the fly, putting in the conduits, pouring the slab even before we knew where the equipment was going in," Moore said.
The project is coming in under the owner's budget, even with the final improvements needed to fine tune the M/E systems. It will be open at the end of the month.
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