5 Traditional Roadblocks:

1. Fluoropolymer Coated Stainless Scrubbed Exhaust Systems

These specialized exhaust systems, essential in semiconductor manufacturing, are designed to transport and neutralize hazardous by-products safely. With the equipment’s long-lead times, it is critical to order specialty ductwork early, given their complex design and custom fabrication needs.

2.  Alternative Suppliers for Specialty Gas Equipment in Semiconductor Facilities

Exploring alternative suppliers for specialty gas equipment like Valve Manifold Boxes and Gas Cabinets in semiconductor manufacturing can significantly reduce lead times, prevent costly project delays, and enhance supply chain adaptability, ensuring timely and efficient project completion. Understanding owner project requirements and site standards early drives success throughout the project.

3. Challenges with Electrical Substation and Switchgear Lead-times

The rising demand from data centers, the EV market, and battery manufacturing plants has strained supply chains for essential electrical components like transformers and switchboards, making it crucial to engage custom suppliers early in the procurement process to ensure timely project delivery.

4. Toxic Gas Monitoring System Installation and Commissioning

Essential for semiconductor manufacturing, the installation and commissioning of a Toxic Gas Monitoring System (TGMS) ensure the early detection and management of hazardous gas leaks. Engaging gas suppliers early in the pre-construction phase is crucial for a seamless integration, safeguarding both operations and personnel.

5. System Start-up Coordination for Semiconductor Facilities

The successful start-up and commissioning of semiconductor facilities demand meticulous coordination among multidisciplinary teams. Engaging M/E/P trade partners early in the planning process is essential for final testing, ensuring that all integrated systems are rigorously tested and fully operational before transitioning to production.

Access a full PDF of this information here: Semiconductor Chip Fab Construction Project Traditional Roadblocks.

Contact:

James Kehoe, Director of Advanced Technology
jkehoe@consigli.com

James is a seasoned expert in semiconductor fabrication construction with over two decades of industry experience. His technical expertise and forward-thinking approach have been instrumental in navigating many of the industry’s most complex construction challenges and making significant contributions to the field. James’s commitment to innovation and excellence continues influencing the semiconductor construction industry, driving advancements and new solutions.

The post Semiconductor Chip Fab Construction Project Traditional Roadblocks appeared first on Consigli Construction.

With many academic institutions re-evaluating campus needs as we evolve during this pandemic, Consigli brings a strong interdisciplinary approach to assessing existing campus facilities and providing practical scope recommendations with associated costs, focused on five strategic solutions.

Reduced Budgets

Our Solutions:

• CM Buying Power. Leveraging multiple project relationships with key partners resulting in greater control over project costs & lead time risks.
• Reduced Cost. Full-time on-site management with the resources to cover multiple projects on concurrent work schedules maximizing cost efficiency

Energy Efficiency

Our Solutions:

• Energy Optimization. Provide solutions to reduce energy use by 15% to 25%, like peak demand shaving, networked lighting controls, etc.
• Deep Energy Retrofit. Provide a more comprehensive look at all your energy consuming systems including building envelope & try to achieve 50% to 60% reduction in energy usage.
• Building Intelligence. Design & implement building management systems, with data driven analytics on your HVAC system operations.
• Healthy Buildings. Ensure that your buildings are meeting or exceeding enhanced ventilation needs.

Consigli’s Arch Energy group provides and implements integrated solutions to create sustainable, healthy and intelligent buildings powered by low-carbon infrastructure, reducing costs and increasing building efficiency across all markets.

Deferred Maintenance

Our Solutions:

• Building Assessments. Exploratory work to identify existing conditions & minimize cost & schedule impacts.
• Informed Estimates. Scope menus & prioritization of the most critical deferred maintenance items.
• M/E/P Services. Provide data driven strategies that maximize long-term value with lower maintenance & operating costs.
• Right Sizing. Develop strategic equipment solutions that balance project & operating costs.

Streamlining Procurement

Our Solutions:

• Trade Bundling. More competitive pricing through resource loading & personnel leveling between multiple projects.
• Design-Build Services. Lead an assembled team of design specialists to assist in master planning, campus assessment & project scope development.

Staffing Resources

Our Solutions:

• A Dedicated Staff. Provide multi-project management solutions with transparent documentation & reporting for less strain on in-house resources.
• Expanded Resources. Connect with Project Service Group resources (VDC, Scheduling & M/E/P) to develop task focused project management planning & solutions.

The post Planning for Your Future: Strategic Solutions Driving Campus Project Decisions appeared first on Consigli Construction.

To support lower carbon emissions by 2032, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Section 48 Energy Credit offers new construction and energy projects up to 6-50% of costs as a tax credit to private and tax-exempt entities. Backed by Arch Energy—Consigli’s energy division—we help clients secure dollars by leveraging eligible tax credits to advance clean energy solutions and get one step closer to decarbonization.

How Consigli Can Help

Step 1: Identify the Project’s Energy Scope

With our Arch Energy experts, Consigli provides the guardrails to qualified eligible scope for developed projects.

Step 2: Quantify the Project’s Energy Output

Based on the eligible scope, Consigli quantifies your energy project output, including the total rated capacity of heating and cooling.

Step 3: Relate the Design to Domestic Content

Our team identifies any iron, steel and manufactured products within the project scope that can be sourced domestically to maximize benefits from the “Made in USA” Domestic Materials Bonus.

Step 4: Manage Labor Requirements

In pre-construction, Consigli develops a plan for prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements based on total heating and cooling output (if applicable). The project may require that 100% certified payroll and 15% total labor hours be performed by a certified apprenticeship.

Step 5: Identify Other Bonuses or Tax Credits

As Consigli helps secure IRA incentives, we will also evaluate other cost-saving incentives for use on your project, including bonus credits and local tax rebates.

Where We’re Doing It

University of New Hampshire, Thermal Energy Storage Tank

In lieu of installing a new chiller plant to meet a campus need for increased cooling, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) called for the construction of a TES tank that will store and deliver a minimum of 10,400 ton-hours of thermal energy as chilled water at 42°F. The implementation of this project will be a significant step in helping UNH achieve their sustainability goals highlighted in their Climate Action Plan, WildCAP. Consigli supported the University to maximize IRA credits, including:

• Review of tank components and steel for domestic content requirements.
• Subcontract development to clearly define apprenticeship requirements from each subcontractor.
• Tracking system creation and management to ensure weekly that all certified payrolls and apprenticeship hours were properly logged and submitted to the University.

Learn more about the project here.

Arch Energy or Consigli does not provide accounting, tax or legal advice to its clients, and all clients are strongly urged to consult with their own tax or legal advisors regarding any potential strategy. We have provided this information for educational purposes only.

The post Maximizing Construction Project Incentives: Understanding the Inflation Reduction Act appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Since the introduction of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) to the U.S. more than a decade ago, Consigli has been on the forefront of erecting structures utilizing this sustainable structural solution. Over the last three years, we have seen a 300% increase in the number of projects utilizing and considering mass timber, not limited to CLT.

By integrating CLT with Glue Laminated Timber (GLT) to create entirely wood superstructures, design teams have been able to reduce the quantity of concrete in buildings thereby reducing carbon emitting materials in the built environment. The increased adoption of mass timber by clients is a major driver in green building, and we’re amidst exciting trends in the adoption of mass timber in the Northeast.

Trends in Construction Manager Selection

We have witnessed Construction Managers (CMs) with self-performing carpentry capabilities lead the industry’s mass timber adoption. The advantage that CMs with self-perform capabilities have over those without is a better understanding of constructability, coordination and installation strategies. With hands-on experience handling timber elements with their own craftspeople, self-performing CMs like Consigli are equipped with more timber package procurement options and can more accurately price early-stage designs based on experience from field operations personnel who routinely manage rigging, crane selection and material handling.

Trends in Sourcing Domestically

The majority of CLT’s global supply is based in Austria and Germany, where the material originated. However, we are seeing recent projects specified with Buy America goals and client requests to source timber materials locally. Additionally, logistics planning for the delivery of non-domestically sourced materials has been a challenge in the last two years, causing CMs to look for domestically produced materials.

While CLT production remains new to the U.S. market, Consigli has been requesting locally sourced lumber and partnering with laminators to explore ways to incorporate lumber from regional forests. Although glue laminators have been in the U.S. for decades, we are just now starting to see increased interest in New England forests as a prime location for mass timber manufacturing. Some mass timber suppliers have recently consolidated in the U.S. market.

Additionally, select modular and light wood frame panel manufacturers have moved into computer numeric controlled (CNC) wall panel fabrication and incorporated CLT floor and wall plates into their design solutions. We have also seen novel methods of all-wood construction through alternatives to CLT and GLT, like the introduction of Nail Laminated Timber (NLT) and Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT), Mass Plywood Panels (MPP), Parallel Strand Lumber and larger block glued timber elements.

As the European market continues to innovate timber manufacturing methods (e.g. introducing massive Parallel Strand Lumber elements as alternatives to glulam columns and beams, using timber cords and plywood webs on light box girders for lighter timber roof structures, etc.,) Consigli is advocating to bring those products to the U.S. market by serving in leadership roles on the Engineered Wood Products Committee for the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Cooperation in Forestry between Finland and the State of Maine and the Maine Mass Timber Advisory Council.

Innovation of Mass Timber Products

When a new building material like mass timber is introduced to the market, it creates an environment ripe for innovation. In partnership with the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center, Consigli is working on an alternative to CLT floor plates with the intent of finding more efficient ways to laminate timber while also maximizing the timber resource.

We have also seen new product development with the intent of reducing the quantity of wood fiber volume in long span roof plates, such as Austria’s Kielsteg product. Though it is not yet available to the U.S. market, we see it as a significant advantage for long-span, unrated roof plates.

Additionally, we have been introduced to a new cross laminated product called Lignor, which inventively laminates highly efficient, stranded composite lumber into a laminated billet that utilizes a significantly more efficient use of the timber resource.

The emphasis on sustainability and reducing carbon footprints in construction is no longer just a desire—it’s a necessity. Continued innovation and more options for U.S.-based sources will lower the risk of supply-side sourcing of mass timber products and drive clients and contractors toward more efficient solutions. The future of mass timber will be driven by innovations in engineering more efficient uses of the lumber resource, further elevating mass timber’s sustainability advantage over traditional structural systems.

The post Trends in Mass Timber Building appeared first on Consigli Construction.

In 2018, the DHMC board approved the construction of a new, six-story 240,000 square foot Inpatient Tower, expanding services and capacity by adding 64 state-of-the-art inpatient beds and shell space for future flexible expansion.

The facility was designed with an interdisciplinary and “future-proof” approach. Patient rooms provide flexibility to serve as med/surg, step-down, or even critical care options, depending on need. Each room is private and offers space for visitors to be with their loved ones during their stay. And, technology is at the forefront, with integrated patient dashboards, MyChart Bedside, and telemetry units, allowing patients to interact with their provider teams at their fingertips.

The Challenge: Location-based Labor Shortages

The Upper Valley is a collection of small, quintessential New England towns along the Vermont/New Hampshire border. The area is large, but the population is low, and DHMC is the only hospital within many miles for these residents.

DHMC’s priorities and obligation to Upper Valley residents extended beyond the care they were providing. It was important to the hospital to put the Upper Valley to work through this significant construction project, and to the extent it was possible, keep the labor and vendor base local.

Consigli’s knowledge of the New Hampshire subcontractor market and capabilities informed a thoughtful strategy to do just that, ultimately keeping over 50% of the project spend with local firms.

The Solution: Thoughtful Procurement & Intentional
Pre-fabrication

Keeping the Work Local: The Consigli team took a holistic view of the planning and buyout for this project: identify which scope areas could be supported by local subcontractors and vendors, and then determine where there were opportunities to introduce creative solutions—like pre-fabrication and material pre-purchasing—that would infuse greater efficiencies into the project.

To start, the team mapped out all local subcontractors with the size, capacity, and experience to take on a project of this scale and complexity. The subcontractors were invited to an open house event where they could learn more about the project, meet the Consigli team, and get a sense of the expectations and timing for bidding.

“Our plan was to use local labor whenever we could, and when we maxed out that avenue, we explored creative solutions that could enhance the overall delivery of the project,” said Ricky Gala, Senior Project Manager.

Pre-purchasing Equipment for Schedule Certainty: During Design Development in February 2020, Consigli and designer HDR proactively mapped out decision deadlines for material purchasing, advising on workarounds wherever possible. This is a risk management strategy that Consigli employs on all projects, but it proved critically important and timely at DHMC as COVID hit.

As the world was facing unprecedented uncertainty in early 2020, Consigli’s DHMC team was preparing to break ground on the long-awaited (and much needed) Inpatient Tower. Instead, their focus shifted toward forecasting looming material shortages, supply chain issues, border shutdowns, and astronomical price increases.

“From the beginning of the project, well before COVID was ever heard of, we planned this project to be as schedule and labor-resilient as possible…and then the pandemic really stress-tested that approach,” said Consigli Director of Pre-fabrication Bill Seery.

Consigli secured steel prices before costs skyrocketed and bought from a New Hampshire-based steel mill to avoid potential U.S./Canada border issues. All M/E/P equipment was pre-purchased, locking in early pricing to avoid escalation and circumnavigating long equipment lead times, getting materials to New Hampshire well before they were needed.

It also provided other benefits, like allowing the M/E/P equipment to be designed into the building, and all structural slab requirements and electrical could be fully coordinated in advance, eliminating clashes and field re-work.

This proactive approach extended to commodity items, too. Piping, insulation, roofing, and drywall were prioritized; subcontractor onboarding was expedited, submittals and reviews were fast-tracked, and materials were ordered. Warehouse spaces in Nashua, Enfield, and Seabrook, NH as well as Windsor, VT were used to store the materials until they were needed much later in the project. This fast-tracked procurement approach proved critical as lead times increased nearly 500% on many commodity items during the pandemic.

By April 2020, the Consigli team had locked in its subcontractor and vendor base, pre-purchased materials, and had a solid plan going into the Inpatient Tower groundbreaking, set for July 2020.

“If we weren’t proactive about the way we approached procurement and pre-fabrication on this project, we would’ve been caught on our heels when COVID hit,” said Gala. “We weren’t reacting to a problem and trying to change course. We planned the project in the most efficient way possible, and when the pandemic hit, we were in the best possible situation to take it head-on.”

See how Consigli’s equipment and commodity pre-purchase strategy safeguarded the project when COVID hit, and lead times skyrocketed.

Pre-fabrication for Enhanced Delivery: “The way we go about pre-fab…it’s very systematic. We think from the site all the way through the M/E/Ps and finishes,” explains Brian Hamilton, Consigli’s Vice President of Healthcare & Life Sciences. “When you approach pre-fab as removing labor from a jobsite, it opens up people’s minds; they aren’t just thinking about the standard pre-fabrication elements.”

Every aspect of the DHMC pre-fabrication approach was deliberate. The selected scopes needed to add value to the finished project or the way it was delivered. From the smallest solutions like pre-installing hardware on doors, to large-scale improvements like a structural shift to bolted connections, or driving the exterior design for pre-fabrication, the decisions had to improve quality, increase speed of delivery, save money, or remove on-site labor to mitigate campus disturbances and make the jobsite safer.

“Consigli went into this project knowing the value and advantages that pre-fabrication would bring. When HDR had roughed out a conceptual massing diagram, the entire DHMC project team started collectively digging into the elements of the job that we wanted to pre-fab,” continues Hamilton. “It was really important that we started this out of the gate, because in some cases, it changed the way we approached the building.”

By pre-fabricating systems that directly impacted care delivery and the patient experience, items like headwalls, med gas racks, and wet walls, Consigli and the client team were able to inspect early and often, ensuring the assemblies met DHMC’s exact specifications and standards of care. It also helped keep the schedule in-line by reducing the risk of defects and non-compliance that would need to be repaired or replaced during punchlist.

“By going into the Inpatient Tower project aware of these potential delay ‘traps,’ pre-planning, pre-procuring, and pre-fabricating were all applied to mitigate and diminish these risks,” said Seery. “Our goal on every project is to eliminate risk through intensive pre-planning, and the results at DHMC showcase the fruits of that effort.”

Check out the video below to see what was pre-fabricated and the value it added to the DHMC Patient Tower project.

Turning Over the Tower

Three years after COVID called into question the feasibility of DHMC’s long-awaited project, the Inpatient Tower is opening its doors to the Upper Valley community, providing close-to-home care and a patient experience that rivals its neighbors in Boston and Portland.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s state-of-the-art tower has increased the hospital’s ICU capacity by 228%, with an additional two floors of shell space for a flexible expansion and space for 64 beds which could increase capacity by 356% when fit-out. The main entrance to the hospital is welcoming, with a comfortable lobby, beautiful chapel, easy-to-access amenities and services like food and beverage stations, a lactation room, and an expanded discharge lounge for DHMC patients.

The once too-small hospital is now a landmark for primary and specialty care in the Upper Valley.

The post Revolutionizing Healthcare Construction: The Power of Pre-fabrication & Pre-purchasing appeared first on Consigli Construction.

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.

The post Decarbonizing the Built Environment: Mass Timber as a Low Embodied Carbon Material appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Our 2022 ESG Year in Review is a summary of Consigli’s internal and external areas of focus as a company. It measures progress, achievements, and opportunities for growth in key areas integral to ESG performance.

Consigli’s 2022 ESG highlights include:

• Over 63% of our projects pursued sustainability certifications, earning a #14 ranking on ENR’s list of Top Green Contractors
• 43% of our 2022 new hires were from underrepresented groups
• Increased available employee volunteer time to 24 hours annually
• Celebrated our first class of 100% vested employee-owners, sharing in stock prices that have increased over 550% since 2018

Using our ESG mission as a guide, Consigli will adapt, innovate, and grow, creating opportunity for meaningful change.

To learn more about Consigli’s approach to ESG, click here.

The post 2022 Year in Review: ESG at Consigli appeared first on Consigli Construction.

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.

The post Pre-fabrication for Expedited Delivery: Colby College, Johnson Pond Houses appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Take Massachusetts. The majority of the State uses a “stretch code” for minimum building energy performance requirements. Historically, the stretch code has been defined as 10% more efficient than base energy code. To study the feasibility of a more advanced stretch code, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (MA DOER) contracted a group of consultants. Consigli performed nine unique pricing exercises, analyzing various building prototypes. As a result, the team determined cost premiums for Passive House levels of energy performance across building options, as well as the cost to go all-electric in those scenarios.

As cities and states evaluate advanced building energy codes, Consigli’s analysis of the MA stretch code can serve as a measuring stick for what to expect.

MA Stretch Code Analysis

Access a full PDF of this information here: Building Passive House: Costs & Long-term Payback.

The post Building Passive House: Costs & Long-term Payback appeared first on Consigli Construction.

Market Outlook: April 2022

Peter Capone, Director of Purchasing & Jared Lachapelle, VP of Pre-construction

To access a full PDF of this information, click here: Market Outlook: April 2022.

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