Structural Capabilities Statement of Qualifications December 2021
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Who We Are Our Team at a Glance
1,350 multi-disciplined staff 40 offices globally 68 years in business #50 Engineering News Record’s
(ENR) ranking of top 500 design firms
Connect With Us Dan Olsted, PE, LEED AP Structural Section Manager (518) 453-3968 dolsted@chacompanies.com
Founded more than 68 years ago, CHA provides full-service design that is rooted in community ideals and responsive to the landscape and local aesthetic. Our people thrive on collaboration, working as part of project team, listening to our clients’ needs, and concentrating on modern design. We are a multi-disciplined engineering consulting firm, with an aspiration to responsibly improve the world we live in. Together, the CHA team includes more than 1,350 technical professionals throughout the United States and Canada, providing a national platform to combine art and science to rethink, refine and reshape the built environment. The tools may have changed over the past 68 years, the office has grown, and we have many new colleagues to collaborate with, but the ideas and creative energy persist and overflow. Our foundation remains clear — to create high-quality, collaborative designs that stress innovation grounded in careful listening to our clients’ functional needs.
Our Markets CHA’s strength lies in its diversification in the markets we serve, the services we provide, and the geographies we work in. We provide a wide range of technologyenhanced design and planning services to clients across five markets: Government, Industry, Utility, Education, and Commercial Development. Using a market strategy facilitates delivering all our technical services to clients with a focus on strong relationships and maximizing the value CHA brings to our clients and projects. By leveraging our skills and responsiveness, we have built robust client relationships and become a best-in-class consultant.
Structural Capabilities
CHA utilizes steel, concrete, masonry, timber, aluminum, fiber-reinforced plastic, and other materials to design the framework, or “structural skeleton,” for the vast majority of projects we produce. With nearly 200 years of combined structural engineering experience, our engineers have the ability to solve clients’ needs, utilizing creative solutions to design efficient structures that safely support the loads and resist the forces imparted on them.
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What We Do CHA is your trusted advisor, providing in-house building expertise for your community. We celebrate a building’s structure - the strength, the environmental impact, the complexity, the quality, and the construction. Our clients trust us to guide them and make responsible decisions about the framework, or “structural skeleton,” of their buildings, from industrial facilities and airport hangars to elementary schools and stadiums. We employ our deep knowledge of building materials, carbon footprints and construction techniques to design resilient and sustainable structures that safely and efficiently support the loads and resist the forces imparted on them. Our structural design team brings decades of experience from a variety of fields and companies. We’ve worked with many architects and engineers and are versatile and adept at working collaboratively within our team or as part of an outside team. We’ll look at the big picture – consider all systems and possibilities and deliver a design using technology and a common language. You—the client—are at the core of our business. We specialize in providing excellent value and meeting your needs. We look at things from your perspective, moving away from a culture focused on projects to one built on relationships. We prioritize our partnerships to understand better what you’re deeply passionate about and impart the resources and remarkable service required to make you the best in the world at what you want to do. When you need unique insight or expertise, we have a specialist in-house who can answer your questions and deliver everything necessary.
Structural Capabilities
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Albany Capital Center The Albany Capital Center is an 80,000 SF, two-story conference center designed by CHA that is the catalyst for future business and entertainment opportunities in New York’s Capital System. The Capital Center houses 22,500 square feet of ballroom/exhibit space, six meeting rooms with 9,200 square feet of space, 13,500 square feet of pre-function space, a commercial kitchen, administrative offices, and 130 parking spaces in three underground levels. The center also features a ceiling of thousands of programmable, color-changing LED lights.
Location
The 1.3-acre site posed significant challenges and extensive design modeling to “fit” the building program of 82,000 square feet within the property boundaries. With an elevation drop of 60 feet over the site, it required the removal of 100,000 yards of soil material and a 60-foot-high reinforced concrete retaining wall with earth tie backs to protect adjoining streets and utilities. The clay soils of the site required a deep foundation system using piles and pile caps. A total of 348 piles were driven to bedrock at 98 feet to support the building’s superstructure. During the pile-driving, ground-borne vibrations could have impacted the structural condition of adjacent buildings. Therefore, CHA undertook pre-construction and postconstruction monitoring of all structures within a 200-foot radius of the site and found no damage from construction activities.
Gold Award: Structural Systems, ACEC of New York, 2018
The Capital Center brings together flexible, functional space with a design that harmoniously joins Downtown Albany’s historic architecture with the government buildings of the Empire State Plaza. The primary exterior building materials—brick, terracotta, and glass—strike this balance to deliver a building connected to Albany’s past but representative of Albany today.
Albany, NY
Client
Albany Convention Center Authority
Project Type
New Construction - 82,000 SF
Awards
Project of the Year - Structures Category, APWA Capital Branch, 2017
Structural Capabilities
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Albany International Airport Parking Garage Parking demand at the Albany International Airport, especially for covered spaces close to the terminal, was strong, and at peak periods, significantly exceeded capacity. The Albany County Airport Authority took this opportunity to enhance the traveler experience and reshape the way drivers arrive at the airport with a new five-level precast concrete parking garage connected to the terminal. Completed within an aggressive 18-month schedule, the $40 million Albany International Airport Parking Garage provides 1,050 urgently needed covered parking spaces while incorporating innovative wayfinding and energy-efficient lighting systems. The garage was built on site within a busy airport, sandwiched between a Security Identification Display Area fence and Airport Terminal Road. Due to the site’s challenging nature, multiple foundation plans were designed and reviewed for cost, material availability, and schedule impact before selecting steel H-Piles as the best option. Given the length of the piles, the team was concerned with the aquifer located at 100 feet below finished grade. The design team provided a bid alternate for a depressurization well upfront, which was implemented when this condition was encountered. Many underground utilities were removed and rerouted to drive the 485 H-piles through an artesian condition and down to bedrock. Drilling activities required multiple drilling rigs onsite with support equipment and several site workers. Coordination of activities was vital to ensure safe and environmentally responsible operations. The new facility features an elevated pedestrian walkway to the terminal, which is temperature-controlled, and a new vehicular entrance off Albany-Shaker Road that ramps up and bridges over Jetway Drive to Level 3 of the garage. The garage’s façade aesthetics include glazed firerated stair towers. Precast panels on the stair towers stand proud with a thin brick veneer embedded into the concrete panels. This reduced installation time and labor costs and provided a cleaner masonry finish that poses no efflorescence issues. From an aesthetic perspective, the brick exterior and open design, along with ambient lighting and an exterior color-changing LED ribbon, take this parking facility to a whole new level. Other innovative features include rooftop solar panels on the pedestrian bridge and a state-of-the-art PARCS System with automated space detection, real-time monitoring, and license plate readers facilitating ticketless entry.
Location
Albany, NY
Client
Albany County Airport Authority
Project Type
New Construction - 402,930 SF
Structural Capabilities
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Jones Beach State Park Boardwalk Cafe Located in the NYSOPRHP Long Island Region, Jones Beach State Park is situated along a 16-mile long coastal barrier island off the shore of Long Island. In 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Jones Beach Revitalization Plan and committed $90 million over a five-year period for the restoration and revitalization of the popular State Park. The first project undertaken was the renewal of the East Mall area, including a new East Mall Market Building and surrounding landscape, providing a range of new infrastructure and recreational activities. CHA’s structural team designed the 8,500 SF Boardwalk Plaza Area, encompassing a new 8,000 SF Boardwalk Café and adjoining the existing Boardwalk. The Boardwalk Plaza Area was constructed with pressure treated wood lumber, supported on a combination of timber piles and galvanized steel helical piles. Due to the densified soils from the existing café construction and the proximity of the new Café to the existing Boardwalk, the western 1,600 SF of boardwalk was founded on helical piles in order to use smaller equipment to advance the foundation system into the ground. Both the new Boardwalk plaza and Café building were designed to sustain hurricane level wind and wave forces in addition to localized erosion and scour.
Location
Wantagh, NY
Client
New York State Office Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Project Type
New Construction
Awards
ENR Regional Best Project Award Landscape/Urban Development
Structural Capabilities
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Terminal Improvements Monroe County and the Greater Rochester International Airport, winners of the Governor’s Upstate Airport Revitalization Program, initiated a largescale $79 million terminal renovation program to improve and revitalize its airport terminal. CHA provided engineering, design, and construction administration services for the terminal renovation. We designed the structural modification of the terminal, including the expansion of the observatory window wall system to expand the floor plan to connect the concessions area with the concourses better. The program reconfigured the security checkpoint and airport exit, expanded the main terminal building, enhanced the concessions area, implemented cutting-edge hearing loop and American Sign Languageto-Voice technologies, and upgraded the infrastructure network. Bag left behind and new facial recognition technology—the first of its kind in Upstate New York—upgraded security cameras and readers, and a new centralized checkpoint enhance the safety and security of employees and passengers. Ticket lobby, boarding gate, and concession area improvements affirm the ease and comfort of travel. Two passenger interactive play zones, created in partnership with Strong National Museum of Play, educate, entertain and bring exposure to this must-see regional tourist attraction.
Location
Rochester, NY
Client
Greater Rochester International Airport
Project Type Renovation
Awards
AAAE Small/Medium Hub Award on Technology Project of the Year Award Structures: National Association of the American Public Works, Seattle, Washington Project of the Year Award: Genesee Valley Branch of the American Public Works Association Project of the Year Award: New York State Chapter of the American Public Works Association
Structural Capabilities
Albany High School Expansion Location
Albany, NY
Client
Albany City School District
Square Footage
Renovation - 300,000 SF
In 2015 The Albany City School District embarked on an ambitious program to meet the expected increase in enrollment that is anticipated to occur over the next 10 years. The existing campus which was constructed in the early 1970’s needed to be upgraded to meet the demands of providing students with a diverse, state of the art environment for academic and technical learning. CHA’s structural engineers were involved in Phases I and II of the project, which included the design of a new 3-story classroom building, a new 2-story arts and music building, and a connection corridor between the two new buildings. The new buildings consists of a 5-inch thick, concrete filled, composite metal deck supported by w-shaped steel beams and girders. The building will resist lateral loads induced by wind and seismic forces by incorporating steel concentrically braced frames throughout the structure. The slab-on-grade will consist of a 5-inch thick concrete slab reinforced with deformed steel rebar. The new corridor will be constructed using full story height steel trusses to span over an existing pool structure. The floor framing will consist of a 5-inch thick, concrete filled, composite metal deck supported by w-shaped steel beams and girders. Double-angle horizontal bracing will be incorporated in the floor structure to account for wind and seismic lateral loads.
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Location
Lafayette, IN
Client
Tippecanoe County
Square Footage
New Construction - 126,500 SF
Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds The Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners retained CHA for this multi-phase improvements project. In Phase One, CHA’s structural team designed an 800 SF addition to an existing restroom, a 1,500 SF timber framed picnic pavilion, and the foundations to a 20,000 SF, preengineered horse barn. Phase Two comprised of the foundation design and masonry superstructure design of a 105,000 square foot, pre-engineered Coliseum structure to be used as fairground event space (horse and cattle shows, live concerts) and as exhibition space for conferences. CHA’s structural team worked with the Construction Manager to prepare multiple foundation studies in order to provide the most economical foundation design to the Owner. CHA’s structural team provided the structural design loads and serviceability criteria during the PEMB bidding phase. Once the preengineered metal building manufacturer was retained, CHA’s structural team played in active role in coordinating the pre-engineered building footprint with the building program and meticulously coordinated the pier, footing and anchor rod designs with the PEMB erection drawings and design loads. Phase Three structural work was comprised of providing the foundation design of a pre-engineered metal corridor between the Coliseum and the existing Swine Barn, and structural renovations to the Swine Barn. Construction is projected to complete in 2021.
Structural Capabilities
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PAC Center Athletic Field House The PAC Center is a 56,000 SF multi-purpose athletic facility featuring an indoor turf field, large fitness and training facilities, and a range of high end user amenities. CHA was challenged to meet a short four month design timeline that included ambitious sustainability targets. The facility received a LEED Gold Certification and includes high efficiency systems that provide occupants with a healthy indoor environment. CHA’s structural engineers designed a pre-engineered structural steel framed building for both the Field House and support spaces. The building is supported on shallow concrete spread foundation system with cross ties to resist the lateral loads for the field house structure.
Location
Rochester, NY
Client
Monroe Community College
Square Footage
New Construction - 56,000 SF
Awards
LEED Gold Certified “Silver Award” for Structural Systems, ACEC of New York, 2010 “High Performance Building Plaque”, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) “Project of the Year” Award for Structures American Public Works Association (APWA), 2009
Structural Capabilities
Belly Cargo/GSE Maintenance Building Location
Indianapolis, IN
Client
Indianapolis International Airport
Square Footage
New Construction - 40,000 SF
CHA was tasked by the Indianapolis Airport Authority for the design of a new 40,000 SF Belly Cargo/GSE Maintenance Building at Indianapolis International Airport (IND). The facility was developed to accommodate airline belly cargo operations and ground service equipment (GSE) maintenance. The building and site were designed to accommodate future building expansion to 80,000 SF. Building elements included: • Exterior precast architectural concrete with a pre-engineered structure • Standing seam metal roof panels • Ten truck docks and vehicle ramps • Building signage