Built For Good - May 2017

A Concrete Plan.....2 A Data-Driven Approach.....4 An Award-Winning Project.....6

The Heart of Walbridge.....10 Lessons Learned.....12

ISSUE

01 2017

BUILT FOR GOOD THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF WALBRIDGE

A CONCRETE PLAN Design-Build Option Helps the Upfront Process for Project Teams For the past several years, the self-perform concrete installation group within Walbridge Industrial Process has noticed an interesting trend: more automotive and manufacturing clients are choosing to utilize the designbuild delivery method.

Jeremy Zeller, Walbridge Industrial Process Director of Projects, has seen it on many new projects, especially automotive paint shops and parking decks.

The fully integrated approach of design-build allows teams to 2

address issues ahead of time, alleviate potential impacts on the schedule and to provide the most value. In design-build, the owner has one entity in charge of both design and building, meaning there’s a fully integrated project team from design through construction.

“It can help the upfront process tremendously,” Zeller said. “We have found that our experience and approach to projects bring significant value to projects when we have the opportunity to assist in the design phase.”

In one case, it helped a Walbridge team when circumstances prevented a building from being enclosed in winter, as originally scheduled.

The project team was able to re-sequence early and make design changes that allowed for work to proceed accordingly and still be completed on time.

This could have had consequences for the project.

But the project team carefully adjusted the schedule, which allowed the concrete pour to be completed properly while work on the enclosure continued.

Cementing our Reputation

Design-build projects help create a fully-integrated approach that showcases teamwork between all sides. Walbridge worked to design-build General Motors’ Flint Paint Shop, through Gallagher-Kaiser Corporation.

Flint Paint Shop Flint, MI Jeremy Zeller

“We all were on the same page, which allowed us to know about a potential issue long before it could negatively impact the schedule, and then respond accordingly,” Zeller said. “The entire team made the appropriate changes to benefit the customer.”

Josh Christman, Walbridge Director of New Business Development, said that example shows how the design-build process positions the project team on the same side of the table as the client.

“We’re on the same team and

design-build really allows us to showcase that teamwork,” Christman said. “If there is a way to work safer, minimize the potential of impacts, streamline the schedule and reduce project cost, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

From the estimating phase all the way through to field operations, the design-build delivery model focuses on teamwork and collaboration.

In some cases, Zeller has seen design changes being made prior to a bid on a design-build project based on observations

from a field operations teams.

Intricate design-build automotive and manufacturing work relies on a clear line of communication and commitment between all team members.

“The benefits are very strong for design-build delivery,” Zeller said. “With complicated projects, having a project team that’s all standing together saves time, money and is to an owners’ advantage.” n

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A DATA-DRIVEN How Data Center Construction is Guiding Future Growth

Randy Abdallah

Hal Adams

Bob Pappas

Think Forward

There are a variety of efficiencies that can be utilized through data center construction.

Ease of expansion and mechanical efficiencies are just a few things that clients are looking for.

Online Tech Westland, MI

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APPROACH As use of technology in our everyday activities continues to grow, it begs a question: Where does this mass amount of data come from?

When you click on that hilarious video on social media, purchase your holiday presents or smile while seeing a friend’s family photos, information we see daily on our phones, computers and tablets is stored and transmitted from data centers around the globe.

Carlson Walbridge’s team actively works to benefit customers by finding efficiencies in the design and construction of data centers.

Randy Abdallah, Walbridge Executive Vice President, said data is being called on more and more, from interactive Virtual Reality headsets to the computers in your car.

“These things take a lot of data,” he said. “That need is only going to increase.”

As that demand increases, companies are actively opting to construct their own data centers or are tenants with providers who offer large co-location facilities for lease.

Smart planning and construction strategies are important to data center owners also. Ease of expansion, availability of energy, innovative cooling systems and mechanical efficiencies are all top considerations of the Walbridge design and construction team as they begin the preconstruction and design effort and when offering VA\VE opportunities.

Timing, however, is of the utmost importance.

“Speed to market is incredibly important to our clients,” Abdallah said.

That’s where the team has experience with over 8,000,000 square feet of data center work in its resume over the past 30 years.

Trends in the market

Hal Adams, Vice President and Regional Manager of Carlson Walbridge, said the use of more virtualization and migration to the “cloud” has made the industry shift to more developer-driven solutions, although many corporate enterprises still operate legacy facilities.

As more mega data centers are built, the team focuses early on opportunities for flexibility and ease of expansion in the future.

“Many clients need scalable solutions where they can eventually add capacity and infrastructure as the load in the building grows,” Adams said.

“What’s just as important is doing all that in a way that doesn’t compromise active operations in the facility.”

Cooling the facilities is something clients are thinking of too: It is advantageous to put their data centers in locations with low humidity, where they can use available outside air – to save through energy efficiency.

“These large facilities are not necessarily geographically-driven in that are near anything specific,” said Bob Pappas, Vice President of Operations and Planning for Carlson Walbridge.

“But they do tend to look for areas where outside air is available and it works best in an environment with low humidity.”

Finding mechanical system efficiencies for these facilities is also a major focus within data center construction.

“In the last decade or so, they’ve made significant improvements in power usage effectiveness (PUE),” Pappas said. “The improvements we’ve seen are dramatic.” n

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WALBRIDGE PROJECT EARNS ‘BUILD MICHIGAN’ AWARD Work by Walbridge and a group of top-notch subcontractors on a project at the University of Michigan caught the attention of judges in the 2016 Build Michigan Awards competition, sponsored by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Michigan.

The project, which included a building addition and renovation work at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, was declared winner in the best Building Construction of $10 Million and Over category.

The award is given for general excellence by the entire project team, imagination, 6

perseverance under unusual and challenging circumstances, and use of innovative construction techniques.

At 104,000 square feet, the newly constructed Jeff T. Blau Hall replaced the aging Computer & Executive Education Building. The Kresge Business Administration Library was renovated into Kresge Hall, with 75,000 additional square feet of classrooms, study and meeting spaces.

With impressive details throughout the facility, exterior terra cotta curtain walls were added to the complex, matching the original Ross School of Business building, which was completed in 2008.

The impressive results give a unified feel to the complex.

Walbridge worked as construction manager for U-M on the project, working handin-hand with designer Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. As a part of the project, Walbridge worked with a subcontractor to move a 250-year-old Burr Oak tree roughly 100 yards to make room for the new Blau Hall.

The innovative move used air bladders to painstakingly relocate the tree as onlookers from adjoining neighborhoods watched on.

The project was turned over to the university in July 2016. n

PROMOTIONS

Cynthia Weaver is now Vice President of Information Technology, advancing from Assistant Vice President of IT. She began working for the company in 1996.

Tom Guise was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Operations for Walbridge Industrial Process. Guise was previously a project director.

Tom joined Walbridge in 2013.

Ross Linton is now Assistant Vice President of Operations for Walbridge Industrial Process.

Linton was previously a project director. Ross has worked for Walbridge since 1995.

FLORIDA ADDITION

Genevieve O’Hara has joined Walbridge Florida as its new Business Development Manager. With background in construction and development, Genevieve brings plenty of business expertise to a talented Walbridge Florida team that’s focused on opportunities in education, government and airport facilities construction. O’Hara is involved with the Bergstrom Council, Urban Land Institute, Real Estate Investment Council, Commercial Real Estate Advisors, Tampa Bay Builders Association, Pasco Economic Development Council, Commercial Real Estate Women and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. n

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VOLUNTEER PROGRAM GETS UNDERWAY Walbridge kicked off a new volunteer program in association with United Way. Beginning with our headquarters staff in Detroit, Walbridge employees will have the opportunity to volunteer with established community assistance providers in southeast Michigan.

Two key organizations are Gleaners, a food bank that collects 39 million pounds of food each year and distributes 89,000 meals daily, and Detroit Rescue Mission, which provides daily lunch at its soup kitchen to its clients and needy people in the homeless community. Each Walbridge employee can receive four hours of paid time off each year to volunteer with United Way programs. n

HADDOCK JOINS WALBRIDGE TO LEAD COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION GROUP Scott Haddock has joined Walbridge as General Manager of its Commercial Construction Group based in Detroit. He comes to Walbridge after working for the past two years as a project executive with Adena Corporation, a general contracting company based in Columbus, Ohio.

At Adena, Haddock was responsible for day to day operations within the Columbus market and for growing opportunities with customers in health care, higher education and retail. Prior to that, he worked for 30 years in Ohio as a construction manager, and project manager and director for several large construction companies and an environmental services firm.

“Scott has great experience in operations and in working with customers,” said Donald Greenwell, Jr., P.E., Walbridge Executive Vice President and head of its Building business unit. “There are significant opportunities in our area that are well suited for Walbridge. We’re pleased to have Scott join us as we secure new business and successfully construct projects in the commercial sector.” Haddock has a degree in Business Management from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio. “I was born and raised in Detroit, so this is like a homecoming for me,” Haddock said. n

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SPECIAL SAFETY INITIATIVE, ‘WORRIES OF WINTER’, FINDS SUCCESS Slips, trips and falls are serious concerns on construction worksites during the winter. A special initiative by Walbridge was successful in eliminating those safety concerns during December 2016 through March 2017. Dubbed “Worries of Winter”, a challenge was issued to 265 Walbridge workers in nine states.

For a total of 179,000 man hours across 41 projects, those workers completed the challenge without a single recordable slip, trip or fall. “Safety being on the forefront of everyone’s mind was key,” said Joe Castellano, Vice President and GM of Walbridge Industrial Process.

“This program was successful

because all the workers focused on the welfare of themselves, their coworkers and their team.”

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Bureau of Labor Statistics, slips, trips and falls make up almost 20 percent of all jobrelated injuries. Those same statistics show that about 1 in 6 of all lost-time work injuries result from slips, trips and falls.

Walbridge’s first core value is to “Think, demand and deliver safety in all aspects of our business.” Signage was placed around job sites and hand-outs featuring statistics, information and safety reminders were delivered to workers throughout the challenge. The initiative

WOW WORRIES OF WINTER

follows in the footsteps of Walbridge’s proactive “Summer of Safety” program that workers participated in during the summer of 2016.

More than 115,000 man hours were completed in that challenge, all without a single hand injury. Summer months typically yield the highest rates of hand injuries on construction sites. n

AGC OF MICHIGAN PRESENTS WALBRIDGE WITH SPECIAL SAFETY AWARD Construction work done by injury cases experienced during more than 500,000 work hours.

Walbridge in 2016 is being the award year, as it relates to Walbridge’s safety record recognized for its safety the total amount of work hours in 2016 has many highlights, success. generated. including receiving a The Associated General “The award shows the focus Ford Excellence Award for Contractors of Michigan of teams at all our construction demonstration of safety gave Walbridge a Michigan sites,” said Mark LaClair, leadership.

Outstanding Safety Assistant Vice President of The year also brought the Performance Award for general Walbridge’s Safety, Health & Summer of Safety, a proactive contractors on Friday, Feb. 24.

Environmental Department. challenge issued to 47 project The safety award is “Our goal is to keep everyone sites throughout 11 states determined by comparing aware and using safety for hand safety. All teams injury incident rates of each processes each and every day.” completed the challenge, company. The injury incident Walbridge was given the Gold working 90 days without a rate is based on the number of Award in Division V, based on recordable hand injury. n 9

THE HEART OF WALBRIDGE AWARDS In order to give credit to individuals that go above and beyond the call of duty, Walbridge instituted in 2016 the Heart of Walbridge recognition program.

Employees and subcontractors are eligible to be nominated for one of two awards: The Spotlight Award and the Achievement Award.

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The Spotlight Award recognizes employees, subcontractors or suppliers that show a commitment to continuous excellence.

Approximately 120 individuals receive the Spotlight Award each year, along with a $50 voucher to the Walbridge Company Store.

The Achievement Award recognizes individuals that demonstrate exceptional performance and commitment to Walbridge’s mission, spirit and core values. The Heart of Walbridge committee selects 40 individuals to receive the Achievement Award each year.

It comes with a $200 VISA gift card.

Finally, Achievement Award winners are reviewed by the committee for possible selection to receive one of three annual Heart of Walbridge Awards. Nominees then have to be approved by the company’s board of directors.

“The Heart of Walbridge Award exemplifies exceptional commitment to our values and outstanding, consistent performance,” said Mike Haller, President of Walbridge Group and head of the company’s Industrial business unit.

Inaugural recipients of the Heart of Walbridge Award, presented at the company’s annual employee meeting on Sept. 29, 2016, are Haitham Sarsam, Jon Molnar and Nick Aretakis.

Haitham Sarsam

Sarsam recently completed work as project manager on the Griswold project, a five story, 80-unit apartment complex built in downtown Detroit. During construction, Sarsam coordinated events in support of the Ride the Pink Elevator campaign, where two construction elevators painted pink were installed on the exterior of the building.

The elevators were introduced during an event featuring Sue Snyder, First Lady of the state of Michigan. Fund-raising efforts related to the pink elevators at the Griswold raised approximately $20,000 in support of cancer awareness and treatment programs in southeast Michigan.

Jon Molnar

Molnar was recognized for his work with Walbridge technologists and IT specialists to pilot an electronic map used to coordinate scores of

daily deliveries to a very business construction site at the University of Michigan. The system eliminated excess traffic around the West Quad residence hall area and helped reduce carbon emissions. Molnar also developed a safety report card for the project that was endorsed

by Walbridge’s Safety Department.

Nick Aretakis

Aretakis worked as project engineer on a complicated baggage handling system installation at an airport in Florida. Walbridge installed 8,000 feet of baggage handling conveyors, controls and electrical systems. “At the start of work, the team included two people with considerable baggage handling experience,” Haller said. “Due to the complexity of the assignment, both of them exited the project. Nick stepped up. He worked nights and led the commissioning and testing procedures that had to meet stringent performance standards set by the Transportation Safety Administration.”

Each winner of the Heart of Walbridge Award received $5,000. n

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LESSONS

LEARNED with La’Shira Champion-King

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La’Shira Champion-King joined Walbridge in 2005 as an intern and is a graduate of Lawrence Technological University with a degree in Facility Management. Today, she is Quality & Lean Manager and one of her responsibilities is coordinating Walbridge’s hefty “Lessons Learned” database. hen did Walbridge begin W gathering “lessons learned” from past projects? Why are they important?

The practice started in 1988.

The biggest benefit is that they provide an easy opportunity for continuous improvement in our company. The database can be used by people at all levels, from an employee just starting out all the way to someone with years of experience.

The lessons can be segmented by category or subject matter, so people can find “estimating” lessons or material related to “wall finishes.” We can tell a prospective customer how lessons from the past give us ideas that can save them dollars on the budget or time on the schedule.

How many lessons are there and what’s the benefit of keeping all of this data around?

At the beginning of 2017, we had approximately 2,349 individual lessons learned in the system. One big benefit is

time savings. Maybe a customer requires a certain type of report. Rather than create something new, an employee can check the database and see if relevant templates already exist that can be utilized.

There’s always something to piggy back on.

they’re half baked or they’re too specific to one project and really aren’t transferable.

It could sound like a great idea or lesson, but someone higher up knows we lost money on that aspect of the project and eliminates it from consideration.

ell us about a recent “lesson T learned.” What can be learned from it and by whom?

I love this one. It’s No. 7171 and it’s about creating a mobile, on-site bid room.

One of our teams needed to submit a bid on a big project at a specific time. They drove to the owner’s office an hour early and set up a mini-office out of the back of an employee’s SUV. They brought an all-in-one printer, used their cell phone as a mobile hot spot, and had a company issued laptop. They tapped into the vehicle’s power supply to run everything. They received final numbers from sub-contractors minutes before the deadline, then printed a polished, professional bid and handed it in on time. It eliminated the risk of rushing to the owner’s office at the last minute and missing the deadline. Anyone responsible for bidding can learn from that.

an you point to one lesson C learned and tell us how much time and/or money it saved on a particular project?

One lesson started with feedback from new employees about the length of their orientation sessions. We used to bring new employees to Detroit three times per year for a comprehensive 2-day orientation. Their feedback told us that Day Two was packed with too much information and was just overwhelming.

We looked at the issue and decided online tutorials could cover most of the topics from the second day. That way, new employees can watch them at various times and benefit from the information.

It’s now a Lesson Learned/ Lean Savings idea. To date, we’ve calculated total savings of $28,000 a year will be saved through improved productivity, and reduced hotel and meal expenses. n

Have you ever rejected a submittal? If so, why?

Supervisors usually see those ideas before they get to me and cut them out. Sometimes

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