Built for Good Newsletter - July 2015

July 2015

BUILT FOR GOOD

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A New Terminal for the Air Capital

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Clean Investment

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What We’re Up To

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FROM OUR

LEADERSHIP

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need to begin by stating this is not going to be a melancholy look backwards, filled with recollections of my work life at Walbridge. It has certainly been a rewarding four decades, beyond any expectations. I’ve worked with many great, inspiring and hard-working people during that time and I value your friendships and acquaintance. I hope my lasting contribution to Walbridge is as a mentor, participant in the organizational transformation and source of encouragement for creative thinking so as to seek out and implement innovations across the enterprise.

I’m going to write, instead, about a transition that’s underway at Walbridge and will, frankly, accelerate after my departure. My retirement, from a corporate vantage point, is one of the first big steps in creating the organizational disruption that I believe is necessary for the type of change that will keep Walbridge relevant far into the future.

Rick Haller President and Chief Operating Officer Walbridge | Detroit, Michigan

Rick Haller joined Walbridge in 1976 and since 1997 has served as President and Chief Operating Officer. Rick penned this before retiring on July 1, 2015. He will remain on the Walbridge Board of Directors and will serve as an adviser to the company.

The last time such significant change happened within Walbridge was nearly 40 years ago when John Rakolta, Sr. had the courage to turn the “keys” of management over to a small band of us, led by John Rakolta, Jr. This organization has been very successful during that period. It’s grown from a $40 million per year regional contractor to a $1.5 billion multinational constructor. The easiest thing to do would be to continue to look at ourselves only in the context of where we are at this point. However, what I believe we need to do to remain relevant is to look ahead and recreate ourselves. In some ways this is evolutionary and in others it will be revolutionary.

We need to embed innovation as a dominant behavior into the culture. We need to unleash creativity at all levels and step out of our paradigms. And we need to energize this creative force within an industry that traditionally rewards those who maintain control and ensure predictability.

One change has already taken place and that is re-alignment of the company’s inner-structure. Three mega-business units – Walbridge Industrial, Walbridge Buildings, and Walbridge Industrial Process – have been formed. Our current portfolio of work and operational resources are now aligned under these three banners.

Another change, over time, will be expanding and shifting within markets, stepping outside of our comfort zone where we’ve enjoyed past success and into types of work programs where we have little experience.

Since we are bright, creative, disciplined and risk knowledgeable, we can figure this out.

We Build For Good and our inspiration must be centered on creating outcomes that completely meet the needs of customers.

I’ve been blessed to be a leader at Walbridge for nearly 40 years.

I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything. If I can offer the next generation of leaders a piece of advice it would be this: Look at the future, in spite of its risks and challenges, and face it, not with fear or anxiety but with confidence and courage.

“Thank you” doesn’t seem to have the depth or gratitude I want to express to all of you, but it’s all I have. Your willingness to support my leadership and participate with passion, commitment and unrelenting purpose will be the gift I will cherish always. May God bless all of you.

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This Issue

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From our leadership

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A smooth, new terminal for the Air Capital

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Clean investment

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WWII ammo plants

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The opportunities are big and bright in Texas

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What we’re up to

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Awards

Cover: A signature feature inside the new terminal at Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport is a piece of artwork that spans from check-in to baggage claim Built For Good is a publication of the Walbridge Group, Inc. Forward any comments or questions to Erin Hooper at ehooper@walbridge.com Š 2015 SM

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A smooth, new terminal for the Air Capital T

he first flight left Wichita, Kan. from the new terminal at Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport shortly after 5 a.m.

June 3. It was an early take off for the city, which originally anticipated the new terminal opening for passenger flights in September.

The Key Construction | Walbridge Joint Venture began building the new two-story terminal in fall of 2012 at what used to be called Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, which supports general aviation operations and five commercial airlines. The airport’s new passenger terminal is the first to be built in Wichita in more than 50 years.

At 12 gates and approximately 275,000 square feet, the new terminal is only 10,000 square feet bigger than the one it will replace (high ceilings technically make the new terminal 60 percent larger by volume). It will support 1.5 million passengers each year. Spaciousness, enhanced security, improved efficiency and better accommodations for the modern passenger, including USB hook ups and electronic charging stations, are some of the other benefits. It’s pretty good looking, too. The new terminal’s modern and angular appearance is a welcome addition at the complex. Trimmings were not spared either. Airfoil-shaped awnings, directional striping in the terrazzo floors and other flourishes evoke various components of aviation, like airplane wings and contrails.

Wichita, hailed “the Air Capital of the World” for the role it plays in aircraft manufacturing, is the largest city in Kansas.

While the new terminal at Eisenhower National Airport is small compared to most major airports in the United States, it has a significant history to honor. The interior layout was fashionably curated to tell Wichita’s aviation story. Various exhibits were built inside the new terminal, including a series 4 I Built For Good

of large decorative panels that chronologically display the city’s history with colorful graphics and text. Antiquity as well as art influenced the terminal’s design. Its centerpiece feature is anchored in ticketing and stretches approximately 350 feet over the terminal’s mezzanine, reattaching in baggage claim.

Intended to mimic the sensation of flight, its dichroic safety glass and cellular polycarbonate segments – painstakingly suspended from steel cables – reflect colors from natural lighting and from lights inside the terminal.

A stark contrast from the old, the new terminal provides a lively, naturally-lit experience to its passengers. Glass curtain walls make up a large portion of the building’s exterior; its display of 12 glass-walled jet way bridges are the largest in the country, according to the Wichita Airport Authority, which financed recent improvements to the airport. An energy-efficient HVAC system and daylight harvesting system that dims lights in response to changing sunlight make the new terminal far more eco-friendly than its predecessor.

Additionally, in-pavement heating systems limit ice and snow buildup and provide more efficient climate control inside.

Built with flexibility in mind, the structure can accommodate up to 20 gates and provides multiple options for kiosk placement in the ticketing area.

The unique shape of the terminal required working with curved materials that included steel panels and curtain walls,

creating challenges for the project team. Other challenges arose in meeting the schedule as changes in project team personnel, subcontractor transitions and additions to the project scope – including additional tenant space inside – occurred.

The new terminal features modern ticketing stations, an efficient three-carousel baggage system, a Transportation Security Administration screening area, business center, various concessions beyond security, accommodating restrooms and departure lounges, and administration offices. Key | Walbridge also built six vertical circulation cores for tarmac access as part of the project scope. Designed by HNTB Architects, the new terminal at Eisenhower National Airport is expected to enhance passenger travel experience and provide improved services to airport customers.

The first flight to arrive at the new terminal landed a few minutes early, around 9:30 a.m. June 3. It was greeted on the tarmac with a spraying celebration from water hoses and with applause as its passengers stepped off the jetway.

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Clean investment A new DTE Marietta (DTE) facility in Marietta, Ohio, has reduced emissions from a nearby chemical manufacturing plant by roughly 40 percent.

Under a construction management-at-risk contract with DTE, Walbridge Industrial Process (WIP) built a combined heat and power (CHP) cogeneration facility to supply energy to Solvay, located across the highway from the new facility. Historically, process steam was provided to Solvay from an electric generating facility near the plant. After notification that the utility plant was going to be shut down, Solvay constructed a temporary natural gas boiler facility to provide process steam while a long term solution was being investigated. DTE and Solvay collaboratively determined that building a cogeneration facility to supply steam and power to Solvay would be the most economical solution, as well as an investment that supports DTE’s business model of selling clean energy to its customers. Today the DTE CHP facility is providing Solvay with cogenerated steam and power produced from natural gas.

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The CHP cogeneration project included construction of a 9,500-square-foot boiler house, which holds two Indeck gas-fired boilers that each produce up to 80,000 pounds of steam per hour. Outside WIP installed an 8-megawatt Solar gas turbine and a Rentech heat recovery steam generator that produces up to 150,000 pounds of steam per hour. To make the connection, WIP ran three quarters of a mile of steam piping and electrical high-voltage cable from the cogeneration facility to the Solvay facility. Various water treatment equipment and systems, electrical switchgear and other ancillary equipment were installed as well.

One challenge the team faced was developing the DTE site in a flood plain. The property is situated along the Ohio River, which required WIP to build an elevated pad before foundations could be constructed. Clean fill was brought in and then compacted. A surcharge load was placed on top to compress the material before foundation work began, assuring there would be no more settlement.

The work began shortly after preconstruction efforts, which included developing budgets and identifying value engineering ideas, as well as producing logistics plans and execution strategies. WIP had the new facility built in just 14 months, employing 160 craft workers at the peak of construction. The new cogeneration facility will operate 364 days a year, shutting down only for annual routine maintenance.

In addition to generating steam and power from a cleaner source of energy, the new DTE facility allows Solvay to have a dedicated utilities facility for its energy needs.

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G N I R I F m e ‘ p e e K

Detroit companies make fast turnaround on Midwest ammo plants

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hen war broke out in Europe in the fall of 1939, the United States had virtually no industrial capability to manufacture small-arms military ammunition. Because of this, plans were taken from the government-owned-andoperated Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia and used by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls (SHG) of Detroit to design a series of new ammo plants. Walbridge Aldinger, another leading Detroit firm, was selected to construct two of them: the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Jackson, Mo. and Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in New Brighton, Minn.

Lake City, located on 3,900 acres approximately 20 miles east of Kansas City, was the first of five ammunition plants designed by SHG. The four others were in Denver, Salt Lake City, New Brighton and Des Moines, Iowa.

Construction commenced on Dec. 26, 1940 at Lake City under the general supervision of the Quartermasters Corps. The primary building contractors were Walbridge Aldinger and Foley Brothers of St. Paul, Minn. Ammunition produced at Lake City during World War II included .30-caliber cartridges for military rifles, .50-caliber cartridges for machine guns and 20-mm shells for aircraft cannon.

Twin Cities, built on a 2,400-acre site about 10 miles north of Minneapolis and St. Paul, was constructed in 1941-42 for the manufacture of .30-caliber and .50-caliber ammunition. The plant expanded operation in 1944 to include production of metal parts on 105-mm and 155-mm artillery shells.

At all plants designed by SHG, architectural form reflected industrial function. The long, two-story configuration of ammunition buildings was dictated by the linear arrangement of production lines. First-floor production areas were shielded by blank masonry walls so workers would be protected from bomb splinters in the event of enemy attack.

Large expanses of industrial steel sash and monitor skylights were designed to blow outward in case of accidental detonation on the production line. Forced-draft intake systems were built into power plants “making possible the

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elimination of the telltale stacks whose long shadows are so useful to hostile bombers in locating the target.”

When the entire complex was completed at Lake City in early 1943, the facility consisted of 350 buildings. The site also included a small residential district for supervisory personnel.

Lake City began manufacturing small arms ammunition in 1941 and remained in production until 1945. Over this fouryear period, the plant turned out approximately 5.7 billion rounds of small arms ammunition, accounting for 13 percent of the nation’s total production during World War II. Twin Cities was built in two phases, the first of which was designed for 100 buildings. Weeks after Japan’s attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. government authorized an expansion. Due to critical material shortages and accelerated construction schedules, SHG designed almost all of the new buildings as “temporary” wooden structures. At the peak of construction, as many as 15,000 people worked to build it. When it was completed in the summer of 1942, the plant consisted of 200 buildings, including an administration building, two .30-caliber ammunition shops, a .50-caliber ammunition shop, a lead shop, a primer manufacturing building, and a power house.

The plant also housed a bullet-reclamation center that made significant contributions to ammunition salvage technology From February 1942 to September 1945, Twin Cities produced almost equal amounts of .30-caliber and .50-caliber ammunition, with total production in excess of 4.3 billion rounds. This accounted for roughly 10 percent of all small arms ammunition manufactured in the U.S. during the war.

Both plants continued to operate for decades before closing. SHG (now SmithGroupJJR) and Walbridge Aldinger (now Walbridge) remain active in architectural design and construction to this day. Both firms teamed on the BAE Systems Land & Armaments Complex, built in Sterling Heights, Mich. Engineering News-Record named it the ENR Midwest Best Office Project in 2013.

Opportunities Big and Bright in Texas

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ill Greek is General Manager of recently formed Walbridge Texas LLC. Greek brings 33 years of construction industry experience to the position, including the last six as Senior Vice President of Houston-based Linbeck Group.

Is Texas competitive for new auto construction opportunities?

Texas is home to three major vehicle manufacturing facilities: Toyota’s Tundra and Tacoma plant in San Antonio; GM’s Suburban plant in Arlington; and Peterbilt’s large truck plant in Denton. The Texas Economic Development Corporation and the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism division (EDT), as well as local EDCs, actively court international auto manufacturers and tier suppliers.

What type of manufacturing appeals to Texas? Or, said another way, who does Texas appeal to?

Texas has created more manufacturing jobs than any other state for eight years in a row. Granted, 80% of those jobs come from the oil & gas sector. But 20% derive from medical, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, bio-engineering, and metals/materials and tool/equipment manufacturing. Texas has one of the most robust and fastest-growing economies in the world (13th largest GDP). Texas is consistently on the shortlist for international and national corporations seeking sites for new administrative and manufacturing facilities.

Do you see construction growth continuing in Texas?

The 50% drop in oil prices since September 2014 has and will curtail construction activity in 2015 and beyond. While upstream oil & gas investments have slowed, midstream investments are growing. Several Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) gasification plants are being constructed along the gulf coast to take advantage of the substantially lower U.S. gas prices.

Today, there are five LNG export facilities under construction, one in design and applications for 40 others under review. All but one of the approved LNG export facilities are in Texas. Oil, gas and energy affects every aspect of design & construction in Texas. We expect the construction economy to slow from 2015 through 2017 across all sectors.

Gain more of Bill’s insights into construction and market opportunities in Texas, Louisiana and the southwestern U.S. by following him on LinkedIn

What industries are you focusing on from Houston?

Our differentiation strategy in Texas is focused on four areas of specialization: 1) vehicular transportation – building on our core automobile/aviation/rail expertise; 2) metals/materials – building on our leadership in aluminum, steel and other complex materials; 3) research facilities & technology centers, including private and tax-payer funded higher education laboratories; and 4) oil & gas/energy related manufacturing.

Whare are your plans for public/private partnerships there?

We have a special focus on public/private partnerships (P3) in the state. Through our developer client, DDM Group, we have recently delivered (as project manager/construction manager) the first P3 research laboratory in Texas - Energy Research Building at Texas A&M University in College Station.

P3 will remain a major focus since the state has more than $1 billion in laboratory needs over the next three years and not enough public capital to finance them. We have several P3 prospects with DDM Group and other developers.

What differentiates Walbridge from competitors in Texas?

Walbridge is one of only a few American-owned, international contractors with decades of success in complex manufacturing and industrial process facilities. As a result, we bring excellent competencies in those project types and in processes such as safety, virtual design and construction, lean, integrated design/build, and self-perform (especially mill-wrighting, heavy haul, concrete and industrial process).

Walbridge also brings a “traveling culture” that welcomes working away from home on exciting and unique projects.

Many of our competitors resist travel and are constrained by location.

What are the nuances particular to project owners in Texas compared to, say, California or Florida?

Texans are relationship-oriented people. We are open to friendly competition, enjoy learning from others, and respect people with great ideas and different ways of doing things.

The people are warm and friendly to those who show a genuine desire to share, learn and team with others.

Built For Good I 9

What we’re up to RECENTLY AWARDED

GETTING STARTED

UNDERWAY

WRAPPING UP

Croda International New Castle Expansion

Capitol Park Mixed Use Building

Bell’s Brewery Comstock Campus Expansion

1505 Woodward Renovation

British-based Croda International, Plc has selected engineering firm Middough Inc. and Walbridge Process Engineering and Construction to manage construction on major expansion of its specialty chemicals production plant in New Castle, Del. When completed in 2017, the facility will be the first North American plant to produce 100-percent sustainable non-ionic surfactants, the active emulsifying agent in face creams, toothpastes and detergents. Ethanol will be converted into ethylene oxide at the new facility.

Walbridge as construction manager is providing preconstruction services on a new mixed-use building in Detroit’s historic Capitol Park for Bedrock Real Estate Services. The multi-story building, which will be built at the corner of W. Grand River and Griswold in downtown Detroit, will include residential units and ground level retail.

Walbridge and Kraemer Design Group are working with the client to assure the new construction meets the district’s historic preservation guidelines.

Construction of the new building will begin later this year.

Walbridge is serving as construction manager on a major expansion of the Bell’s Brewery campus in Comstock, Mich. The fast-track project will bring roughly 200,000 square feet of additions to the existing campus and includes a new bottling hall, keg storage building and warehouse, as well as various support facilities and extensive site work. The expansion is expected to increase annual capacity to about 1 million barrels and help Bell’s meet growing demand. Construction will wrap up in phases toward the end of 2015.

Walbridge is managing a 56,000-square-foot core-and-shell renovation of Bedrock Real Estate Service’s 1505 Woodward Building in downtown Detroit. When complete, the eight-story building will offer retail or restaurant space on the ground level and office space on the upper floors. For the job Walbridge is removing and replacing the 84-yearold building’s basement, sidewalk, structural vault, replacing its windows, rehabbing exterior masonry and renovating core assets (mechanical-electricalplumbing infrastructure).

Construction is wrapping up this month.

activity SNAPSHOT Walbridge conducted safety training and assisted with the critical crane operation for a week-long fermentation tank installation at Bell’s Brewery in early July. For the task, 12 800-barrel fermentation tanks were shipped to the site from Germany and installed into an existing building at the Bell’s campus.

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Awards W

albridge has had a tremendous showing in state, regional, national and even global award competitions this year.

Engineering News Record (ENR) Midwest named Walbridge its 2015 Contractor of the Year. The company was shortlisted for the honor based on an impressive 30-percent jump in revenue between 2013 and 2014, which also helped more Walbridge up to No. 38 on ENR’s list of Top 400 U.S. contractors. In making its selection of top Midwest contractor, ENR also considered Walbridge’s award-winning safety record, the breadth its 70 LEED-certified construction projects, the company’s 2014 National Best & Brightest Sustainable Companies Award, and a handful of ENR Best Project Awards Walbridge has received the last few years.

In addition to Walbridge being honored as Midwest Contractor of the Year, ENR also named the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Goiana Jeep Assembly Plant in Brazil its 2015 Global Best Manufacturing Project, on which Walbridge served as design-builder with Brazilian partner Construcap.

ENR’s Midwest Contractor of the Year and Global Best Project recognitions are both first-time awards for Walbridge.

In other announcements, Ford Motor Company recognized Walbridge with its prestigious 2015 Ford World Excellence Award for Supplier Diversity. Ford CEO Mark Fields and Group Vice President for Global Purchasing Hau Thai-Tang presented the honor to Walbridge May 21 at its World Excellence Awards, which honors the automaker’s topperforming suppliers worldwide.

Walbridge also received supplier diversity honors from Toyota Motor Corporation and the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council this year. Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America presented Walbridge with its 2015 Outstanding WBE Tier II Development Performance award June 4 in Kentucky. WBE stands for women-owned business enterprises, for which Walbridge sets annual hiring goals. And for the 14th time, the MMSDC has presented Walbridge with its annual Corporate ONE Award, which honors corporate members of the MMSDC who are fully engaged in the organization’s mission and report quarterly and yearly activity to validate its support.

On a more local level, Walbridge received two honors in the Engineering Society of Detroit’s annual Construction & Design Awards this year. The new Oakland University Engineer Center in Rochester, Mich., which Walbridge built with design partner SmithGroupJJR, won for being a new

Contact us

ESD Lifetime Achievement Award Perhaps the most prestigious award of all those received this year went to Walbridge’s outgoing President & COO Rick Haller. The Engineering Society of Detroit honored him with the 2015 ESD Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at its Annual Dinner June 24 at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Haller retired July 1 after nearly 40 years with Walbridge. He’s led the enterprise as president and chief operating officer since 1997.

Haller will remain on Walbridge’s Board of Directors and serve as an adviser during the company’s transition into its next 100 years.

Rick Haller Outgoing President & COO

“high-tech showplace for engineering education.” The new Body Shop Walbridge built for FCA at its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant received honorable mention as a “project that shows the green, human-scale future of automotive assembly plants.” The Construction & Design awards recognize best-of-the-best architectural achievements, construction skills and workplace safety.

The renovation of the 100-year-old David Whitney Building in Detroit has received three awards so far this year, two for the team’s efforts in historic preservation. Developers The Roxbury Group and Trans Inns Management, with architect Kraemer Design Group and Walbridge were all honored for their part in the Whitney’s rehab, which has received the following awards: The 2015 Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation from the State of Michigan The 2015 Tax Credit Award from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network A 2015 International Interior Design Association Michigan Interior Design Excellence Award for best mixed-use project over 10,000 square feet Last but not least, Walbridge was honored April 22 with a 2015 Healthiest Employers of Southeast Michigan Award.

Winners of the awards, presented by HAP and Crain’s Detroit Business, were chosen based on company culture, programs and policies that promote healthy employees and workplaces.

Walbridge was among four winning Southeast Michigan companies, categorized by number of employees.

Connect with us:

SALES | Randy Abdallah, Executive Vice President 866.331.6585 | rabdallah@walbridge.com

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Abu Dhabi, UAE(JV) | Aurora, Illinois | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois Columbia, South Carolina | Cordoba, Argentina | Detroit, Michigan | Doha, Qatar(JV) | Greenville, South Carolina | Houston, Texas | Kalamazoo, Michigan | Kokomo, Indiana | LeClaire, Iowa Manama, Bahrain | Mexico City, Mexico | Oak Ridge, Tennessee | Oakland, California(JV) | Orlando, Florida | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | S達o Paulo, Brazil(JV) | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida 777 Woodward Ave, Suite 300, Detroit, Michigan 48226 www.walbridge.com