BUILDING STORIES
Operations Facility Wows City of Raleigh
The City of Raleigh was seeking to build a new operations facility for its CAT Bus Service. The existing facility was over 30 years old and was servicing more buses than was intended. As a result, the operations were inefficient. The city purchased 23 acres off of Poole Road to relocate the operations. The project received funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT (ARRA) so it had to be “shovel-ready.”
The City selected Willard Ferm Architects to complete the programming, bridging documents and full civil documents. Once the Bridging Documents and Civil Documents were complete, the project was issued for bid. The intent was for the bidders to include completion of the design while starting the site construction immediately, thereby meeting the “shovel-ready” requirement. Since NC Statute does not allow Design-Build Contracts, a waiver to allow for design-build procurement was received from the NC General Assembly allowing for the first Design-Build project for the City of Raleigh.
After being awarded the project, Brasfield & Gorrie simultaneously started the sitework construction and completion of the building design. To help control cost and schedule, Brasfield & Gorrie brought several critical subcontractors and suppliers on board early to help finalize the design. For the remainder of the project, the design team pushed to stay ahead of construction so the project schedule could be maintained. (For example, the building foundation walls were designed, permitted and started in less than 45 calendar days so that grading, backfill and utilities could stay on schedule.)
The City of Raleigh has a minimum requirement for new projects to achieve LEED Silver Certification. Late in the summer of 2010, Brasfield & Gorrie helped review the potential LEED points and determine if an increased level of certification was achievable. In September 2010, the city decided to make several project changes that would enable the project to seek Platinum Certification, which is only one of two projects in the country in this sector.
Some of the unique green features of the building are:
• HVAC System is one of the first to feature both geothermal wells and chilled beam technologies working together
• Photo Voltaic Roof on bus shelter
• Bus garage features light reflective dry shake hardener finish and radiant heated concrete slab.
• Rapidly renewable materials
• Bus Wash recycles 70 percent of water used
• Diverted over 85 percent of construction waste from landfill
• Used over 40 percent regional materials and over 20 percent recycled content
Like most owners, the City of Raleigh’s had high expectations for the completion of their facility. Brasfield & Gorrie exceeded Raleigh’s expectations by completing the project on time, controlling costs, eliminating legal issues, taking care of the “other requirements” and controlling quality.
Brasfield & Gorrie appreciated the opportunity to be part of this project and everyone involved on the team. The Raleigh Transit Operations Facility won a 2011 North Carolina ABC Excellence in Construction Merit Award.
