The Davis Team, led by Luke Blomfield and Dean Cagle, won the 2017 AGC Excellence in Construction Award for a project over $8,000,000! Congratulations Team!
The Parker, Smith & Feek Excellence in Construction Awards are given in recognition of exceptional projects completed by contractors and are presented at the annual AGC of Alaska Conference. Davis submitted a package on the project for consideration and was judged against the others in the category by independent industry professionals. Our submission was reviewed on the following criteria: meeting the challenge of a difficult job, excellence in project management, contractor’s innovation in construction techniques or materials, contractor’s state of the art advancement, contractor’s sensitivity to the environment & surroundings, excellence in client service, and the contractor’s contribution to the community.
During the Anchorage Museum Expansion pre-construction services, Davis was tasked with reviewing 4 sets of construction drawings. The original 1967 drawings, remodels in 1975 and 1985, and an additional expansion in 2005 were part of the evaluation. We had to make sure that our concrete demolition and threading of new steel columns through the existing building did not structurally or otherwise impact the building or operations. In fact, the new addition was designed to be structurally and seismically separate from the existing museum (even though it is on top, underneath and through the existing space). An 8 inch seismic joint separates old from new- throughout the buildings connections.
Davis coordinated over 3,000 deliveries of supplies, attended 2,040 hours of meetings and spent over 42,000 man hours to construct the addition. 800,000 pounds of concrete was removed to make way for the new addition. The addition weighs in at 2.2 million pounds and is supported by one million pounds of new steel. The new steel includes 9 new columns threaded through the existing structure. The heaviest beam weighed in at 30,000 pounds.
The Anchorage Museum is the cultural cornerstone of the Anchorage community and provides the foundation of Alaska’s cultural heritage, community identity, social space, education, outreach, and Arctic issues. The Museum Expansion project provides 30,000 SF of additional gallery space.
A schedule-driven process was utilized for the expansion with a focus on quality and delivery; the project was completed ahead of schedule to allow for exhibit installation. The budget utilized a multi-tier cost option delivery approach that designated scope of work for inclusion, based on value realized during the project through reduced risk, lower expenditures, and managed contingencies. The result was $2.5 M in added building amenities. Excellent use of time and resources allowed Davis to save a significant amount of money for project recapitalization. The museum had a long list of deferred items that initially didn’t fit into the budget; and through our careful management of the project savings developed and they were able to include all of the items on their wish list, plus some.
Public process was an integral component of this project. The design process included a focused committee of stakeholders that embrace engaged meetings to design a museum with a focus on the north as well as the overall visitor experience. Honest conversations aligned around the needs of the expansion to connect mission-critical goals. This helped deliver a world-class facility that will serve as a lighthouse for the intersection of art, culture, visitor experience, and resiliency. Through this process McCool Carlson Green learned how the Museum’s visitor experience could be enhanced and how the overall experience could be strengthened as a ‘people place.’ Davis delivered that experience.