Nevada Green Building Breaks State Barriers

By Tony Illia

After an initial bumpy ride over bridging and adjusting to new teaming relationships, the State of Nevada has comfortably settled into the driver’s seat to deliver its first public design-build project—a new community college telecommunications building in North Las Vegas. The project could open the door to more extensive use of the integrated delivery system due to pent-up demand and persistent problems with traditional bidding.

While the state Legislature approved design-build for public works in 1999, it was never used because there was a $30-million threshold. “We don’t have many projects $30 million or more, so the law was revised in 2001,” says Gus Munez, deputy manager for the Nevada State Public Works Board. “Design-build is another procurement tool and there was a strong desire to use it.” Under the revised statute, new buildings estimated to cost between $500,000 and $30 million now qualify for design-build. But it still took a series of high-profile project miscues and an increasing demand for faster delivery time to force the state to put design-build into play.

Southern Nevada’s population grew by 200,776 people between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2003, or an average of 5,019 new residents per month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Public officials have been under mounting pressure to deliver buildings quicker to keep pace with this growth. But problems with traditional design-bid-build delivery on recent projects has generated sharp criticism and increased scrutiny.

The problem projects include the five-story, 301,000-sq-ft Lied Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which opened 15 months late and 30% over budget. Completed in January 2001, the library project underwent an independent audit and a three-year construction defect dispute. After spending over $1-million for legal fees and experts, the state last June paid a $1.7-million settlement to general contractor Tibesar Construction Co. Inc., Las Vegas, to avoid a trial. Similarly, the 188-bed Veterans Affairs Nursing Home in Boulder City opened a year late in 2001 after the state replaced its general contractor, Addison Inc., Las Vegas, and hired another to finish the work.

Design-build was granted its trial run in 2003 on the Morse Arberry Jr. Telecommunication Building at the Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN), Cheyenne campus. Named after the state assemblyman who helped secure its funding, the new building is an energy-efficient, high-technology structure that enables the fast-growing college to serve another 500 students. The telecommunication building opened on time Aug. 30.

Space is critical. CCSN currently turns away 17,000 students per semester due to space constraints. In the 1990s, CCSN’s full-time enrollment grew 182%, jumping from 5,402 to 15,214 students. And enrollment is expected to reach 21,436 students by 2007. That would make CCSN the state’s second-most-attended higher-learning institution after the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Las Vegas-based Martin-Harris Construction, along with design subcontractor JMA Architecture Studios, won the project’s two-stage state-sponsored design-build competition on June 23, 2003. But the process was arduous.

Making Connections

The state Public Works Board hired Swisher & Hall Ltd., Las Vegas, in Oct. 2002 to produce bridging documents. Swisher & Hall had done the seven-phase master plan for the 80-acre, 30-year old CCSN Cheyenne campus. While bridging documents often include minimum design, these documents included 90% complete schematics with system performance specifications.

The use of bridging documents is controversial. Critics charge that it is an unnecessary expense, diluting any realized cost savings from the design-build process. They say referencing the state public works code should be sufficient, rather than designing the building twice. But supporters feel that the practice ensures a level playing field, making certain that the owner receives the best value. “Without bridging documents, design-build teams could cut corners using lesser performing systems to show a cost savings,” says Bob Gilbert, CCSN’s director of site planning and construction management.

Request-for-proposals were solicited in Feb. 2003, with nine prequalified teams offering everything from steel-framed to masonry-block buildings. After reviewing schedules, descriptions and estimates, the list was whittled down to five teams, with losers each receiving a $25,000 stipend. That $100,000 expense raised a few eyebrows, with some skeptics saying it attracted firms looking for a quick payday with no intention of securing the work. Others insist $25,000 was not nearly enough to defray costs. “Some competitors had nearly $200,000 into their schemes,” says Michael Crowe, JMA’s senior project manager.

Martin-Harris and JMA’s concrete tilt-wall building proposal, which increased the building size from 84,500-sq-ft to 92,000-sq-ft, prevailed. Although larger, it was still cost-effective due to some innovative value engineering. For example, Martin-Harris shaved $400,000 from the total by using a special adhesive for application of the limestone veneer, as opposed to a mechanically fastened system.

The state Public Works Board is required to use price as 30% of its determining criteria for a project award. The two-story structure had an aggressive 18-month design-to-completion schedule that was compressed to 14 months after slow initial document development and a lengthy state approval process. A normal design-bid-build process for a similar building would have taken the state 36 months to complete. “This was the first time we had done this. So the documents needed to be developed and approved by the state Attorney General, the Finance Board and Public Works Board,” says Munez. As a result, Martin-Harris pre-ordered critical-path items like steel and began site work while still developing plans. The contractor eventually would have up to 225 tradesmen on site during the height of construction. Adopting a strategy to build as drawings were approved enabled Martin-Harris to fast-track work. “The state Public Works Board was very accommodating, providing plan turnarounds within two and a half weeks,” Gilbert says. “In the past, it’s taken up to nine months to get plans approved.”

Contract incentives and penalties also accelerated the project’s breakneck schedule. Martin-Harris signed a guaranteed maximum price contract for $15.8-million. If it came in under that amount, the money would be divided 70:30 between the state and the contractor. Hired by Martin-Harris, JMA was paid a flat fee for design services. The project finished about $100,000 below its guaranteed maximum price, says Don LaRue, Martin-Harris’s project manager. Had it opened late, the contractor would have faced $2,690 a day in liquidated damages after Aug. 30.

There was some give-and-take during the project that required adjustments between the owner and its design-build team. The state was accustomed to interfacing directly with the architect, a habit it relinquished reluctantly. “Under design-build, the person who holds the contract is supposed to be the primary contact,” says a project official. “But the state was used to having more contact with the architect than contractor. In a design-build process, the owner needs to give up part of that control. The design-build contractor should control the architect and subcontractors since they are the one at risk. But since this was the state’s first design-build project, they were very cautious.”

Hot Wired

Situated on 4.75 acres, the new building consists of 87 eight-in.-thick, cast-in-place concrete panels. The largest panel measures 50-ft tall by 26-ft wide, and weighs 130,000 lb. The building sits atop a slab foundation with a continuous 30-in.-wide by 30-in.-deep spread footing around its perimeter, plus two grade beams measuring 4 ft wide by 30 in. deep. While the 47-ft tall building uses 1,000 tons of steel, its exterior panels provide most of the structural support, enabling minimal sheer walls for interior flexibility. With hundreds of miles of electrical conduit, the building has a depressed floor panel system up to 12-in. deep that allows power, fiber optics and T-1 lines to be easily moved from room to room. The configuration also makes it easy to adapt the building to new technology as it emerges and to changing use requirements.

	Telecom building is wired for activities that expand certification programs and media training capabilities.

The concrete walls also muffle sound from neighboring Nellis Air Force Base, the “Home of the Fighter Pilot.” Since the college campus lies under Nellis’ flight path, the walls dampen jet noise for a quiet learning environment. The building’s roof was engineered to support nearly 24 antennas and satellite dishes, the largest of which measures 50 ft tall and weighs 6,000 lb. At 8 in. thick in some areas, the roof can withstand live loads while refracting sound from overhead airplanes.

Although the state developed and owns the building, the community college is responsible for its operation and maintenance. And since the competition proposals came in under budget, the state agreed to pursue a silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Buildings Council, Washington, D.C. This is the first LEED-certified public building in the state. “While [LEED certification] costs about $500,000 more upfront, the building will save up to 20% in operating expenses,” says Gilbert.

The LEED certification resulted in about 25% of the building being constructed from recycled materials, ranging from asphalt and carpet to doors and ceiling tiles. It uses environmentally safe materials, such as particle board made from compressed wheat and low volatile organic compound glues, sealants and paints to cut emissions.

The building is serviced from a 4,000-sq-ft central plant with two high-efficient boilers and chillers, reducing a duplication of systems for future expansions. And 75% of the rooms are illuminated by direct and diffuse daylight though the use of windows and light shelves. The second floor uses 66 “sky-tubes” or 21-in.-dia parabolic lens roof openings that light interior areas. Each room has electronic sensors that turn off lights when not in use and there is low-ultraviolet glazing and exterior metal sunscreens on the building’s western exposure to minimize heating and cooling costs.

The telecommunication building is connected to the college’s computer building by a second-floor 60-ft-long steel canopied bridge supported by four 16-in.-square steel columns. The span carries wiring that ties the new building into the main campus security and electrical framework. The college can monitor all of the telecommunication building’s systems, enabling it to schedule classes during the most energy efficient times of the day. It also aids in troubleshooting problems early.

Housing a college staff of 65 teachers and technicians, the building contains a 100-seat auditorium, a 35-ft-high lobby/exhibit area, 29 classroom/labs, offices, student lounges, media production and staff areas. The college installed $9.5 million worth of new and used furniture, fixtures and equipment, coordinating through Martin-Harris.

The new building now serves as home to the engineering, computing/information and media technology departments. It expands the college’s certification programs in fiber optic communication, computer networking, high-speed data transmission, satellite transmissions, wireless networks, television broadcasting and digital media. CCSN already operates one of the largest Cisco Networking Academy Training Centers in the U.S. “Our main concern is that it’s going bolster our enrollment,” says Warren Hioki, associate dean of CCSN’s Engineering Technology Dept.

The author is a Las Vegas-based correspondent for The McGraw-Hill Cos. He regularly reports on design and construction industry issues.

Photos by Tony Illia for Design Build

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