The Alteon Training Center in College Park, Ga., probably handles more take-offs and landings than most major airports. Pilots from around the nation come here to hone their skills at flying big Boeing jets even though they never leave the ground. The two fledgling firms who designed and built the facility also earned their wings by spending plenty of time on the ground taking care of business.

The design-build team of Southern Construction Group, Jacksonville, Fla., and Doherty Sommers Architects Engineers Inc., Jacksonville Beach, Fla. were chosen for the $5.5-million job in March 2003 by developer Airport Builders Group, Jacksonville and Alteon, a Boeing subsidiary. Even though the firms were barely a year old, they completed the shell in less than 10 months, did some interior build-outs and scope changes and still came in $1 million under the guaranteed maximum price. "This was definitely a big project. We had formed only the year before and we knew this was going to be an important job for us," says Tony Robison, SCG president. Caren Doherty, partner at Doherty Sommers, says she and architect Craig Sommers had formed their architectural firm little more than a year before landing the Alteon project. "We saw this job as a way to establish ourselves," she says. "Being a new company, we were able to put 90% of our time into doing the job. It was a big one for us." It also was a big task for Alteon. The center’s five high-tech flight simulators provide pilot crews with the virtual experience of flying Boeing 717 and 737 planes, training as many as 6,200 pilots annually.

Pilot crews from Airtran Airways and Midwest Airlines will be trained at the new facility.

The flight training facility involved construction of a 52,000-sq-ft two-story building to house the training center’s classrooms and administrative offices, and a 20,000-sq-ft flight simulator hall with an attached 2,000-sq-ft-room for the hydraulic pumps that power the simulators. An additional $60-million contract covered the interior fit-out, including installation of information technology systems and the simulators, which was done by Alteon subcontractors and overseen by SCG.

Starting in March 2003, the team had 10 months to complete the job. The rigid deadline was set by flight training sessions that already were scheduled for September, when pilots and co-pilots from Airtran Airways and Midwest Airlines would arrive to begin their first sessions on the flight simulators.

The design for the classroom portion of the building utilized tilt-up construction, which was "fairly typical of what you’d see on an office building," Doherty says. But design of the simulator hall required some special details. "In this job, the client had very particular needs. The design of the simulator hall had to address ventilation and cooling of the simulators and the foundation needed to accept hydraulic lines," she says. To ventilate heat generated by the hydraulically operated simulators, the design called for heat exchangers to be placed on the building’s roof. "Our requirements are extremely different from a commercial building," notes Tim Turner, manager of center services for Alteon.

The simulators move during operation, causing vibration, and the hall needed heavy-duty floors to support them. "The [concrete] floor had to be strong," Turner says. "It had to be at least 16 in. thick to hold up under the simulators’ movement, and each simulator has to have its own concrete pad to isolate the harmonics from the rest of the building." The hall also had to be at least 42 ft high and be able to accommodate 400-cycle power, he notes.

The flight simulators are manufactured by Flight Safety International, Broken Arrow, Okla. and CAE, Saint-Laurent, Quebec, and are designed to give pilots life-like experience in operating Boeing 717-200 and 737 models including the 300, 700 and 800. The simulators mimic the full range of conditions pilots encounter in the air and provide virtual replications of airports around the world, showing the actual runway to give pilots visual familiarity with each airport. The simulators, which range in cost from $8 million to $16 million each, can be customized for different training needs.

Classroom space was not completed until the simulators were operational and certified.

Although the design-build team came into the job knowing the core requirements for the building’s design, the full design details had to evolve as the fast-tracked deadline-driven project progressed. "We had a good idea of what was needed, but we had to work closely with the architects throughout the project and as we went along had to make changes as [Boeing’s] requirements were identified," Turner says. The project’s quick pace and evolving design schedule demanded the speed and flexibility of design-build. "There was no way this job would have been completed by deadline if design-build wasn’t used," says Scott Ronning, ABG director.

Old Friends

Ronning, who had worked as an owner’s representative and developer on other flight training facilities in Miami and the U.K. for Alteon did not have to look far when choosing the right team for the job. He already had formed close relationships with Robison, Doherty and Sommers on previous jobs. Robison had recently left The Haskell Co., Jacksonville, and formed his own contracting company.

"Ronning and I go back several years," Robison says. "We had done flight training stations for Boeing while I was a project executive at Haskell. When I found out he was planning flight training projects for Boeing, I put together an RFP for the [College Park] project." Doherty and Sommers also had been on staff at Haskell and had worked with both Robison and Ronning on Alteon jobs before partnering together and forming their own firm. "The key players on the project had all worked together before in one way or another," Sommers says. "Those working relationships are important because you already have that communication that you need on a design-build team. It’s like a band that has played together for years, each member knows when to take the lead or to step back."

While a request for qualifications was not published, ABG invited another design-build team from Atlanta to make a presentation. "They set up a horse race between us," Sommers says. "We had to do quite a lot of preliminary plans before we made the presentation to the client. We worked very closely with SCG in generating a design schedule. We did a 25% drawing for the presentation. Since we had worked on designs for flight training stations before, it was a design problem we were familiar with so we knew we had a good chance at getting the job."

Although confident their experience gave them the inside track, Doherty says the architectural firm invested a substantial amount of time and money in the presentation. "We spent about $15,000 to $17,000 just to prepare for the bid," Doherty says, noting that no stipend was being offered if the contract went to the other team. "It was a risk but we were confident. I don’t think we would have bid if we didn’t think we had a very good chance."

Early in 2003, Alteon and ABG gave the go-ahead to the team. "[Robison] had significant design-build experience and knew about flight simulator buildings," Ronning says. "Another big factor in selecting SCG to lead the team was cost. There was a guaranteed maximum price of $6.5 million. Alteon is a cost-driven company and SCG came in ready to answer a lot of the pricing questions that needed to be addressed. That’s what got them the job."

As the project progressed, design and construction teams worked in tandem. "It was very fast paced and we had many design meetings with SCG and Alteon throughout the design process," Sommers says. "This was truly a design-build job," Ronning says. "Because we did the design as construction work was going on, we were literally digging the foundations on a building we had not yet fully designed. This was design-build at its best."

The rapid pace and simultaneous multi tasking of designing and building made team communication vital, Ronning says. "From when we started the job to finally handing the key over to the owner, the team was in constant communication," he says. Robison says success with integrated delivery requires builders and designers to work shoulder-to-shoulder. "We were the contractor, but we took a team approach," Robison says. "We had a very good, open relationship with the team and that gave us the ability to react quickly to field issues. With the architects there, we were able to make suggestions about constructability and materials during the design."

Midway through the design, the integrated environment helped the team respond quickly when Boeing announced a change of plans in the type of flight simulators the facility would use. "We had to make a change to the hydraulic pump room," Robison says. "It was designed for 727 simulators, but that was changed and modifications were made in the design to fit simulators for the 717 and 737 jets. That could have been a major setback if not for design-build." Robison says that modification alone could have thrown a wrench in the schedule of a traditionally delivered job. "We didn’t have to wait for change orders," he says. "With integrated delivery, the team roster often expands beyond the core group of designer, builder, owner and owner’s representative."

	Last-minute design changes were fast-tracked after Boeing announced changes in the type of simulators to be used at College Park.

College Park city officials also helped the team avert obstacles that could have thwarted their need for speed. "Rather than wait for a full set of permit documents, the city allowed us to do multiple submissions for documents, which was critical to saving time and keeping the job moving," Ronning says. "We formed a remarkable relationship with the city officials and they had a strong enough comfort level with us that they even did some inspections with pictures."

Sommers points out that "the quick delivery was challenging unto itself, but when everyone is focused on the project, even the city, it becomes much easier. If we could do a job like that every year I’d be happy."

By September, the simulator hall was completed and subcontractors installed the machines while construction on the classroom portion of the building continued until November. "There were actually training sessions going on in the simulator hall two months before we had finished construction on the classroom part of the building," Robison says. A phased turnover was required because the Federal Aviation Administration requires simulators to be operational and certified prior to customer use. This meant that bays had to be completed before the certification began.

Subcontractors finished the interior fit-out by December and Alteon installed the final two simulators in June 2004. The team finished the job well under the guaranteed maximum price of $6.5 million, which Robison attributes to the "sheer speed" on the job, cost mitigation in the design and economies in the plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems.

Fast Forward

Today the same design-build team is working on renovating corporate offices at Altell Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, National Football League team. In between Alteon and Altell, DSAE and SCG completed a number of other design-build jobs including a restaurant and a nursery.

Separately, DSAE is teamed with Southeastern Trenching and Technologies, Jacksonville, for construction of an 18,000 sq ft building for a food store. While both firms are working on the same job under separate contracts, Sommers notes, "We’re all sitting together at the same table and identifying what is needed [to complete a successful project], which is a key lesson learned through design-build. [It] certainly streamlines things because everyone comes to the table with the same goal."

(All photos courtesy of Southern Construction Group, LLC)