Adam Finley

Building Statistics

Building Statistics- Part 1

• Building Name- The Pennsylvania State University- Health and Counseling Services Building
• Location and Site-Borough of State College, Centre County, Pennsylvania
• Building Occupant Name- Penn State- Health Services and Counseling Services
• Occupancy- New Building: Use Group B- Business
• Construction Type: 11B
• Size- 63,318 gross square feet
• Number of Stories Above Grade/ Total Levels- 5 with the 1st story on a sloped grade from North to South
• Primary Project Team
• Owner- The Pennsylvania State University
• Construction Manager- The Whiting- Turner Contracting Company (www.whiting-turner.com)
• Architect- Hillier Architecture (www.hillier.com)
• Landscape Architect- Lager Raabe Skafte Landscape Architects, Inc
• General Contractor- Not Awarded
• Civil Engineering- Gannett Fleming (www.gfnet.com)
• Structural Engineering- Greenman- Pedersen, Inc (www.gpinet.com)
• MEP Engineering- B R + A/ Bard, Rao Engineering (www.brplusa.com/mepengineering.htm)
• Dates of Construction- May 06 through May 08
• $24 Million Overall Cost
• Project Delivery Method
• Design Build for utility construction
• Design- Bid- Build for all other construction
• Architecture- The design feels very open and spacious, while also keeping with the function of the building and the privacy that is expected of a health and counseling structure. All exam and treatment rooms are to the North and interior of the building where there are fewer windows. Also, the counseling and group therapy rooms are on the 5th floor and to the North side. The North side of the building has considerably less windows than the South face which is a glass curtain wall. In order to keep the flow of healthy visitors away from the waiting areas for people that are sick, the architect placed the waiting areas and treatment rooms on the third and fourth floors. The pharmacy is located on the second floor, where most of the student traffic will be present. In accordance with almost all of Penn State’s new building construction, the exterior uses a brick veneer with a running bond and glass curtain walls.
• Major National Codes
• International Building Code (IBC) 2003/with Borough Amendments
• International Energy Conservation Code (IEC) 2003/with Borough Amendments
• International Mechanical Code (IMC) 2003/with Borough Amendments
• International Plumbing Code (IPC) 2003/ with Borough Amendments
• International Code Council Electrical Code (ICCEC) 2003
• International Fire Code (IFC) 2003
• Zoning- UPD (University Plan Development)
• Building Envelope and Roof System (More information to be provided with Issue #3 set on 9/22/06)
• Green Roof on perimeter of East, West, North, and South sides
• Roof Construction (TYP) :  5 ¼” Lightweight Concrete Fill w/ 6X6W1.4X1.4 on 3” 20 Gage Galvanized Composite Floor Deck
• Various Exterior Wall Systems
• Face Brick
• Cast Stone Masonry
• Metal Panels
• Aluminum Curtain Wall System
• Brick and Concrete Retaining Walls

 

Building Statistics Part 2

Structural System
Structural Steel Frame
The structure will utilize a structural steel frame with typical moment connection and non-load bearing masonry and glass curtain walls. Beams and girder sizes range from a minimum of W12 X 14 to W27 X 84 of ASTM A992 steel. The most common size is W16 X 26. Columns utilize a variety of wide flange and hollow structural steel sections.
 The steel contractor has been recently awarded, and at this time no structural steel shop drawings are available. There will be bracing required on the project and it is left to the steel contractor to determine which type they will use. At this time, some pieces of steel are of an abnormal size and may need to be upsized for the project to stay on schedule. This is due to the steel mill’s in the area not starting new runs during the time that steel fabrication needs to begin. A specific crane size has yet to be determined. Due to the limited space available on the site, the crane will be limited to three locations to pick from the staging area and place the steel.
Cast in Place Concrete
Similar to the steel contract, only the foundation concrete has been awarded and the elevated slabs are out to bid. Due to multiple addendums to the drawing sets and the schedule for construction, only certain portions of the entire bid package were released and awarded prior to construction. Typically, the concrete used on site will have design strength of 3000 psi. Formwork types have yet to be determined. Concrete placement methods have not been chosen yet either. After speaking to the Penn State Project Manager, Chad Spackman, he believes that the building will use a pumped placement system for the concrete. There is the potential for a concrete chute to be used for the elevated slabs later in the project, when the steel contractor has a crane on site.
Pre-cast Concrete
No pre-cast concrete will be used on this project.
Electrical System
The electrical system is supplied from the utility at 277/480V at 1600 Amps. The voltage is stepped down through a series of transformers to supply fluorescent and incandescent light fixtures, outlets and other various devices as needed. The building has emergency power, supplied by the campuses emergency/ standby system, with an automatic transfer switch located adjacent to the main electrical room.
 Light fixtures throughout the building are typical, incandescent and fluorescent, but in most rooms tied into an occupancy sensor that will turn off lights if there is no movement within the room for a predetermined amount of time. This sensor saves energy and money over the life of the building, and also is a credit towards the projects LEED certification.
An interesting feature of this system is it’s capability to have full backup power for half of one floor if the power was to go out. This was incorporated into the design so that the clinicians would still have the ability to treat patients in emergency situations. Penn State is also looking at two add alternates, to have the capability to manually turn on another floor’s power and the operation of the entire building in an emergency where the utilities service was interrupted.
Mechanical System
Penn State’s campus chilled water and steam loop will feed the Health Services Building. The mechanical system consists of two rooftop air handling units supplying 37,500 CFM each to the entire building. A server room, located on the third floor is maintained by an indoor air handler that supplies that room alone. The supply air is distributed via a network of variable volume boxes. Fan coil units and constant volume boxes help to supply some areas of the building. The South face of the structure uses radiant heat located in ceiling panels. This was done to eliminate the unpleasant aesthetic of baseboard heating against the glass curtain wall. The fire alarm suppression system is primarily wet with a dry system currently designed for the server room. An add alternate is being reviewed to place a pre-action system in the server room.
Construction System
The main utility work was performed outside of the scope of this project, due to time constraints. Sweetland Engineering made the document and Stove Valley Construction performed the utility sub-grade work. This was done so that the building construction side of the project could remain on a scheduled completion date of July 2008.
Hillier Architecture holds a cost plus fee contract with Penn State to design the structure and the building systems. The project construction is being coordinated by Whiting- Turner and constructed by its prime contractors. Whiting-Turner holds a CM at Risk contract with Penn State. That is to say the construction manager holds all contracts with the prime contractors that are actually constructing the building and therefore holds all the risk on the project. A chart showing how this delivery system is set up can be seen on page 16.
The contract between Penn State and Whiting-Turner includes specific requirements for insurance, local and national laws that govern construction, submittal process, request for information processes, change order processes, scope, coordination and communication between all parties, scheduling and completion dates, and miscellaneous owner requirements. Penn State has items in the document that are site and location specific. For example, plant, land protection and LEED goals. One interesting item is that Penn State and their respective project management teams have the right to take control of the project and the prime contactor if at any point Whiting-Turner is found to be incapable or unwilling to fill their contract. Whiting-Turner and their sub-contractors have similar contractual agreements. Less detail is provided in these areas, but more specific scope packages are defined between the CM and the respective specialty trades.
All sub-contractors that were sent invitations to bid are on a pre-qualified bidders list that Penn State requires all contractors that work on their campuses to apply for and be accepted into. Penn State requires this because the forms that must be filled out about insurance, bonding and surety agencies, previous projects, etc. help to eliminate the submission of bids from unqualified contractors. At this time, all bids received have been chosen by the lowest bid method. Although Penn State reserves the right to choose any bid it wishes for any reason, it has decided to work with the lowest bid and then make sure a full scope was included in the lump sum price.
Bid bonds at five percent are required of all bidders. This bond will be forfeited to the owner any time an awarded contractor can not fulfill their obligation to the project. Performance and Payment bonds are also required. These bonds are also added on the bidding form as an alternative to deduct from the price supplied by the contractor.