A prefabricated building enclosure system has been installed for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Ross Complex Technical Services Building under construction in Vancouver, Washington. Use of a progressive design-build project delivery method streamlined incorporation of prefabricated elements, reduced the construction timeline by two months, and saved more than $1 million in the overall budget.

The project team includes developer and design-builder Mortenson, Opsis Architecture, California-based DGA Architects, and contractor and fabricator Western Partitions Inc.

The new facility will help avoid both $25 million in upgrades to the buildings it is replacing and hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in lease costs, according to the BPA. The Technical Services Building will support maintenance, testing and repairs to maintain modern electronic transmission communications and controls. The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2023.

While prefabrication is not a new solution for efficiency in commercial construction, the use of prefabricated panels on a building exterior is still rare. It was chosen for the Technical Services Building via progressive design-build delivery. It prescribes that the design-builder is selected by the owner early in the project and primarily for its qualifications. As with all progressive design-build projects, the Technical Services Building is being delivered in two distinct phases: design development and pre-construction, and final design and construction.

As part of the pre-construction planning process, the design-build team members explored ways to maximize their respective strengths to provide the greatest value possible; the result was an early decision to use prefabrication. After evaluating seven types of enclosure systems, the team opted to leverage Western Partitions’ ability to fabricate façade panels at its facility less than 10 miles from the project site.

Each panel of the Ross Complex Technical Services Building project is unique. One set covers the first floor, and another set of two-story panels up to 42 feet tall encloses the upper floors of the three-story structure. Metal-stud frame assembly was used with fiber-cement panels and articulated metal panels with ribs. Only specific areas – such as under structural steel canopies and within them – were conventionally framed.

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After two and a half years of work, Mortenson Construction is exactly where it wants to be with one of the most prominent projects under way in Portland.

Crews broke ground on the Hyatt Regency at the Oregon Convention Center hotel in early 2017. Now, as the team prepares to deliver the building this fall, executives with Mortenson, the project’s developer and design-builder, are starting to relax a bit.

“Honestly the project is going really well, and we are about four hours ahead of schedule,” Dan Mehls, general manager of Mortenson’s Portland office, said recently. “It was a tough schedule, a challenging project and a challenging site in a very busy construction market, but we were lucky to have some of the best trade partners in the community contributing to the project.”

The hotel sits along MAX light-rail tracks, across Northeast Holladay Street from the northern end of the convention center. The project team is on track to hit remaining milestones on schedule, Mehls said.

“The project is on track for getting the building to the point this fall where the Hyatt folks can start their training process and get acclimated to the building,” he said. “There are multiple steps in the late summer, early fall this year, and all of that is on track.”

The hotel will hold 600 guest rooms as well as large meeting, food service and retail spaces. It will be owned and operated by Hyatt Hotels. Metro, the owner and operator of the Oregon Convention Center, has long sought a hospitality partner of this sort since the venue opened in 1990. The Hyatt Regency is tentatively scheduled to open in February 2020.

Currently, numerous finishing trades are on the site. Subcontractors include Delta AV, which is installing sound and video equipment; Otis Elevator, which is installing elevators; Oregon Electric Group, which is wrapping up electrical work; ISEC Inc., which is performing finish carpentry, and others. Elements remaining to be added include furniture, fixtures and equipment as well as carpeting, painting, landscaping, and more.

“It’s not super exciting to say the good news; it makes for an easy story,” Mehls said. “For us and the construction business, when so many projects have their challenges due to shortages in the marketplace right now, to say we’re right on schedule as planned two and a half years ago, we’re proud of that.”

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The second annual design-build challenge was held Monday, Sept. 3, along the Eastbank Esplanade in Portland. It pitted teams of designers, trades workers and contractors against each other in a quest to create the most creative project possible while working against the clock and under a strict set of rules covering theme, materials and more.

This year’s competition featured 27 teams of four people each, up from 14 a year ago, each competing to craft a project that fit the theme: “A Seat At The Table.” The interpretations were left up to the teams, which had just 24 hours to prep for the competition after the theme was revealed to them. Further, the teams were limited to a strict set of reclaimed building materials, both wood and metal.

Judges made up of fellow building industry professionals ultimately chose the creation of the team representing Portland general contractor Engaging Environments as the winner.

According to a synopsis of the project, the team’s take on “A Seat At The Table” was a “unique opportunity to examine empowerment within the current structure of our social-political system.” Half the table is therefore not seen on the surface. Instead, that half holds the rest of the table up, expressing “strength and resiliency.”

The half providing support “represents a conglomeration of workers of all genders, multi-ethnicities, and minorities that hold up the table but whose voice is often unheard.”

The seat itself represents the “patriarchal oligarchy” that we all live in.

Team Engaging Environments produced a design so compelling it also earned a viewer’s choice award. Second place in the judging went to a project from Portland contractor Neil Kelly Company.

Check out photos of this unique event below.

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By most measures, the recent renovation of the Oregon Department of State Lands office in Salem is pretty ordinary.

Lots of offices are opened up to maximize efficiency, consolidate space and allow in more natural light, etc. Lots of projects come in a little under budget, and a few weeks early. Lots of teams win awards for projects like this. (In this case, it was one of 36 projects given a 2016 award by the Design-Build Institute of America.)

But Oregon state officials say this $800,000 project represents a move toward full acceptance of an alternative delivery method said to be a step forward in efficiency and design. With so many big public projects on the horizon in Oregon, it could lead to greater opportunity for A/E/C firms.

One contract to rule them all

Essentially, “” means there’s one contract between an owner, contractor and architect. And often under design-build, the owner has only a partial picture of what the finished project will look like. It’s distinct from the classic low-bid procurement method – or design-bid-build – where an owner makes separate agreements with project team members based on their responses to completed designs. Design-build is said to afford greater collaboration to the project team, which can lead to greater efficiency and savings – though also potentially greater risk for an owner.

Proponents of design-build trace its roots to the pyramids. Basically, for all of human history up until the Industrial Revolution, the way to build a structure involved having the designer and builder on the same team, according to Brian Perlberg, senior counsel for construction and contracts for the Associated General Contractors of America.

For a long time in the U.S., laws required tax-funded projects to be awarded based on completed designs, meaning design-build wasn’t an option. Even the American Institute of Architects forbade design-build in its Code of Ethics.

The AGC developed an early design-build standard contract in the early 1970s amid an academic movement to examine alternatives to low-bid procurement. In the early 1990s, the federal government recognized it in the Federal Acquisition Regulation System, and soon state legislatures were making allowances for alternative delivery methods in public projects.

“Now, (procurement) really seems to have hit a tipping point where many projects use design-build,” Perlberg said. “I think there’s been a general movement away from design-bid-build, but it’s still the predominant method.”

On the West Coast, design-build has been favored by university and community college systems in California and Washington. But Oregon has been slower to catch on. There’s nothing preventing it here – project leaders must make the case that an alternative method would be a better value – a relatively low hurdle to clear (the $195 million Portland Building reconstruction project will employ a form of design-build).

Because acquiring full DBIA certification requires three years of experience working on design-build projects, few professionals in Oregon have had the opportunity. Shirley Smith, state procurement analyst, hopes to change this. She’s championed design-build from her position in the Construction and Facilities section of the Department of Administrative Services, which manages between 20 and 30 projects per year. Smith came to DAS after 11 years with the Oregon Military Department, where design-build was more common.

“I was quite surprised when I got here and it wasn’t being done,” she said.

Confidence building

The Oregon State Lands Building in Salem is a fairly standard brick administrative structure housing the Department of State Lands on the first floor and several other, smaller tenants above. The office was designed in the late 1980s and finished in 1991.

Jon McGrew, an associate principal with Hennebery Eddy Architects, can offer unique insights into the original designs, though the details are little hazy. It was literally the first project he worked on in his first job out of college, at SRG Partnership.

McGrew said it had special meaning to him when Hennebery Eddy teamed with Fortis Construction to remodel a section of the building he helped design as a kid fresh out of school. He had to zoom far in on a corner of the PDF of the original drawings to spot his initials, he said.

“I was like, holy (expletive),” he said. “Look at that.”

The building hadn’t been upgraded since, and the project facing Hennebery Eddy and Fortis was simple – renovate 13,000 square feet of ground-floor office space, add finishes and upgrade electrical and mechanical systems. The request for proposals stated the new space should provide “greater opportunity for collaboration, connection and access between staff” and enhance flexibility into the future.

“It was a tiny, little project,” McGrew said. “They didn’t know exactly what they could do.”

The budget was only about $1 million. Other limitations included the approximately 85 employees who needed to continue working – and not all could be relocated to other floors.

The space was split down the middle by an opaque central core that included storage rooms, offices and conference spaces. The configuration blocked natural light, and further separated employees, many of whom were penned in by 6-foot-high cubicle walls. McGrew remembers that designers of that era regarded offices as beneficial for all employees. The reality was that it kept employees isolated, McGrew said.

The space was equipped with another advancement of the day: demountable partitions that could be moved to accommodate remodels.

“The idea was it would give them flexibility,” he said. “The crazy thing was, it had been 25 years and nothing had moved. No change. No flexibility. None.”

The open-plan look, now common in private business, still hadn’t been adopted by the state of Oregon. The renovation is designed to facilitate greater efficiency by providing employees “natural light, access and connection to their colleagues, as well as the opportunity to informally gather and collaborate,” according to the project narrative.

The team went to DAS with a suggestion – use furniture to solve layout issues and ensure long-term flexibility, and put the money to use elsewhere. DAS agreed. With the savings, it was able to upgrade the carpets.

Award-winning results

In a glowing letter of satisfaction for the project, Smith wrote that the work came in $33,000 under budget and three weeks ahead of schedule.

“We are completely satisfied with the outcome and excited to have had the opportunity to work with Fortis Construction,” she wrote.

McGrew said that some people in his office were skeptical when they submitted such a small project for a DBIA award.

“Well, I thought we’re going to win because it’s about the process and accomplishing something for the owner,” he said. “And I think the beauty of this, and I think the reason DBIA recognized us for it, is because we took this inflexible, inhumane, dark, dank space, and for less than the money they had, we were able to make smart decisions.

“We’re actually pretty proud of this award,” he added.

The DSL staff has enjoyed its new space, according to department spokeswoman Julie Curtis, who works on the floor.

“It was a big change for us, and we’ve been just thrilled with the results,” she said.

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A close design-build partnership is being credited for the successful completion of a fast-tracked residence hall project at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

Mahlum Architects and Walsh Construction managed to complete the $13.5 million, 61,500-square-foot Cascade Hall project in 13 months, much quicker than typical for a structure that size, Mahlum principal Kurt Haapala said. The building opened recently, before students started fall classes.

“This was probably one of the most aggressive schedules we’ve had to address,” he said. “We had to do this in half the time.”

To meet the tight timeline, the Mahlum design team had to work extremely close with Walsh staffers and the owner’s representative, Inici Group, Haapala said.

“It took a kind of partnership, all-hands-on-deck approach,” he said. “It also required us to think differently about how we deliver our project.”

Part of the process involved stationing a Mahlum architect on the job site, Haapala said.

“The nuance is we really moved our design effort into the job trailer,” he said. “We had to put one of our lead architects in the field before we finished schematic design … It was kind of the secret ingredient. Our architect in the field had to make field decisions.”

Haapala said having an on-site architect was so successful that he’d like the firm to apply the approach for other projects.

“There was this sense of pride of the project that transcended the typical lines between design and construction,” he said. “It was a really rewarding process, so much that we’re trying to learn from this process.”

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DESIGN-BUILD
Heery International recently named Dennis Lawler its Northwest regional manager. He works with staff in the region (13 western states, minus California) to serve clients in markets including education, government, health care, aviation and mission-critical services. Lawler joined Heery eight years ago as a director of
business development, and has been in construction for the past 18 years.

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DESIGN-BUILD
HDR recently added Bao Le as a project manager and senior fisheries biologist to serve its hydropower practice; he is based in the firm’s Portland office. He has more than 16 years of industry experience, most recently with Long View Associates. He is responsible for supporting HDR’s hydropower clients throughout the western United States on complex project/process management issues.

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A new Portland developer with a highly sustainable apartment project under construction in the Woodlawn neighborhood is preparing to start another in the Eliot neighborhood.

SolTerra Systems – a design-build firm that specializes in green roofs and solar panel installations – has acquired the quarter-block site on the southeast corner of North Williams Avenue and Fargo Street, where it plans to build a six-story building with 50 residential units, according to plans it recently filed with the city. The project will have 4,440 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, approximately 12 interior vehicle parking stalls and storage space for 64 bicycles.

SolTerra aims to build high-quality projects at low costs by cutting out superfluous elements. Presently, it’s constructing an 18-unit, mixed-use development at the corner of Northeast Durham Avenue and Oneonta Street. The $2.5 million apartment building will feature living walls, solar panels and a rainwater cistern – among other things.

The company’s North Williams Avenue property previously was owned by Bill Reed and his wife, Lydia Lundberg. SolTerra paid $775,000 for it, according to public records.

Like the Woodlawn project, the North Williams development will have a creative flair. Early drawings show the facade along North Fargo Street broken into vertical masses that tilt in opposing directions – a design similar to a strategy employed at the Cyan/PDX in downtown, though on a much smaller scale.

Joe Nydahl of Hendricks-Berkadia brokered the deal for SolTerra. In an email, Nydahl said SolTerra’s founder and president, Brian Heather, has a keen interest in the micro communities in which he builds, and is operating on the cutting edge of sustainable building practices.

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DESIGN-BUILD
Jennifer Barrow this month is celebrating her 10th anniversary with Arciform, a Portland-area design-build firm. She was hired in 2003 as office manager, and in 2011 was named manager of finance and administration.

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Design-build fans unite. Oregon is getting its own chapter of the Design Building Institute of America.

Built industry professionals in Oregon have formed a chapter of the national group that promotes the design-build project delivery method. The new chapter so far includes members from CH2MHill, GBD Architects, Gerding Edlen, Hoffman Construction, Howard S. Wright Construction, JE Dunn and McKinstry.

Design-build, in case you don’t know, is “a method of project delivery in which one entity – the design-build team – works under a single contract with the project owner to provide design and construction services,” according to DBIA. It differs from design-bid-build, in which design and construction are split into separate entities with separate contracts and separate work.

The new chapter was spearheaded by Grayson Hart, an engineer and project manager at McKinstry. Hart previously worked for Glumac, but he became enamored with design-build and was lured to McKinstry, where he could do more of it.

“I worked at Glumac for nine years previous to this,” he said, “and you kind of get indoctrinated that design-build is a shortcut way of doing something when you’re working for a design-bid firm. But slowly over my career there I worked on a project that was design-build, and I realized this is a significantly better way of doing things in today’s economy and today’s culture of construction employment.”

The chapter’s first meeting will be June 12 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Governor Hotel. To register, go . For more information, go to .

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