The Pelican Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. has announced the construction projects that have received an Excellence in Construction award. The EIC Awards are the construction industry’s premier annual awards program. These projects will be honored this Wednesday evening at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza.
This year’s winners include the redesign of the Baton Rouge City Hall Plaza, the construction of the Center for Coastal and Deltaic Solutions at the Water Campus, the repairs to the Fort Polk Railroad, the building of Southside High School and the remodel of LSU’s Patrick Taylor Hall.
“These 25 outstanding construction projects, executed by local contractors, meet the prestigious standards set by this industry’s premier competition,” said David Helveston, President and CEO of the Pelican Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. “But more importantly, these projects build a better nation and stronger communities by improving our transportation systems, building infrastructure that purifies our water, creating modern education spaces for high school and college students, and providing much-needed electricity generation.”
Helveston added: “Join us in honoring the commitment to world-class safety, innovation and quality that these contractors brought to each jobsite in planning, executing and delivering these projects.”
2018 EIC Categories, Excellence and Merit Winners:
Commercial/Institutional: More than $25 million
Excellence: The Lemoine Company, The Center for Coastal and Deltaic Solutions
Lemoine Jason Miranda Project Manager
The Center for Coastal and Deltaic Solutions is part of the initial phase of a 33-acre Water Campus to house water science and research facilities supporting marine science across the Gulf region. The project consists of a three-story elevated dock building on the banks of the Mississippi River south of the I-10 bridge in Baton Rouge. The project was constructed with 66,937 man-hours and zero loss-time accidents.
Merit: The Lemoine Company, Southside High School
Located in Louisiana’s fastest growing city of Youngsville, this 258,000 square foot new construction high school consists of a three-story classroom building, laboratories, a library, dining facility and collaboration spaces, two gymnasiums, a theatre, and a band building. The project was designed and constructed in 24 months with 582,000 man-hours and zero loss time accidents.
Electrical Industrial: Less than $2 million
Merit: ISC Constructors, LLC, Honeywell UOP-DSG Electrical Upgrade and Lab Feeder Replacement
In October 2017, Honeywell UOP experienced a critical power failure on a 15KV main feeder that crippled operations for the entire facility. ISC was contracted to perform major facility upgrades, including relocating the temporary feeders to their permanent location, installing new feeders to other critical areas of the facility, and upgrading motor control center and spray dryer equipment.
Merit: Triad Electric & Controls, Inc., Valero Gasoline Blending Project
Triad was charged with electrical and instrumentation work associated with tying in a new gasoline analyzer building to every facet of the facility. This project was completed while in a live, operating unit. Even with a 60% increase in scope during the project, Triad completed the project on time with a perfect safety record and zero shutdowns.
Electrical Industrial: More than $2 million
Excellence: MMR Constructors, Inc., Olefins Flare Gas Recovery
MMR Michael Munn District Safety Manager
MMR executed the electrical and instrumentation construction on Shell Deer Park’s Olefins Flare Gas Recovery Project. This refinery is among the largest in the US with a capacity of 340,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Construction lasted one year, MMR finished the project on time, with zero safety incidents, and under budget while battling the complications of Hurricane Harvey.
Merit: MMR Constructors, Inc., BASF Geismar-GERP
MMR provided electrical, instrumentation, construction and execution services for the BASF 700 Bus Replacement Phase of the Geismar Electrical Reliability Project. The objective was to increase capacity and reliability of an existing electrical distribution infrastructure by providing backup power to four existing substations, replacing aging switchgear, and installing new power feeders to mitigate the risk of legacy underground feeder failures. The project was completed on time and without injury.
Merit: Triad Electric and Controls, Inc., Dow Gulfstream Poly B Train 3 Project
Triad’s $44.8 million contract with Dow Chemical’s Gulfstream Poly B, Train 3 Project in Plaquemine, Louisiana increased in scope by 40 percent throughout the duration of the project. However, Triad was able to overcome significant challenges to complete over 800,000-man hours without any safety incidents and on schedule.
Industrial: Less than $5 MILLION
Excellence: Trade Construction, Sulphur Brine Pond
Trade Colin Mancuso Project Manager
Situated in a remote, swampy area near Sulphur, Louisiana, this project encompassed all facets of industrial construction. Trade formed and poured five equipment foundations and installed vessels and 1,500 feet piping. Equipment in the new facility included a 43,000-pound degassing vessel, 19,500-pound propane tank and 15,500-pound flare stack. The facility now removes gases from the saltwater, burns the gases in the flare and returns the water to the pond.
Merit: Kostmayer Construction, ECO
Kostmayer re-engineered a cost-prohibitive design on one of the tightest curves on the Mississippi River, opting to replace concrete decking that required six supports with three 8’ wide and 100’ long steel trusses. Crews constructed the supports before the 24-ton trusses were barged onsite and then lifted into place. The third truss required both a barge-mounted crane and land crane to reach its final location.
Merit: Beard Construction Group, Waste Disposal Unit 22
Beard constructed a new Waste Disposal Unit in DeLisle, Mississippi, facing several obstacles, including an aggressive work schedule and an immense amount of rainfall. Beard performed the work with zero safety incidents and completed the project one month ahead of schedule.
Infrastructure Heavy
Merit: Beard Construction Group, Fort Polk Railroad Repairs
Beard was contracted by the Army Corp of Engineers to repair the failing railroad track system. This 13.7-mile section of rail compromised and placed a high risk of mission failure for the Brigade Combat Team. The capability of the system is imperative in supporting the tenant unit development readiness requirements of the Brigade Combat Team annual rotation. Working for the USACE was an honor to all those involved in the project and Beard is proud to support our military and their needs.
Merit: Barriere Construction Company, Highway 90 J-Turns
Barriere increased traffic safety and enhanced access to and from local businesses on an 11-mile stretch of Hwy 90 in the City of Patterson, Louisiana. Barriere did this through the addition of 37 J-Turns and a complete asphalt mill and overlay of the highway. By performing over 90 percent of the work, Barriere was able to complete this $16+ million project in 193 days, which is half of the contracted schedule.
Mechanical Industrial
Excellence: Cajun Industries, LLC, HE-201D Replacement Project
To increase operating capacity and overall efficiency at the Olin facility, Cajun was charged with the demolition, removal and replacement of a 500,000-pound heat exchanger located within a highly congested unit. The project was multifaceted from the outset and required over twenty thousand-man hours in over two months with a perfect safety record.
Cajun Industries Neil Rome Project Manager
Merit: Turner Industries Group, Olin Plaquemine 2018 Turnaround
This turnaround represented the first time since the 1980’s that the entire Chlor Alkali portion of the Olin Plaquemine facility had been in turnaround status.
Mega-Projects
Excellence: Performance Contractors, Inc., Dow Poly B&D
Performance Stephen Chapman Senior Project Manager
Dow’s Poly B Train 3 and Poly D were two world scale high tech Polyolefins facilities that were built at the operations facility in Plaquemine, Louisiana. Performance provided over 3,000 employees, and installed 85,000 cubic yards of concrete, 12,600 tons of structural steel, 410,000 linear feet of piping, and over 1,500 pieces of equipment. This project was a critical component to the overall Dow Gulfstream initiative.
Merit: EXCEL Group, Elba Island Liquefaction Project
The 12-month, $130+ million project, located in Savannah, Georgia posed many challenges, such as, location being an island and multiple contractors in congested work fronts. EXCEL mobilized from Baton Rouge, Louisiana in a matter of days. The scope for EXCEL grew and changed throughout the project. EXCEL’s peak manpower reached 1,102 direct and subcontracted employees.
Merit: The Lemoine Company, Patrick Taylor Hall at LSU
Patrick Taylor Hall, home to LSU’s College of Engineering, is now the largest freestanding academic building in the state and one of the largest engineering facilities in the country at 461,000 square feet. The building was executed with phased construction and turnover provisions; construction of an occupied facility; requirement of swing space to maintain functionality and operation for staff and students throughout the entire project. The building has over 1,500 classroom seats and 272 staff offices. Constructed in 43 months, the $100+ million project encompassed 998,400 man-hours.
Merit: Turner Industries Group, LLC, Shell Tiger AO4
Turner’s Tiger AO4 project, located inside the Shell chemical plant located in Geismar, Louisiana, executes an expansion project that would make it the largest Alpha Olefins producer in the world. Once the $1-billion-dollar investment was complete, AO4 added an additional 425,000 tons of capacity to the Geismar facility. This project endured extreme weather, haul transport of seven vessels, complex setting of 68 modules and the coordination of over 40 subcontractors, resulting in over six million workhours.
Other Construction: $2 to $100 million
Excellence: Primoris Services Corporation, Doswell Energy Facility Expansion
Primoris Jeff Hocke Project Director
This Virginia project required Primoris to relocate gas combustion turbines from a power plant in Florida. These components will provide needed additional electricity generation in a region that experiences shortages during peak demand. Primoris ensured that the more than 3,000 components were transported and accurately reassembled at the Doswell location. This project involved all scopes—site preparation, civil, mechanical, underground and aboveground piping, and electrical and instrumentation.
Merit: EXCEL Group, Westlake VCM Control Building
EXCEL demolished an existing warehouse and replaced it with new blast-rated VCM Control Room facility. The completed project resulted in a state-of-the-art facility, to replace its aging predecessor while providing countless enhancements to ergonomics, life safety, and operational capabilities. Through proven processes, EXCEL and its subcontract teams achieved over 19,500 incident-free manhours.
Other Specialty Construction - Industrial: Less than $10 million
Excellence: Turner Industries Group, Shell Tiger AO4 Heavy Transport
The Tiger AO4 project at the Shell Geismar Chemical Plant in South Louisiana required more than 600 pieces of equipment shipped in from all over the world. Turner was called into action to receive seven pressure vessels and transport them to the Shell Tiger AO4 jobsite from the Port of New Orleans. All the vessels were delivered to the site on schedule with zero lost-time incidents and zero injuries.
Turner Gary Blacketter Mgr Specialized Transportation
Merit: Cajun Industries, LLC, Enterprise iBDH
Cajun mobilized to install approximately 2,000 auger-cast-in-place piles. After completing 445 ACIP piles, it was determined by that the ACIP piles were not the appropriate deep foundations system. The subsurface soil conditions were more conducive for a driven pile application. Cajun then mobilized two additional pile-driving rigs and converted the ACIP rig to a driven pile setup. In total, Cajun installed 1682 driven pipe piles to complete scope on time.
Other Specialty Construction - Industrial: More than $10 million
Excellence: Cajun Industries, LLC, IHI Southern LNG Pilings and Basins
Cajun Brent Guthrie & Jacob Reichert Proj Managers
Cajun installed approximately 945 precast concrete piles at Elba Island. While on-site, Cajun was awarded the design and installation of the temporary retaining structures, piling, excavation, structural concrete and backfill of four detention basins. Cajun also installed a helical test pile program and limited access segmented h-piles for modified pipe racks inside of the existing plant. Cajun completed the project with 104,384 safe man hours.
Other Specialty Construction: Less than $10 million
Excellence: GROUP Industries, City Hall Plaza
Group Industries Steven Chustz Project Manager
The redesign of City Hall Plaza satisfies a goal of Baton Rouge Central Green – to develop a network of green spaces to link several downtown institutions. The improvements included the removal of underutilized and existing hardscapes and their replacement with a large green lawn, elevated crushed granite promenade and shade trees. The redesign also provides improved circulation and ADA accessibility throughout the City Hall and River Center Campus and allows the Galvez Stage to be used from both sides by covering the opening above the underground parking garage north of the stage.
Merit: Cajun Industries, LLC, Innophos MGA and Barge Unloading and Bulk Storage Tanks
This project required installing 825 precast concrete piles. After completing 431 piles, the Mississippi River levels rose, causing a 10-week project delay. Cajun then resumed production. After installing another 270 piles, Cajun mobilized in the excavation and civil crews to install the pile cap foundations. Cajun excavated 2850 cubic yards of soil, placed a seal slab at each tank, installed 190 Tons of rebar, and placed 2100 cubic yards of concrete in three separate mass concrete pours.
About EIC: The Excellence in Construction program has become the premier competition within the construction industry that recognizes outstanding construction projects across the nation. The EIC Awards celebration honors the nation’s most innovative and high-quality construction projects, safety programs and diversity programs. Local community leaders were judges of the EIC 2018, representing LSU, the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance, Associated General Contractors, Alliance Safety Council, Louisiana Economic Development, the Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the Louisiana Chemical Association