Karen Vilas has more than 14 years of technical consulting experience in the petrochemical industry.
As director of regional business development in North America for FORTRESS Protective Buildings, Vilas’ expertise includes areas such as client management, leadership, customer success tracking and engineering consulting.
BIC Magazine recently visited with Vilas to learn more about how she focuses on providing innovative solutions for stakeholders’ needs through adaptive and creative approaches, and how FORTRESS is providing the “gold standard” of personnel safety.
BIC: Why do you enjoy your line of work?
VILAS: I come from a long line of teachers — my mom, grandmother, grandfather, etc. — and my mom always told me I would eventually become a teacher. I have become one, but in my own way. I see my business development role as predominantly education.
FORTRESS is a blast-resistant building that many industrial facilities may not know they need, and this allows me the opportunity to educate people about providing a safe environment for employees.
Since the BP Texas City incident in 2005, there has been a focus on designing buildings that withstand blast events, which has been a great step toward making site personnel safer. However, many sites also have fire and/or toxic hazards that must be addressed per API RP 752. Seeing a need for a modular, permanent building that protects from not only blast events but also fire, toxic, fragment and extreme weather hazards, Baker- Risk designed and engineered FORTRESS, a building solution that takes only months to install rather than years like traditional stick-built construction.
BIC: What makes a FORTRESS building stand out from the rest?
VILAS: A third-party company recently performed a lifecycle analysis of the cost comparison between a FORTRESS building versus an enhanced blast-resistant steel metal building. We are excited, but not surprised, to share that a FORTRESS building is nearly 70-percent less expensive to construct and maintain over a 45-year period than an “enhanced” metal building.
The findings of this study are huge, not only from a financial standpoint but also from a sustainability standpoint. Constructing a building once for the life time of the facility is an attractive option for current capital projects focusing on low-carbon energy.This analysis concluded that while a concrete “bunker” will last well beyond a standard facility’s projected life of approximately 50 years, steel blast-resistant buildings will likely need to be replaced four or more times to maintain functionality.
BIC: How can FORTRESS buildings protect other critical assets?
VILAS: We talk a lot about how we protect lives because that was the drive behind the creation of FORTRESS. However, the same features that protect people better than other building solutions mean that critical equipment and data are also better protected. These are critical unit controls such as detection/shutdown systems on-site at industrial facilities, as well as datacenters that are critical to reliable operations in communities and rural areas.
A FORTRESS building is nearly 70-percent less expensive to construct and maintain than an “enhanced” metal building
FORTRESS provides resistance to a range of hazards applicable to non-industrial datacenter-type facilities. This could be a resistance to high explosives and small arms fires or protection from natural disasters (earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, etc.). The amazing thing is FORTRESS can put a custom building in place in six months.
For more information, visit www.FORTRESSProtectiveBuildings.com or call (281) 822-3100.
