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Category: 9 – Best Building Project – General Contractor ( 10- 40 Million)Contractor: PCL Construction Services, Inc., Ashley Watson, Marketing,amwatson@pcl.comProject Name: DPS Emily Griffith Campus, SLATERPAULL ArchitectsWhen Denver Public Schools (DPS) opened the doors to the Emily Griffith Campus, the facilityfilled several purposes: it created a home for the first downtown elementary school in 100 years;it became home for the Emily Griffith High School and Technical College; and it created anopportunity to consolidate 1,200 school-supported center staff into one location. The new facilityalso continued the legacy of the Emily Griffith name, which has been synonymous witheducation and opportunity for nearly a century. The Emily Griffith project transformed abuilding constructed over 52 years ago into a multi-use campus that now includes a state-of-theart educational center, has been brought up to code, and is all located in a downtown high-rise.The design-build team consisting of PCL and SLATERPAULL Architects were able tosuccessfully complete this project on time through early and frequent collaboration with thevarious end users. Katheryn Zeeb, Denver Public Schools’ Project Manager, describes what theteam was able to accomplish, “PCL’s design-build team for this complex, total remodel of anexisting 16-story building has been a pleasure to work with. The opportunity to convert a 1963office building to a new concept vertical shared campus, which houses three schools andadministration staff for the District, is unprecedented within DPS.”SOLUTION OF SPECIAL CHALLENGES/PROBLEMSDue to the age of the building and unique project scope, the design-build team encountered anumber of special challenges. The most significant of these was dealing with unforeseenconditions of an older building such as asbestos containing materials and HVAC systemssurprises. While all these issues challenged the tight schedule, the team was able to overcomethem by collaborating as a design-build team and successfully delivered the project on time.Engaging the various end users like DPS and the Emily Griffith School early in the process alsoallowed for solutions to be incorporated effortlessly. The project was broken into phasedoccupancy due to all of the different entities moving into one building, with the Emily GriffithTechnical Campus scheduled to move-in to their floors at the end of June. Two weeks before
their move-in date, Emily Griffith Technical College decided to house their own network andservers in lieu of using Denver Public Schools’ network, and therefore would need their ownserver room. The problem this proposed was that no new infrastructure existed in the originalremodel scope for a new server room, and it was late in the project to request the scope change.PCL’s superintendent, Chris Mullin, provided a solution when he recalled an available room inthe below-grade parking garage that had extensive infrastructure in place already. The designbuild team was then able to design, procure and complete this work within the two week windowto facilitate the Technical College’s technology needs and successfully allowed them to move-inearly to their floors. In addition to maintaining the schedule, this plan saved the owner over 65,000 compared to the original solution of utilizing a location with the required infrastructureproposed by DPS and Emily Griffith Technical College.EXCELLENCE IN PROJECT EXECUTION AND MANAGEMENT/TEAM APPROACHThe DPS Emily Griffith Campus was a true design-build approach and included end users,subcontractors, and various entities very early in the design process to achieve buy in from eachgroup. The design was built around the budget, and PCL made sure to include the properrequired coding/zoning costs up front. Adele Willson, Principal Architect with SLATERPAULLdescribes the successful process, “Typically, general contractors do not have pricing informationavailable at design meetings, and takes a week or more to get back to us and provide pricinginput, which hurts the team’s ability to make timely decisions. Working with PCL, this was thefirst time we had costing information available ‘real time’ during design meetings and thisincreased the efficiency of the design team and helped facilitate the tight design schedule.”Working in an older office building and converting it to an elementary school complete with aplayground required a significant amount of coding upgrades. PCL met with the Denver FireDepartment early in the design phase to review the drawings with them and see what challengeswe could potentially face. These meetings continued throughout the design and construction ofthe project and alleviated a number of problems, and eventually led to Denver Fire being anadvocate for PCL at meetings with the City of Denver.CONSTRUCTION INNOVATIONS/STATE-OF-THE-ART ADVANCEMENTThe Emily Griffith Campus project had numerous energy efficient and environmentally friendly
design elements. Some of these elements include occupancy sensors, daylighting, low-flowtoilets, LED lighting, high efficiency boilers, and VRF systems that result in an estimated yearlyoperating cost savings of nearly 150,000 and nearly 210,000 in rebates from Xcel Energy’sEDA program.The front entrance, lobby and public spaces on the ground level were expanded and opened up toprovide a more welcoming and inviting atmosphere. By adding this feature it also allowed formore efficient movement and flow of the 3,500 students, visitors and employees expected on adaily basis.ENVIRONMENT/SAFETYSafety at PCL is more than a word or something that is preached by our project staff at thejobsites, it is a culture that starts at the top of our organization and is embraced by everyemployee no matter their position, location, or experience. Our safety program is not justinspections and documentation requirements, but it is behavioral based. We believe in havingworkers who think safe and act safe, and demonstrate that culture to other workers around themto ensure they look after one other.The entire PCL team was committed to safety and its project-specific safety plan on the DPSEmily Griffith Campus Project. The project was a high-risk renovation project, includingsignificant interior and exterior demolition, asbestos abatement, and structural steel upgrades dueto the change in occupancy. Despite this risk, the project was able to work over 300,000 manhours without a lost time injury. Another key facet to safety on this project, considering thefacility was mixed-use with an elementary school, high school, and technical college, wasstudent safety and well-being, as this was a phased occupancy projects with construction crewsworking in the building at the same time as K-12 students. To this end, PCL put together andmanaged a comprehensive background check requirement for all workers onsite, withindividually numbered hard hat stickers for identification purposes to ensure the safety ofstudents at all times. PCL’s commitment to safety on the project was summarized best by SamAdair, DPS Safety Manager, who noted that “out of the hundreds of contractors he deals with,PCL is easily the top performer.”
EXCELLENCE IN CLIENT SERVICE OR COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONWith Denver’s population growth expected to reach 4.2 million by 2035, this project filled agreat need for a K-6 elementary school downtown. Now, there is a multitude of ways for parentsand students to get to school whether that is through bikes, buses or commuter rail lines. DPSSuperintendent Tom Boasberg and Mayor Michael Hancock described this project as a majorboost to the liveliness of the city’s core that could also save the district between 5 and 15million over the next five years through increased efficiencies by bringing so many entities toone building. Boasberg also describes the project’s success as a “tangible reminder of the powerof bringing people together, in the heart of Denver, to work, to collaborate and to be a thrivingpart of the social and economic fabric of our community”.Other awards the Emily Griffith Campus project has recently achieved include: The 2015 54thAnnual Downtown Denver Partnership Awards – May 2015; The 2015 Denver Business Journal“Real Estate Champions” Award (in the Socially Responsible category) – July 2015; 2015 ENRBest Projects Merit Award – K-12 Category for Colorado/Wyoming & Plains States Region –August 2015; 2015 ENR Best Projects Safety Award Merit Winner for Colorado/Wyoming &Plains States Region – September 2015.
it became home for the Emily Griffith High School and Technical College; and it created an opportunity to consolidate 1,200 school-supported center staff into one location. The new facility also continued the legacy of the Emily Griffith name, which has been synonymous with education and opportunity for nearly a century.
