Indeed, TOWER RENT IMPROVEMENT
Austin
BEST PROJECT
Sent by: Construction PR
OWNER In fact, Inc.
LEADING DESIGN COMPANY Perkins and Will
GENERAL CONTRACTOR DPR construction
In addition to serving as the general contractor and contractor for this 39-story Class A office building in Austin’s central business district, DPR Construction was also selected for the construction of 10 levels in the areas of offices and Indeed employee services.
The first-generation interior finish of the office space on levels 27-36 covers about 330,000 square feet and consisted of office space, a conference center, a full break area including kitchen and cafeteria, gym and a mezzanine with features such as a games room and cinema, plus rooftop/outdoor spaces. The building also has 10 floors interconnected by stairs, which help promote cohesion between the different work and play spaces.
Completed on time and under budget in August 2023, the project required navigating a busy site populated by other general contractors working on construction on other floors and areas within the building.
This led to some competition for freight elevator time, creating some delivery challenges. To better manage this situation, DPR shared an internal calendar scheduling application with the other GCs working on site, as well as with the building engineering team to coordinate deliveries, container exchanges, and use of loading dock and freight elevator.
Photo by Andrea Callo
The project team’s use of a combination of design aid and prefabrication allowed materials to arrive on site early, reducing waste and therefore minimizing both on-site labor and workflow traffic jams.
Construction of the mezzanine involved delivering steel girders by forklift to support the floor, splicing them to their designed length, and then installing metal decks and rebar.
Placing concrete also proved to be a marathon task. After concrete trucks were received at the Level 1 loading dock, for example, the concrete was moved to concrete handcarts that fit in the elevator to the 36th floor, and then delivered by conveyor belt to the newly created mezzanine, with the process repeating itself. for approximately 20 hours.
Photo by Andrea Callo
With robust virtual design and construction (VDC) programs serving as the dataset, the Dusty Robot was used as a robotic solution to perform the design of walls, ceilings and doors with millimeter precision. Along with an operator, the project team found that using the Dusty Robot proved to be approximately five times faster in performing the design than a typical two-person crew. This resulted in schedule savings and allowed the foremen to focus their valuable time on getting the job done.
The team also used the SmartTagIt application, which provided valuable data and analytics to keep the project on schedule without any impact on quality.
Sustainable design elements include energy-efficient mechanical systems, daylight capture and occupancy sensors to reduce lighting needs. The project also diverted 70% of its construction waste from landfills by recycling a total of 205 tonnes of material. Combined, these efforts helped the improvement project achieve LEED Gold certification.
