Overview: Buildout Modeling and Installation Innovations
A collaborative effort between multiple FTI teams, the project involved a plan/spec food processing buildout of a $6.9 million, 128,000-square-foot core and shell in Stafford, Virginia. For this industrial food service facility where food and snacks are prepped and packaged for U.S. east coast convenience stores, FTI installed electrical systems developed by the client and another design company, which included electrical construction, building information modeling (BIM) and low-voltage installations to a 300 level.
The virtual design and construction (VDC) team modeled the buildout, and the project team worked with FTI Excellerate® to detail modular buildouts, including light fixtures, device builds and hangers.
Challenge: Thriving During Numerous Schedule Revisions
The primary challenge on this project was dealing with numerous schedule revisions. Given FTI’s responsibility for liquidated damages, it was essential to maintain a strict schedule of responsibilities. Although FTI has limited team members on the U.S. east coast, project leadership teams from Atlanta, GA, Boise, ID, and Menasha, WI, successfully leveraged relationships with crew members from previous projects to staff this project in Virginia.
Solutions: Project Scope Modeling, Prefabricating Assemblies and Installation Innovations
FTI was responsible for modeling the project scope, which proved beneficial for developing prefabricated assemblies and detecting onsite clashes with other trades. A template for installing ceiling lights and wall devices was created by using a plexiglass jig that magnetically connected to the ceiling or wall. This innovation made the process safer and more productive by eliminating the need to hold up heavy fixtures while marking out hole patterns for mounting.
The use of VDC and Excellerate was crucial to the project’s success. Modeling drops allowed FTI to place devices in locations that facilitated the creation of repeatable assemblies in a plan-spec project.
