Customer Testimonial - Owner
Customer Testimonial - Architect
2007 Excellence in Construction Award Winner
Miller, Miller & McLachlan was contracted as the Construction Manager to work with the owner and the design team to help value engineer the design and manage the construction of this project. The project went through several design changes to meet the aesthetic, functional and budgetary considerations of the owner.
This 1.5 million dollar project included renovating 31,341 square feet of 34,240 square foot building while tenants continued to occupy building.
This professional building now includes an existing Doctor’s office, classrooms, labs, simulation testing labs, a computer lab, administration offices, instructor offices and renovated restrooms.
The main lecture hall can be divided into four separate lecture rooms. Each room can be controlled from an independent podium or any combination of rooms can be controlled by one podium to project the same information in all four rooms for better viewing in the adjoining areas.
The time line on the project was very challenging because the owner purchased the property in November, 2006 with the goal of completing the design and renovations to be open for classes in August, 2007. The building had limited drawings available so survey began as soon as the building was purchased. Preliminary designs, value engineering and budgets were completed in December. After receiving client approval of the budgets, the first full design team meeting was held January 5th of 2007.
The design, bidding, subcontract development, third party reviews and zoning variance approval were all completed in less than 3 months and the building permit was issued on March 27, 2007.
To add an additional challenge to the tight timeline, the College Trustees requested that a new north entrance facing the campus be added to the project after construction began. This added additional design requirements, additional subcontractor bidding, another zoning variance and a separate building permit. This was all completed during construction. In all the client changes in design during construction resulted in 31 revised drawings and sketches.
The final challenge to the schedule was having one tenant continue to occupy a section of the building until July 15th. That left less than one month to complete that portion of the renovation.
The existing building was also deficient in many ways including a section of roof trusses that were damaged beyond repair and required removing and replacing seven trusses. All the existing trusses were inspected and many more were repaired.
The project also included adding a new concealed space fire protection system that was missing. The building had gone through a multitude of previous tenant fit-outs so almost all the previous HVAC and electrical work had to be removed and replaced to make the systems more efficient and to bring the bring the building up to code requirements.
The owner’s representative wrote about the efforts of Miller, Miller & McLachlan and Batten Architects: “I want to thank you both for the fabulous results of the renovation of 2901 Hamilton Boulevard. When we purchased the building last November, with the idea to renovate it in time for the Fall Semester 2007, we knew we had an aggressive timetable. You both have done outstanding jobs in helping us succeed in our dream. You treated surprises along the way as only small bumps in the road to getting the job done. I am very grateful for how well you worked together and with us to resolve each issue throughout the design and construction phases.” Wayne Batten of Batten Architects wrote: “The best planning and administration alone, however don’t make a successful project. It takes a good contractor.” Miller, Miller & McLachlan is proud to have been part of the team that completed this aggressive project on time and under budget.