The Finished Product:
The Minneapolis Community and Technical College Student Affairs Renovation is a 43,000 sq. ft. remodel. Located in downtown Minneapolis, this multi-phase project includes offices, presentation spaces, student service counters and help center, accounting and onboarding services, and customer services.
Donlar’s Role:
As Construction Manager at Risk, Donlar Construction provided preconstruction and construction services for Minneapolis Community and Technical college on their renovation of their Student Affairs offices. We were Responsible for pre-construction and construction phase services, including soliciting subcontractor bids, setting up and administrating subcontracts, creating and maintaining project schedule, setting and managing the project budget, management of construction work, administration and tracking all project changes, submittals and RFI’s, project closeout and transitioning for owner occupancy.
Project Challenges:
The nature of our jobsite and schedule presented the primary challenges that we faced in this project. The short schedule left little room for error when looking to acquire long lead items, and the limited staging space on site meant that deliveries had to be meticulously planned. The fact that our site was occupied throughout construction also proved a challenge, as deliveries had to be scheduled outside of school hours. Deliveries were brought in with a freight elevator, but when materials like sheet rock and studs would not fit in the elevator, they were brought in through a second story window with a truck-mounted crane. Power outages and other disruptive work was planned outside of regular school hours, and all deliveries and material removals from the site had to be cleaned up after immediately as they were taken through the occupied section of the facility. When welding was required inside the facility, windows were removed to make room for a HEPA system to duct fumes out of the space.
Mitigation Efforts:
Donlar Construction considers safety on site to be a top priority, and by developing a site-specific plan and adhering to our proven procedures, we ensured a safe work environment for our subcontractors and our crews. We utilized a number of different methods to ensure a safe jobsite for our crews. We had daily job hazard analysis meetings with all foremen, and weekly toolbox talks on site to review safety protocol. When new workers come to the site, they were given a safety orientation with our superintendent. As the pandemic became a factor, we implemented a daily screening form questionnaire that was added to our existing daily pre-task safety cards for all subcontractors to fill out. We ensured these cards were reviewed with daily and made sure to follow up any information regarding COVID-19 if needed. Increased sanitation efforts took place daily. We continually updated our plans and procedures based on the current state requirements as they continued to evolve.
