The Finished Product:
The Toppan Merrill Office & Warehouse Addition was a renovation and expansion of Toppan Merrill’s Sartell location. The project consisted of a new 56,519 Sq. ft. expansion to their warehouse and an 13,500 SF office addition. The addition includes conference rooms, office space for 100+ cubicles, and 6 loading docks.
Donlar’s Role:
Donlar Construction served as Construction Manager @ risk for Toppan Merrill’s renovation and expansion. We helped see the project through from design phase to completion while managing subcontractors on site.
Maintaining a Safe Worksite:
Donlar Construction considers safety to be a top priority, and we enacted several measures that help keep our staff and our subcontractors safe on site. We held daily job hazard analysis meetings with our foremen, and every new worker on site received a site orientation from our superintendent, informing them of all safety protocol on site. We also held weekly toolbox talks to review safety best practices, look for ways to improve, and celebrate our safety achievements on site.
Because we were working in an occupied facility, safety on site did not mean just keeping our staff safe; it meant keeping our owners’ staff safe as well. Construction zones were designated accordingly and were kept separate from the owner’s staff. We also coordinated site deliveries, both our deliveries and the owner’s, as well as entrances and exits.
Project Challenges:
The biggest challenge relating to this project came in the form of the schedule. The owner’s lease at another facility came to an end at the end of March, so the completion date of March 30th was of the utmost importance. Donlar Construction made a realistic schedule to finish on time, and despite weather delays we kept to our timeline and outpaced it, finishing nearly two weeks early. This was highly beneficial to our owner, who was able to begin moving early. In the final weeks of the project, we were turning over spaces to the owner so that they could move in sooner as well.
