Mike Clark

The Project

Figure 1. Tower cranes at Project BORR
Figure 2. Equipment for the wand locator
Figure 3. Project grid
Figure 4. Using the Hand held locator
Figure 5. Locate Tool
Figure 6. Setting out a locate



Project BORR is an $833 million design-build project for the Communications Security Establishment Canada. The site is on 84 acres of land and the project will be over 1.3 million square feet. The project comprises several areas, including a parking… Show more

The Project

Figure 1. Tower cranes at Project BORR
Figure 2. Equipment for the wand locator
Figure 3. Project grid
Figure 4. Using the Hand held locator
Figure 5. Locate Tool
Figure 6. Setting out a locate



Project BORR is an $833 million design-build project for the Communications Security Establishment Canada. The site is on 84 acres of land and the project will be over 1.3 million square feet. The project comprises several areas, including a parking structure, retail outlet, child-care center, data center, utility building, shipping/receiving building, office pods, and visitor center.

The Challenge
With the magnitude of the buried services that needed to be installed on the project, it was necessary to come up with a method for locating the buried services after they were installed. The fact that areas could be re-excavated many times was the motivating force behind the drive to perfect this idea. The size and complexity of the project increased the risk of making contact with underground or overhead services, which can be extremely dangerous and significantly affect the cost and schedule. Time was also a factor in obtaining locates for a project of this size.

Requesting locates from multiple locating companies can be a lengthy process that is determined by their availability and turnaround times. The project required a system that would be effective over the 36 months during which various types of excavating would occur.

The challenge was to create a system that minimizes accidental contacts and rework to underground and overhead services in order to increase safety, decrease cost, and help maintain the schedule.

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The Project
Project BORR is an $833 million, secured government facility located in Ottawa, Canada. The project consists of an 84-acre site with 1.3 million square feet of usable space. The facility consists of a main office complex, data center, shipping and receiving building, parking structure, visitors center, and a bank/daycare building.

The Challenge
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Figure 1: Overall site view
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Figure 2: Material security screening.
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Figure 3: Loading area at the… Show more

The Project
Project BORR is an $833 million, secured government facility located in Ottawa, Canada. The project consists of an 84-acre site with 1.3 million square feet of usable space. The facility consists of a main office complex, data center, shipping and receiving building, parking structure, visitors center, and a bank/daycare building.

The Challenge
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Figure 1: Overall site view
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Figure 2: Material security screening.
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Figure 3: Loading area at the Store.
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Figure 4: Storage in the laydown yard.
The challenge was finding a logistics solution that met security requirements and organizational demands a project of this size creates on the supply chain. The project agreement dictated that all material and equipment deliveries needed to run through a single security screening process.

The Solution
The Store is the security checkpoint facility located directly behind the main project entrance. It provides a controlled means of managing, coordinating, and tracking materials, equipment, tools, and expendables for PCL’s construction activities. Subcontractors also used the Store to coordinate their site deliveries; they were responsible for their own ordering, delivery within site, and laydown.

All PCL staff followed a detailed procedure for procurement, and subcontractors followed the site delivery procedures. These procedures specified that all delivery personnel be prescreened so that they could access the secure site.

Received materials were subject to security protocols, which became more and more stringent as the project progressed as the sensitivity of goods being delivered increased. Essentially all materials, equipment, and services were scrutinized by hired security personnel, who then contacted the material control group once the materials were cleared. Afterward, the goods were marshaled to a designated area in the laydown yard, awaiting final disposition.

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The Solution
To come up with an elevator framing solution that would reduce the long duration to complete the elevator lobbies.

The alternate solution was to frame the elevator frames with metal stud (each project needs to be analyzed by an engineer for stud sizing and spacing).

The elevator frames are installed from the lowest to the highest floors. The metal framing can follow this process, as there is no need to clean the equipment by the elevator contractor, thus… Show more

The Solution
To come up with an elevator framing solution that would reduce the long duration to complete the elevator lobbies.

The alternate solution was to frame the elevator frames with metal stud (each project needs to be analyzed by an engineer for stud sizing and spacing).

The elevator frames are installed from the lowest to the highest floors. The metal framing can follow this process, as there is no need to clean the equipment by the elevator contractor, thus eliminating the cost to employ the elevator contractor to do so. The elevator contractors can typically install the frames, at 2 floors/day, as before, with a net result of 25 scheduled days.

The drywall contractor can stay up with the elevator contractor, and complete the framing 2 days after the elevator contractor. This would mean an additional two days on the schedule duration, of a net 27 days to this point.

The real benefit now comes with the elevator lobby framing that can begin once the elevator frames are secured. This activity can begin in conjunction with the door framing. The net result of this flow of activity has the elevator lobbies completed approximately 52 schedule day’s earlier than the previous method

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The Solution
One way to mitigate problems with the reinforced concrete method was to pour the roof structure, elevator core and machine room structure, pour the equipment pads, and turn the structure over to the steel erectors. The steel erectors could complete the structure in a fraction of the time and were not as averse to the weather conditions as the forming crews were.

The building mechanical and electrical equipment could be preloaded into the space, without any… Show more

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The Solution
One way to mitigate problems with the reinforced concrete method was to pour the roof structure, elevator core and machine room structure, pour the equipment pads, and turn the structure over to the steel erectors. The steel erectors could complete the structure in a fraction of the time and were not as averse to the weather conditions as the forming crews were.

The building mechanical and electrical equipment could be preloaded into the space, without any interference from the false work or shoring systems that the cast-in-place structure would require. The steel and cladding could be predesigned for a seamless fit. The cladding and/or concrete often need to be modified with the concrete cast-in-place system. The use of structural steel, on the other hand, made access to the space safer and easier to work around, once the structure was complete.

The penthouse equipment can be worked on earlier, allowing for the building systems to be turned on sooner. When the “Top of House” gets completed, any inner tower crane can be removed from the building.

Once the tower crane is removed, the roofing can be completed to create a watertight building. Structural steel is cleaner and takes up less space than the conventional forms required for the cast-in-place structure. The steel comes in on a trailer and is hoisted directly into place, whereas forms must be stored on the ground, lifted into place, and then stripped and possibly reused. This requires a lot of crane time, and site space for the material.

Structural steel construction allows for the envelope to be installed earlier, helping to expedite getting the building watertight. Once the tower crane is removed, the re-shoring can also be removed and the floors finished.

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The Solution
The suppliers at a 50-story high-rise project in Chicago had installed a perimeter panel protection system that worked with knock-down forming assemblies. The perimeter panels provided high vertical walls that enclosed the working/forming deck and false work floor, and were also used at the trailing reshore floor.

This perimeter panel blocked wind substantially, therefore decreasing the frequency of job site closure.

The team considered how the perimeter panels… Show more

The Solution
The suppliers at a 50-story high-rise project in Chicago had installed a perimeter panel protection system that worked with knock-down forming assemblies. The perimeter panels provided high vertical walls that enclosed the working/forming deck and false work floor, and were also used at the trailing reshore floor.

This perimeter panel blocked wind substantially, therefore decreasing the frequency of job site closure.

The team considered how the perimeter panels could be incorporated with a self-climbing formwork system that would still allow the access needed to move the flyforms between floors. No off-the-shelf system was available, so a prototype was developed.

The formwork contractor, system engineer, developer, and the engineer of record for the building contributed to coordinating the perimeter panel system. Since it was a new system not included in the original bid, the supplier, contactor, developer/owner, and PCL negotiated to split its cost.

The concrete floor slab work on the site was done on a three-day forming cycle. The three days include time to set the forms and shores, pour the concrete, strip the forms and shores from a floor below, and start a new cycle on another floor above.

The perimeter panel system that was finally built was a modified self-climbing core form system. It had the added ability to flip a wall section out, which allowed the site tower crane to roll out the flyforms. The self-climbing aspect of the system allowed it to be raised up to additional floors without taking up valuable tower crane time.

A preliminary concern was that the system would slow down the schedule cycle, and consequently negate the advantage of wind blocking. Before the perimeter panel system was added to the production cycle, therefore, it was site tested to identify any potential disruption to the schedule. So when forming began on the 10th floor of the main structure,

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The Solution
During the pursuit stage of the project, the project team devised a method of building a highway ramp that would cut through the site, allowing the loading dock to remain active while the new ramp was constructed as per the original building design. Implementation of the ramp design was subject to many logistical and structural engineering considerations. The ramp needed to withstand heavy highway loads. It also had to be constructed in such a way that it would not interfere… Show more

The Solution
During the pursuit stage of the project, the project team devised a method of building a highway ramp that would cut through the site, allowing the loading dock to remain active while the new ramp was constructed as per the original building design. Implementation of the ramp design was subject to many logistical and structural engineering considerations. The ramp needed to withstand heavy highway loads. It also had to be constructed in such a way that it would not interfere with the permanent ramp. Finally it would need to be dismantled as the permanent tower structure was built around it. The decision was made to curl the ramp from the loading dock through the podium and up onto the side street directly in front of the Air Canada Centre. This would allow the project team to fast track the building of the permanent ramp, so the temporary ramp could be removed in time for construction to begin on the high rise, without any changes to the overall project schedule

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