When delivering complex, technical projects, collaboration among the project team is an essential driver of success. Add in next-level sustainability project goals and a highly accelerated schedule, and it becomes clear that traditional delivery methods make achieving those goals more challenging. Project owners looking for the highest performing, resilient buildings should consider collaborative delivery like design-build to make their visions come to life.

An illustration of this comes from a recently-completed cGMP pharmaceutical cGMP warehouse project in Research Triangle Park, NC, known as Phase 5.

United Therapeutics (UT) employed design-build delivery and a high-performing team to achieve bar-raising sustainability goals on a project that was defined by its visionary approach and speed-to-market. Completed just 30 months after start of design and construction, the nearly net-zero project was on budget, as well.

The use of design-build delivery, executed by the highly collaborative team of DPR, Hanbury Architects and AEI, was central to Phase 5’s success. The team worked closely with major trade partners, the owner/end-users, and other key stakeholders from the earliest stages of design to create a first-in-class cGMP facility—one that allows UT to deliver life-sustaining pharmaceuticals to thousands of patients each year while also adhering to its corporate commitment to environmental stewardship. The sustainability goals exceeded any that had ever been attempted on a cGMP facility of this type, encompassing not only a site net zero energy goal but also zero embodied carbon and LEED® Gold and ENERGYSTAR® certifications.

So how did design-build help drive success on Phase 5?

“The delivery method offers projects several potential advantages,” said Chris Small, a principal at design firm Hanbury. “Some of those include enhanced constructability due to early involvement and integration of the contractor and trade partners with the architect. It can also facilitate earlier decision-making, which can streamline bid packages and benefit the budget. But one of the biggest benefits is often to the schedule, since design-build allows construction to begin well before design is finalized.”

That was the case on Phase 5, where the design-build team estimated that waiting for final design documents before beginning construction could have easily added a full year to the project schedule.

After UT selected a design-build team, they came together quickly to determine how to leverage each team member’s strengths to “right size” the building. As is paramount on any cGMP life science manufacturing facility, determining the facility scale, pallet rack position and height were critical early decisions that created the framework for the rest of Phase 5’s design.

DPR’s preconstruction team performed extensive modeling work to help reach the most cost-effective rack height solution, analyzing the impacts on cost, schedule, constructability, technical performance, and facility operations, as well as to determine the amount of roof space needed for the photovoltaic panels to help achieve the facility’s net zero energy goals.

Ultimately, they chose a six-rack-high ambient storage ratio, which locked in the basis of design for the project. Working together, the team was able to shrink the building’s expected overall footprint—and consequently, budget—by making well-informed decisions about the racks, aisle width and other layout-related matters.

The Phase 5 team worked together to deliver value throughout the project and many solutions are attributed to having a highly collaborative design-build team. Just a few examples include:

• ‘Right Sizing’ the Geothermal System. The team determined the facility would employ a closed-loop geothermal exchange system, which uses the Earth’s temperature to heat and cool the building, as a strategy to decrease the total energy required. Design-build facilitated a highly collaborative process that brought the geothermal trade partner on board early to help inform the building’s location and other critical decisions.
• Achieving budget and schedule certainty through early procurement. Long lead items and equipment bottlenecks, particularly for the electrical equipment, posed significant schedule challenges that design-build helped to mitigate. DPR’s strong relationship with trade partners and its supply chain monitoring group helped proactively address supply chain issues, informing the team of potential delays and enabling them to pivot when needed.

  In one example, when DPR uncovered a significant delay of the specified rooftop PV fasteners, they were able to quickly pivot to an alternative product that was more readily available, avoiding changes further into the project.

  “Going into Phase 5, knowing which manufacturers (the owner) preferred and then using our supply chain group and having a pulse on the market, we were able to communicate those lead times far in advance as we progressed through design,” said Matt Maise, a DPR project executive. “Being design-build, we were able to work hand-in-hand with the design team to coordinate our procurement schedule with the design schedule. Additionally, we were able to package all our drawings in a way that allowed us to go through early procurement on the long lead items, on the critical path items of the project, and to get everything when we needed it during construction.”

• Delivering a Workaround and Avoiding RFIs. Design-build helped the team uncover issues before they emerged in the field, delivering efficiency by decreasing RFIs. For example, the integrated team identified an early design issue that could have impacted the ability of building operations personnel to quickly access and service backup power equipment in the event of a power outage. By identifying this key access issue early in design rather than during construction, the team was able to seamlessly address it and avoid any related RFIs or change orders in the construction phase.
• More Efficient Cold Room Design. Bringing the cold room vendors onto the project in the earliest stages of design was critical to delivering a highly efficient cold room design. The free exchange of ideas and early information that was provided by the vendor, and carefully vetted by the entire team, was a key factor in the success of that critical building feature. It took the team working together to understand the amount of renewable energy that would need to be generated in order to support the cold room in the event of a power grid failure. Additionally, the specialized space needed to balance sustainability goals with life safety measures. The team’s collaboration with local authorities helped frame a design that would make sure climate control stayed in even if people needed to get out. Working with end users from other nearby UT facilities contributed to the team’s ability to right size energy systems and optimize energy consumption in the cold room.
• Mezzanine Expansion Timeline. The decision to expand the mezzanine by 3500 sq. ft. as part of the original construction, rather than waiting to do so later when that space was needed, was another design-build success story. DPR performed a cost analysis showing that the work would be much more costly if left to build later.

Through these and many other examples, design-build delivery by a highly collaborative team helped create predictable outcomes for the customer.

“We're a small part of something much bigger, and it becomes real when you have a project and a collaboration as successful as this one,” said Chetan Potdar, DPR design integration manager. “Design-build played a big role in helping us achieve the owner’s goals and turnover a project that everyone is grateful to have been a part of.”