JW Marriott Austin
JW Marriott Austin | Austin, Texas
Completed in a joint venture with Hunt Construction Group, the groundbreaking on this 34-story JW Marriott Conference Center Hotel in downtown Austin, TX took place in October of 2012. Even before its official February 13, 2015 grand opening, the JW Marriott Austin (the city’s largest hotel and the largest JW Marriott in North America) had more than 520,000 rooms reserved through the year 2021. To accommodate the demand, the 1.2 million-sq.-ft. luxury hotel was completed ahead of schedule to achieve an early opening.
The JW Marriott received LEED Silver certification and has more than 112,000 sq. ft. of event space, 42 meeting rooms, and more than 1,000 guest rooms. The hotel sits on top of a three-level, 471-space parking garage.
Watch the project as it was being built here.
The
Challenge
After breaking ground in October of 2012 and while excavating the 35-ft.-deep building footprint spanning a full city block, the construction team discovered an unknown existing sewer line bisecting the site along with fiber-optic lines feeding the west half of downtown Austin. Both utilities had to remain in place until new lines could be spliced in, bypassing the jobsite.
Another sizeable challenge arose from an omission in design documents relating to 11 different firestopping conditions. This critical issue threatened to create schedule delays if unresolved.
The project team was further challenged to come up with an effective permitting strategy that would move the schedule forward by allowing work on the project to begin in some areas even as final drawings were being completed for permitting by the City of Austin. The complex permitting strategy also needed to accommodate the owner’s delivery schedule for furniture installation, ultimately leading to separate permits for each guestroom floor.
The
Challenge
After breaking ground in October of 2012 and while excavating the 35-ft.-deep building footprint spanning a full city block, the construction team discovered an unknown existing sewer line bisecting the site along with fiber-optic lines feeding the west half of downtown Austin. Both utilities had to remain in place until new lines could be spliced in, bypassing the jobsite.
Another sizeable challenge arose from an omission in design documents relating to 11 different firestopping conditions. This critical issue threatened to create schedule delays if unresolved.
The project team was further challenged to come up with an effective permitting strategy that would move the schedule forward by allowing work on the project to begin in some areas even as final drawings were being completed for permitting by the City of Austin. The complex permitting strategy also needed to accommodate the owner’s delivery schedule for furniture installation, ultimately leading to separate permits for each guestroom floor.
The
Solutions
To address the unexpected underground utility issue during excavation and avoid what could have potentially been a three-month delay, the team completely revised its approach. The solution: employ extra ramps to dig four holes rather than one giant hole. This allowed mass excavation, earth retention and concrete subcontractors to continue working as the utilities were rerouted.
The DPR / Hunt joint venture team also took the lead developing a timely solution for the firestopping conditions that had not been addressed in the design documents. Rather than wasting precious time debating who was responsible, they reached out directly to the firestopping subcontractor and manufacturer to help develop a workable solution.
The team drove several cost savings design solutions during preconstruction as well, suggesting alternative building systems that would maximize value for the owner. One major cost- and time-saving solution that was adopted was to change the exterior skin from precast exterior panels to panelized EIFS and GFRC and to prefabricate all exterior features on the curtainwall system.
Finally, the team used BIM to maximize prefabrication on this project – improving quality control and field productivity and reducing the footprint needed to store materials on the tight jobsite. All gang bathroom batteries were prefabricated and delivered in one assembly to the jobsite.
The
Solutions
To address the unexpected underground utility issue during excavation and avoid what could have potentially been a three-month delay, the team completely revised its approach. The solution: employ extra ramps to dig four holes rather than one giant hole. This allowed mass excavation, earth retention and concrete subcontractors to continue working as the utilities were rerouted.
The DPR / Hunt joint venture team also took the lead developing a timely solution for the firestopping conditions that had not been addressed in the design documents. Rather than wasting precious time debating who was responsible, they reached out directly to the firestopping subcontractor and manufacturer to help develop a workable solution.
The team drove several cost savings design solutions during preconstruction as well, suggesting alternative building systems that would maximize value for the owner. One major cost- and time-saving solution that was adopted was to change the exterior skin from precast exterior panels to panelized EIFS and GFRC and to prefabricate all exterior features on the curtainwall system.
Finally, the team used BIM to maximize prefabrication on this project – improving quality control and field productivity and reducing the footprint needed to store materials on the tight jobsite. All gang bathroom batteries were prefabricated and delivered in one assembly to the jobsite.
The
Result
By proactively working to resolve issues such as the underground utilities that were discovered in excavation, developing a tailored permitting and inspection strategy, and myriad other cost and schedule-saving measures, the DPR / Hunt joint venture kept the JW Marriott Austin project continuously advancing towards a successful, early completion.
The
Result
By proactively working to resolve issues such as the underground utilities that were discovered in excavation, developing a tailored permitting and inspection strategy, and myriad other cost and schedule-saving measures, the DPR / Hunt joint venture kept the JW Marriott Austin project continuously advancing towards a successful, early completion.
“From marketing their portfolio, leading us through pre-construction and breaking ground, their team has exceeded our expectations. While we have run into many hurdles getting us to this point, (DPR) has continually taken a pro-active approach to finding solutions and overcoming obstacles. The team assembled is as strong as we have seen working in any market.”
Dustin Louderback
Project Manager with owner/client White Lodging Services Corp
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