1. The City staff immediately went to work on completing the permitting of the pier, and City Council approved direct negotiations with the developer’s contractor, Precon Marine, Inc., which had already done the test piles for the substructure. Also, this contractor had much of the substructure material (concrete pilings and girders) on hand
and was able to start work immediately upon issuance of the permit and the execution of the construction contract with the City. For the design of the wooden superstructure (Phase 2) and for the pier support services building (Phase 4), the City turned to a consultant, URS Cor-
poration, which was available under an annual services contract with the City, and which also had experience in the design of waterfront structures. Scopes and fees were quickly negotiated for these two elements, while the substructure installation was getting underway. Close coordination was required between the previous developer’s substructure designer and the new superstructure designers in order to ensure clear lines of responsibility and a clean “hand-off” between the two design firms. The schedule for completion of the Phase 2 design was agreed upon in order to time the bid and award of that phase, concurrent with the completion of the substructure, so construction would be seamless between Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phases 2 and 4 also had an element in common which would affect construction access onto the pier—the floor slab of the pier services building, which was to be located at the entrance to the pier and was at the same elevation as the pier (approximately 16 feet above sea level). This 12-inch-thick, steel-reinforced slab had to be pile supported, just like the fishing pier. Given the first two phases of the project involved cranes, pile-driving equipment, concrete and steel placement, and related construction expertise, it was decided that the building pilings, pile caps and slab, and the structural steel building framing could best be installed by the pier superstructure contractor, rather than by the future Phase 4 building contractor. So, those elements had to be designed quickly, before the rest of the building, in order to be bid with Phase 2. This decision provided a boost to the project schedule, but it also increased the complexity of the project because of the additional design coordination required to clearly delineate the limits of construction between the contractors who would be constructing their respective portions of the building, particularly in terms of penetrations for utility lines and steel framing. With close coordination between the City staff and its consultants, these
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APWA Reporter
June 2009