Bellows Byline Fall 2009

Bellows W. S. B e l lows C o n s t ru c t i o n C o r p o r at i o n

Byline F a l l 2009

In This Issue Texas Children’s Hospital’s Feigin Research Center Expansion The vertical expansion of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Feigin Research Center was designed to make research more efficient. The expansion adds eight floors to the existing building, creating a 20-story research tower focused on the advancement of pediatric medicine.

The Children’s Museum

of

Houston Addition

Originally designed in 1993 by Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates and Jackson & Ryan, the museum has gained over 40,000 additional square feet of exhibit and classroom space, nearly doubling in size.

Employee Spotlight Superintendent Jimmy Goddard celebrates 30 years with W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation.

Project

in

Progress

The new 720,000 square-foot Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center is scheduled for completion in winter 2011 and will be connected to the main hospital campus via a circular sky bridge.

Texas Children’s Hospital’s Feigin Research Center Expansion Houston, Texas

Photography

The Children’s Museum of Houston

Geoff Lyons Photography Aker/Zvonkovic

B ellows B yline | F all 2009

Building Relationships Over our 95-year-history, the people at Bellows have developed many special, ongoing relationships with clients, architects, engineers and subcontractors who know firsthand that they can count on us. They know that we are committed to quality work, that we will work with them to find solutions if obstacles arise, and that we’re always a phone call away. Clients want a job done well and on time, and we come through for them.

We are grateful for longtime relationships with clients such as Texas Children’s Hospital, who has relied on us for 20 years. Since 1989, Bellows has completed significant major projects and interior renovations for Texas Children’s including the Feigin Research Center Expansion. We are also delighted to establish new, successful relationships with clients such as the Children’s Museum of Houston.

We value and appreciate all of our great working relationships

What sustains our relationships is delivering quality work with integrity, reliability and care — hallmarks of Bellows’ continuing legacy. Now we also offer diversity. W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and as a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB). We are the largest general contractor in Texas that is majority-owned by a woman. Clients receive experienced, exceptional work and can also be recognized for striving for diversity.

We value and appreciate all of our great working relationships, and look forward to developing new ones. We will take care of you.

Laura Bellows, Chairman of the Board

Delivering in Any Market I constantly get asked, “How bad is the construction market, and when will it change?” My answer is usually, “It sounds like it is pretty bad out there, and the market has to change sometime, but let me tell you about Bellows. Our backlog is strong, our revenues are up this year and will be higher yet next year, and we still have the best people in the industry who continue to deliver what Bellows promises.”

Our Medical Center Renovation Team office recently took on a challenging project at Rice University — installing a new elevator in the 38-year-old Sewall Hall building. From the short, over-the-summer schedule to environmental issues to unknown existing conditions, the job was indeed a challenge. Bellows faced the challenges head-on and the project was successfully completed on time.

In April, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital System requested that we accelerate the schedule on their Lakeside Hospital in The Woodlands by three months.

The challenge — take three months out of our remaining six-month schedule to allow substantial completion by the end of August instead of November.

A Certificate of Compliance was issued on August 25, 2009, and the Texas Department of Insurance approved the facility on September 3, 2009.

Difficult, complicated projects require people who like challenges and work hard. Bellows delivers because we have exceptional people with a can-do attitude. So how bad is the market, and when will it change? There will always be a market for those who deliver what they promise.

Jim Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer F all 2009 | B ellows B yline

Realizing a Vision for 2010

Texas Children’s Hospital’s Feigin Research Center Expansion As the first project of Texas Children’s Hospital’s Vision 2010 Expansion, the Feigin Research Center’s primary purpose is to speed research to benefit patients as quickly as possible. The vertical expansion of the research center was designed to make research more efficient, adding eight floors to the existing building and creating a 20-story research tower focused on the advancement of pediatric medicine.

The project adds more than 200,000 square feet for research laboratories, clinical research offices and a simulation training center, and also includes renovations on the lower existing floors. The new building sets the aesthetic for the institution’s new millennium campus as its tallest structure and iconic eastern gateway.

Vertical Challenges Vertically expanding any building is challenging, but successfully

B ellows B yline | F all 2009

a premiere facility that will help propel pediatric healthcare forward into a new era adding eight floors to a 12-story fully operational research building required exceptional teamwork.

Feigin Research Center has had three distinct lives — 1) first as a clinical building 2) converted to a 12-story research building 3) vertically expanded to a 20-story research tower. With many of the same team members working together throughout its transformation, our team had exceptional synergy that created inspired solutions during this complex assignment. Vertical expansion was possible because of thoughtful foresight and wise decisions made early on during the building’s previous “lives” — a simple, easily convertible floor plate, 14-foot

floor-to-floor heights and a robust foundation which could accommodate increased structural capacity.

A specific example of this team’s synergy is our solution for tackling one of the most significant challenges on the project — expanding the building’s complex mechanical system infrastructure. For many team members, this project represents one of their first applications of Building Information Modeling (BIM). To find the optimum solution for gathering, rerouting and expanding the extensive piping, air handling chases and ductwork of the existing building, Bellows worked with the design team using a BIM 3-D model to try different

ideas and develop the best answer.

We accomplished in one half-day what would have taken weeks of back-and-forth revisions to solve.

To further minimize disruption and maintain accessibility during the expansion, we succeeded in keeping all building elevators in operation.

“Through meticulous planning, we kept the elevators running throughout the duration of the project,” said Nelson Kirkham, Project Superintendent. “After tearing off the roof and exposing the mechanical equipment, we built a protective cover made from steel and rubber that withstood seven months of weather.”

Thinking Ahead In 2001, as part of the Feigin Center Backfill project, the Bellows team removed precast and glass from the Holcombe side of the building and installed a suspended steel structure to house the additional mechanical equipment required to service the new labs. We knew that one day the owner would want to expand the building vertically, so we shipped the salvaged precast and glass to our equipment yard and stored it for six years. Almost 100 percent of the precast band at the 14th floor is the precast which was salvaged from the previous project in 2001. This saved the project approximately $100,000.

By building a world class research facility that will help attract and retain the best and brightest physicians and scientists, Texas Children’s Hospital has invested in more than brick and mortar.

The Feigin Research Center stands as a testament to the hospital’s dedication to excellence and investigation — a premiere facility that will help propel pediatric healthcare forward into a new era.

The building houses more than 120 investigators involved in approximately 800 basic research and clinical studies in areas including genetics, cancer, neurology, cardiology, neonatology, diabetes, asthma and infectious diseases.

Texas Children’s Hospital’s Feigin Research Center Expansion was named “Best Higher Education/ Research Project” in Texas Construction magazine’s Best of 2009 awards in September.

Out of 150 nominated projects , F eigin C enter was also one of five finalists for the top

“Judges Award”

for

most exceptional project .

Selected

by an independent

jury of industry experts, these annual awards recognize commercial construction and design excellence in

Architect

Interior Designer

Civil/Structural Engineer

Landscape Architect

MEP Engineer/Building Controls Consultant

Security Consultant

FKP Architects, Inc. Walter P. Moore & Associates

Burns, DeLatte & McCoy, Inc.

O’Neill Hill & Associates White Oak Studio Kroll, Inc.

Curtain Wall Consultant Peter Mueller

Texas

and

Oklahoma,

with

winners being entered into

National Best of 2009 competition . C onstruction quality , craftsmanship and the

safety were among the criteria on which the judges based their decisions .

F all 2009 | B ellows B yline

Alleviating Growing Pains The Children’s Museum

of

Houston Expansion

The mission of the Children’s

Bellows also constructed a parking

square-foot structure houses all

Museum of Houston is to develop a

lot and an administration building

of the administrative offices in

sense of participation and a lifetime

and performed site work.

one place. Bellows completed

of enthusiasm for learning and discovery. Helping to expand this mission, Bellows recently constructed a large expansion that essentially doubles the museum’s exhibition space, expands its outreach programs and represents the formal launch of the museum’s Institute of Family Learning. The new addition features more than 40,000 square feet of exhibition space including seven new, permanent exhibits.

It was important that the museum remain open to serve the community during construction. Bellows constructed the museum addition and renovation in phases to allow the facility to remain operational at all times. The museum’s connection corridor was the last piece of construction, and Bellows worked

allowing the museum to relocate the administrative offices before demolishing its previous space to make room for the parking lot. The vacated administrative space at the existing museum building was renovated to serve as meeting and event rooms.

extended hours to minimize the loss

The site work consisted of three

of museum space.

major items. Bellows took just three

Prior to construction of the new administration building, the museum’s administrative offices were located in a small house on the property as well as in the main museum building. The new 3-story, 18,000

The new addition features more than 40,000 square feet of exhibition space

B ellows B yline | FBall 2009 95 th A nniversary yline | S pring 2009

construction in seven months,

months to construct the 56,000 square-foot, single-level parking lot which is a steel structure with a concrete ramp and deck. The parking lot utilizes solar panels for energy. We performed concrete and plumbing work for the new FlowWorks exhibit. FlowWorks is a unique exhibit that provides hands-on opportunities for children to experience and manipulate the concepts of energy flows through the medium of water. The other

major site work component was

more than 750,000 visitors annually

the fiberglass ornamental fence

in a space that was designed to

which was constructed in sections in

accommodate 350,000. With this

Louisiana and shipped to Houston

new addition, the museum now

for assembly.

has adequate space to realize the

Rated a 5-star nationwide children’s museum by Citysearch.com and the only one in Texas to receive such an accolade, the Children’s Museum of Houston is the highest-attended youth museum in the country for its size. Since the 1990s it has operated at 160 percent capacity, serving

vision set forth in its Take Another Giant Step Capital Campaign — providing programming that is focused on building knowledge and understanding of civic engagement, financial literacy, physical science, mathematics, health, materials

Architect

Jackson & Ryan Architects

MEP Engineer

CHPA Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Structural Engineer

Haynes Whaley Associates, Inc.

Civil Engineer Bury + Partners

Exhibit Designer

Argyle Design, Inc.

Landscape Architect The SWA Group

science, principals of engineering and diverse cultures and arts.

Employee Spotlight Jimmy Goddard has been with W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation for 30 years. He began his career at Bellows in 1979 in Quality Control and worked his

way up to Assistant Superintendent, then Superintendent in about five years. Touted as the “Patron Saint of Construction” by one of our clients, Jimmy is known for being patient, and he really cares about the people that will make use of the facility that he and his team build.

“We are so fortunate to have Jimmy work with us,” remarked Laura Bellows. “He epitomizes

professionalism, and our clients understand the value he brings to their projects.”

“Bellows Construction believes in honesty and integrity, just like I do,” said Jimmy. “It is easy to work for a company where the management team believes in you. They inspire me every day to do my very best.”

2009 | B ellows B yline S pring 2009F all | 95 th A nniversary

Project in Progress

Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center The new Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center will be a full-service facility that will comprehensively care for mothers and babies from preconception to post delivery.

The hospital will have 16 floors, 796,000 square feet and 102 patient beds and will serve patients with high risk pregnancies in the region and throughout the nation.

A 20,000 square-foot circular sky bridge will connect the new building with the West Tower and Clinical Care Center, allowing rapid access for additional specialized care. Beyond providing a physical link between buildings, the bridge will also serve as a symbol of the full continuum of care available to mothers and their babies at Texas Children’s Hospital.

• Capacity for more than 5,000 births per year • Highlights: state-of-the-art patient rooms designed with input from expecting or recent mothers; Level II and Level III NICU with private rooms; operating rooms built with the latest technology; patient-focused retailers • Four levels of underground parking for 1,000 cars

Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center, anticipated completion: winter 2011

• Located at 6651 South Main Street in the Texas Medical Center • Designed by FKP Architects, Inc. • $575 million budget • Completion date: winter 2011

W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation P o s t O ff i c e B o x 2 1 3 2

Houston, Texas 77252-2132