Baylor University

CHALLENGE

Located in the once iconic General Tire manufacturing facility, BRIC is a partnership between Baylor University, Texas State Technical College, and other regional industries and businesses. It is a vanguard facility, embracing the latest in sustainable, contemporary design and planning. BRIC consists of approximately 340,000 gross square feet of development with the potential to add nearly 550,000 to 750,000 total gross square feet of development in the future for research, business, and industry initiatives.

The 70 plus year old facility was plagued with challenging site issues – historical flooding conditions, proximity to the 100-year floodplain, a “hodgepodge” of undocumented, existing utilities crisscrossing the site, a very condensed and aggressive delivery schedule, and a very tight budget.

Baylor University had the vision to not only transform the old tire manufacturing plant into an incubator for industry and business research, but to do it in an environmentally friendly, “green” manner. Therefore, the Design Team was charged with the task of designing a facility utilizing the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) criteria by the U.S. Green Building Council.

SOLUTION

Baylor selected the Construction Manager at Risk procurement method for the BRIC to accelerate the schedule, enhance the quality of construction, and manage the risk of cost overruns from unforeseen “hidden dragons.” Walker Partners was tasked with completing the civil engineering design work prior to the completion of the architectural work so that the schedule could be condensed by starting the earthwork, drainage, paving, water and sanitary sewer work immediately.

Walker Partners designed the civil site systems to “utilize, abandon, or modify” all of the existing utilities, drainage infrastructure, and pavement facilities. We used our exemplary project management and communication skills to form a collaborative with the other design professionals to execute the civil site work first, and did so utilizing LEED design criteria.

Our Team designed a “world class” rain garden to harvest and utilize rain water; reduced impervious cover to promote storm water absorption into the soil and minimize the environmental “footprint,” designed an innovative sanitary sewer system to eliminate an at-risk wastewater lift station with the potential threat of sewerage overflows and spills to the receiving streams; and transformed an old firewater “pit” into a storm water management feature and detention facility.

VALUE

Walker Partners expended selfless, extraordinary effort to retrofit 70 plus year old infrastructure into a state-of-the-art facility winning the 2014 Associated General Contractors (AGC) “Best of Build Award for Outstanding Construction.” This was accomplished in concert with completing the Project on time, and with Baylor University receiving a “credit” back from the Construction Manager at the end of the job as a result of the Project being delivered under budget! 

completion date: 2013

location: waco, tx