The Situation
Contract Development and Manufacturing Operations (CDMO) announced the need for a new large cGMP manufacturing facility located in Maryland that was being driven by current and future clients. Their demands required a facility that could be up and running in an expedited timeframe. The proposed facility would include 18,000 square feet of cGMP cleanrooms with potential for another 60,000 square feet of cGMP future build-out.
A design-assist construction project strategy was selected to help expedite the construction project phase, so CDMO could move in and begin manufacturing sooner. This approach required all contractors to be fully invested to get the job done.
In addition to schedule challenges, the selected facility was an existing 40-foot tall high-bay warehouse which presented structural difficulties to support a walkable cleanroom ceiling system. The cleanroom contractor needed to engineer means and methods to provide a structural solution.
The AEC Firm, CRB, approached PCI with their newly-awarded project challenges.
The Solution
To streamline the design-assist requirements, PCI proposed managing the following scopes:
- A collaborative effort between CRB and PCI recommended a GMP panel manufacturer that enabled long lead materials to be fabricated in a shorter amount of time
- Designed structural support system to remedy the existing undersized high-bay warehouse steel to support a cGMP facility by providing a supplemental steel support grid system for all trades to utilize
- BIM design and coordination for all the PCI architectural scopes into one complete model to be clashed against other systems to minimize issues in the field
On a typical construction project, the above pre-construction activities would usually take much longer to accomplish, but PCI was able to fast-track these items to put ‘boots on the ground’ much more quickly.
The Success
Because PCI was involved from the beginning of the design stage and completed a significant amount of work up front, the team was able to provide input to the architects on recommended and proven system solutions. This minimized returned product submittals, RFIs, schedule disruptions, scope gaps, unforeseen cost change orders, and helped ensure quality.
In the end, the project was a huge success – the owner was able to move into the newly constructed facility on time and was able to start serving clients. Even before the first phase of construction was complete, the client gave the green light on the second phase, which can be attributed to the success of the first phase build-out.
