2018 Pinnacle Award Winners

TA Loving | Rodgers

Pinnacle Partners

• SteelFab 
• North State Steel 

Best Building Project over $5 Million

In eastern North Carolina, the cancer mortality rate is 15% higher than the state and national averages. With a vision of seeing life without cancer, the team at Vidant Health in Greenville set out to make a difference in the lives of its community members with the new Vidant Cancer Center at the Eddie and Jo Allison Smith Tower. 

T.A. Loving Rodgers, a Joint Venture, served as the construction manager to build the dream of the new six story, 418,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art cancer center with 96 inpatient rooms, 60 infusion areas, and 58 clinical exam rooms. 

The interior features themes of flowering trees, calming color palettes and digital art walls with inspirational scenes from North Carolina landscapes. As a special detail, during the design phase, staff and patient and family advisors were consulted to help design the center’s aesthetics. Outside, there are three healing gardens that offer a calm and quiet atmosphere designed to foster meditation and reflection. Unique indoor and outdoor labyrinths flow through the gardens as pathways to connect the spaces.  

Over 200 phasing plans were carefully calculated, coordinated and executed to integrate the new cancer care center in the existing footprint and systems on the Vidant campus. A unique building challenge was that the center was built over and around an existing underground material transport and piping tunnel measuring 40 feet wide. Deep foundations, concrete foundations and structural steel installations were completed one side at a time, and then equipment was demobilized and moved to the other side. Upon successful completion, the new building tied into the existing tunnel in what is now the basement.  

The new center also tied into the existing, fully active operating rooms. Without disrupting patients and the delicate work of surgery, T.A. Loving Rodgers successfully coordinated efforts with hospital operations to control noise, vibrations and airborne particles.   

T.A. Loving Rodgers combined their safety resources for a concise and efficient Joint Project Safety Program that included careful planning, training, enforcement and project safety auditing. On a daily basis, each crew held a safety huddle to discuss a Job Hazard Analysis for the work to be accomplished.   

T.A. Loving Rodgers’ strong partnership and collaboration among the owner, design team and specialty contractors resulted in a successful first project for this new Joint Venture. 

They would also like to honor their Pinnacle Partners for their extraordinary efforts on this project: 

• SteelFab 
• North State Steel 

Pinnacle Partners

• Tise-Kiester Architects 
• Bennett Preservation Engineering 

Best Building Project Under $5 Million

The historic Cascade Saloon in downtown Greensboro, located in the city’s South Elm Street Historic District, is a cherished but long neglected facility that had little hope for future use until this project gave it a new life. The Christman Company formed a public/private partnership with Preservation Greensboro and its development fund together with the City of Greensboro to save the structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and transform it into Christman’s new regional offices.   

Constructed in 1895 as a saloon and general store, the brick masonry building had served the community in many capacities over the years. But by the 1980s, the building had been all but abandoned; over the next three decades, the Saloon fell into a state of dangerous disrepair.   

The saloon’s challenging downtown site, nestled between four major rail lines, made it easy to see how previous attempts to save the saloon seemed too difficult to achieve. Demolition of the building would surely result in a huge gap in the downtown landscape, as further development would be logistically impossible.  
   
In addition to the difficult logistics, the condition of the building itself (near collapse, with some citizens and groups stating the building should be razed) made it seem that the building was destined for demolition. Thanks largely to the efforts and passion of Preservation Greensboro, the community ultimately recognized the importance of and significance in saving the building, and its unique heritage. 

Renovations to the three-story building presented significant technical challenges to the construction team. Operating between two functioning railroad tracks adjacent to the site, stabilization of the historic masonry structure, working with extremely limited space for construction materials and deliveries, and replication of the historic exterior cornice were just some of the key project challenges that the team overcame. A construction approach of “building a ship in a bottle” was used to erect a new support structure inside the historic brick walls.  

And speaking of brick, new bricks would not have matched the patina and look of the original brick. Thankfully, the demolition of an interior brick wall provided the team with a plentiful supply of the Cascade’s original brick. The masonry team used over 1,000 reclaimed bricks, all from this interior wall, to repair the building. The use of original brick and carefully matched mortar have restored the Cascade’s exterior brick to its original glory, without compromising its historic beauty. 

The redevelopment and rehabilitation of the obsolete building, once labeled “unsalvageable,” now is a modern, functional office space which respects and retains its historic fabric and character. The three-story, 9,245-square foot building now serves as home to 70+ full-time employees. 

It is hoped the vibrancy of the renewed building will help it reclaim its position among Greensboro’s most memorable and distinctive landmark buildings while serving as a catalyst to further engage the south end of downtown. 

The Christman Company would like to honor their Pinnacle Partners who went above and beyond on this project:   

• Tise-Kiester Architects 
• Bennett Preservation Engineering 

Best Highway Project under $5 Million

The original bridge crossing Lawson Creek, built in 1903, provided access to the Glendale Mill and Mill Town. It was replaced in 1928 with a Pratt Style Truss utilizing the 1903 rock masonry piers. The structure was then closed to vehicle traffic in 1977 and then ultimately abandoned. After 40 years of neglect, at the ripe old age of 89, this Glendale Bridge was completely restored with the help of funding through private donations, grants, and by Spartanburg County.    
 
The restoration project consisted of replacing 5200 rivets with high strength bolts, replacing all lower chords with higher grade steel, disassembling and repairing the bearings, replacing all significantly corroded steel, replacing  the deteriorated asphalt deck with a new timber deck, and a new paint job complete with 100% removal of existing lead-based paint. The bridge also received lighting, hand rails, and improved access.  
 
Because the existing plans were not available, everything had to be field measured to create the new set of plans. Additionally, steel sizes, strengths, and fabrication techniques have changed a lot in 89 years, therefore all restoration parts had to be custom fabricated by Carolina Bridge, also based on field measurements. Structural steel cataloging, field measuring, shop drawings, and fabrication was a project in itself. The old adage of “Measure Four Times, Cut Once” was quickly put in place. 

One of the many unique challenges (and greatest safety concern) of this project involved replacing the lower chords of the truss. Structurally the most critical member of a Pratt Truss is the lower chord—if one is removed without the truss being supported, the truss will collapse. Typically, the truss would be supported during chord replacement by vertical shoring towers at the bottom of the creek. However, due to the proximity of the historic dam, using these shoring towers could have damaged it. Carolina Bridge devised a way to strengthen the truss with threaded rods to allow for the replacement of the bottom chords without the need to use the shoring towers.  
 
Another challenge involved rivet replacement, especially considering it’s the rivets which hold the entire truss together. Every connection had to be analyzed to determine the correct sequence to remove and replace the rivets. Additionally, great care had to be taken while removing 89-year-old rivets to not damage the surrounding steel which could cause a collapse.  

Safety was top priority on this job, especially when you take into consideration the scope: removing and replacing critical structural members of an 89-year-old truss, over water, with no existing plans. But Carolina Bridge proudly did so and reported an outstanding safety record with no lost time injuries.  

The restored bridge is now the centerpiece of Glendale Shoals Park and will eventually tie into Spartanburg County’s trail system. 

Best Highway Project over $5 Million

This $124 million, three-mile bridge and roadway project – US-17 from State Road 1430 to West of US-421 North of Wilmington, represented the culmination of a 15-year plan to reduce traffic congestion in New Hanover County and improve accessibility to Brunswick County to the south. In conjunction with Section A, delivered by another contractor, Section B completed the bypass and connected US 17 to I-40 via 1.5 miles of roadway and 1.5 miles of new bridges.  

The project represents a successful collaboration between NCDOT, Balfour Beatty, the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Coast Guard, CSX Transportation, Duke Energy and a strong network of subcontractors.      

Among many challenges, the annual Toomer Creek fish moratorium prohibited bottom-disturbing work from February to mid-June. Balfour Beatty strategically allocated resources to “in-water work” for seven months so that the restriction would not derail progress. But when the team began piledriving to install the trestle and begin the bridge foundation, challenging ground conditions quadrupled the time required to drive each pile to its minimum tip elevation. 

Consequently, all employees and subcontractors committed to an aggressive 24-hour schedule through the holiday season to drive all 184 piles on-time prior to the start of the fish moratorium in February.  

As part of the project, Balfour Beatty drove the largest precast pile in southeastern North Carolina and constructed one of the longest post-tensioned spans in the state. Placing the post-tensioned girder section required careful engineering and detailed coordination with NCDOT, the USACE and US Coast Guard.   

The project team preserved the integrity of the untouched wetlands and delivered the three-mile bridge and roadway project on time to open to traffic on December 19, 2017.  

The project is featured on a US Army Corps of Engineers promotional poster as a successful example of a new highway and bridge project built without damage to aquatic resources, and won accolades from ENR Southeast and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials. 

Build with the Best Award