After several months of planning and design, excavation for the new ACES libraryon the University of Illinois campus began in May 1999.
The project is sponsoredand will be owned by the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. Sixseparate contractors are working together under one general contractor. Theproject, which began in May of 1999, is scheduled to be completed by February2001. Through informal interviews with Charles O.
Pickar we learned that theproject is 4-5 weeks behind schedule. Pending weather conditions 25 to 35workers usually present on site. The typical workday can run between 6:30am anddepending on deadlines can last until 9-10pm. As of the third week in January2000, the concrete foundation and the steel framework for the five-storystructure, with the exception of the roof, were intact. The appendix of thisreport contains photographs of observed procedures and site materials.
ObservedOperations January 27, 2000 On the morning of January 27, two massive 18-wheeltrucks carrying various shapes and sizes of steel beams were unloaded on site.It took almost two hours to unload each truck. A crane approximately 200 ft.high was used to move the steel from the truck onto wooden planks on the ground.The steel was separated by shape, and by using the quite large reaching span ofthe crane, the workers were able to deliver the beams directly from the truck totheir appropriate sides of the site. This operation involved a six-man crew.
Twomen connected the hooks from the crane onto the steel. Two men guided the steelonto the planks on the ground. Two men took turns operating the crane. Thisprocess was very time consuming due to the amount of steel needed to be liftedentirely over the five story structure to the other side of the site, and due towhat seemed to be a lack of experience of the rigging crew. It took them a verylong time to make the connections on each beam, and check for security.
Thesefactors may have influenced the unloading time taken that morning. As thesetrucks were being unloaded, another crew of men worked in the basement. Noequipment was being placed at that time, but people were hauling down tools andwhat looked to be some sort of electrical cords. Perhaps they were working toinstall some piece of equipment already lowered down there, or maybe they weremoving already dropped equipment away from the opening in the floor to make roomfor more to be lowered. January 28, 2000 Installation of metal decking floorsupports began on Friday, January 28.
By the early afternoon, the level betweenthe first and second stories was nearly complete. There were some openings left,mostly on the south side of the building, which will serve as stairways andelevator shafts. The center of the building also lacked decking, and judging bythe design drawings, this section was left opened for a skylight, which willcover the apex of the roof upon completion. The decking between the second andthird stories was about half installed by 3:00pm.
A two-man team of weldersworked to secure the union of the decking to the steel framework as each sectionwas placed. Special protective masks and eye shields were used to ensure nodamage was done to the eyesight of the welders during this process. Deckingsheets lay in bundles on the beams between the third and fourth floors, awaitinginstallation. Upon completion, safety inspectors will come out to the site tocheck the torque on the bolts and the security of the welds. The sheets wereplaced connecting to studs sticking upward from the steel framework. The outsidebeams were such that they remained higher vertically than the steelreinforcement going in.
This design allows for concrete to be poured over thedecking without it spilling over the sides of the building. This entire process,including the welders, men placing the decking, and one man who was sweepingdebris from the recently installed supports, entailed a crew of seven men. Dueto the afternoon increase in snowfall, and the increase of wind, the crew begancovering their equipment with plastic tarps and prepared to quit for the day ataround 3:30pm. January 31, 2000 No work was done on this site during theweekend, but activity began again early Monday morning, January 31. The 200 ft.crane lifted three of six large steel beams onto the top mid section of thebuilding, which will eventually support a roof that slants upward from the fifthstory to the top of the skylight.
The crane was attached to the top of the beamsand lowered them vertically onto the structure. Each beam had three small steelledges, which stuck out horizontally near the top, and were designed to supportpiping that will run above the ceiling. Two men waited, standing on the fifthstory framework to secure the beams in place once the crane had placed them.These men drove spikes into holes in the beam to anchor them to the structure.Both wore safety harnesses to ensure that they wouldn't lose their balance whilehammering the beams in place. By noon, three beams were set and secured.
At thesame time the mid section steel erection was taking place, another crew workedto pump concrete into the basement of the structure. A concrete mixing truck wasbacked up to a pump truck, which had a long arm reaching over into a hole in theconcrete foundation. Two men watched to ensure that the materials flowedsmoothly from the mix truck to the pump truck. Two other men stood near the endof the long arm of the pump truck, making sure the concrete reached its finaldestination. Perhaps this meant that all the necessary equipment for that areaof the basement was installed, so the flooring was ready to be set. February 1,2000 The afternoon of February 1 was exceptionally slow.
The blowing snow forcedthe ironworkers to abandon their placement of any additional decking. Storage ofsteel beams is adjacent to the construction site organized by type and size. Thesteel beams are the main materials being used during this phase of theconstruction and are closest to the workers for convenience and efficiency. Afew men worked down below in the basement, but no surface activity washappening.
This delay no doubt forced the schedule back for the completedinstallation of flooring reinforcement, and in effect caused delays for pouringthe floors. This leads to a domino effect, pushing back the completion dates ofevery other part of the process dependent on the flooring being secured and thebasement equipment being installed, which in essence, is every other part of theproject. February 2, 2000 While observing construction on Wednesday there wereapproximately eight workers operating the machinery and working with the steelmaterials. Two men were on the ground going through the piles and hooking uppieces of steel to the crane. The crane operator would move the beams away fromthe steel beam piles to other workers who would bolt the beams into position.You could observe today that workers have begun to lay steel sheets on thesecond story that has already been assembled.
This steel is placed over thefloor trusses and then bolted down. Within in the site there was a concretebucket for the crane, which will most likely be used to pour concrete for theindividual floors. They can only lay the steel and pour one floor at a time orthe steel from the above floor will be in the way of getting the concrete bucketthrough. Within the construction site were piles of wire mesh and reinforcementbars. This probably will be used as reinforcement for the concrete floors.Safety remained important through out this phase of construction and wasdemonstrated through rails, which were placed around the floors and during thesystematic processes used during the hooking and moving of individual steambeams.
There were four electricity trucks present today and they appeared to bedigging the power supply line to the building. Three men and a digging machineconducted the digging of the power supply line. February 3, 2000 On theafternoon of Thursday February 3, the site, just by looking, didn't seem to havemade any progress from the previous day. However, workers were going down intothe basement. Due to safety concerns, visitors were not allowed down below thestructure. In order to find out what was happening, discussions with engineerCharles Pickar of Sebesta Blomberg and Associates, Inc.
were used to fill in theblanks. He explained that the electricians and pipe fitters were working in thebasement running conduit and laying pipe. As soon as they were done, the firesuppression people could get down there to spray the piping. They were workingto get the necessary wiring complete so more equipment could be lowered andhooked up as soon as weather allowed. As for now, the site was supplied powerthrough a shed, which was tapped into a near by permanent power supply.
Someparts of the basement were already filled in, but one main hole was left openedto get the transformers and air handling units down. Also in the basement, menwere laying diamond supports on the steel footings to prevent cracking in theconcrete foundation from the stress of the columns. These processes allcontinued underground through the afternoon. February 4, 2000 The snow and windon the afternoon of Friday, February 4 again forced the ironworkers to abandonlying any additional floor decking. A crew of three men prepared to drop atransformer into the basement.
The crane was extendible and looked to be atabout 100 ft. The riggers took their time securing the connection, but due towind, never attempted to move the unit. Mr. Pickar later explained that thisparticular type of crane is not very stable.
If the load sways while beingtransferred, there is a great possibility that it will flip. Keeping in mindoperator safety, as well as the safety of nearby crewmembers, risks are just toogreat to attempt transfer today. Tarps covered the transistors and the cranelowered and folded up. Mr. Pickar also mentioned that a late delivery of hangersfor the basement earlier in the project was already pushing everything behindschedule. The weather problems further added to those delays.
Looking at thearchitectural drawings covering several tables in the construction office, itwas noted that there will eventually be a tunnel running underground out thenorth end of the library and into nearby buildings. Several revisions had to bemade on these drawings, especially in regards to the structure itself, to modifythe ideas of the designer with the feasibility of engineering. Sebesta Blomberg,which is primarily an engineering company, did most of the modifications. Therewere almost 1000 pages just of architectural design and several other books ofdrawings, such as electrical and mechanical work, which were equally as thick.
These all seemed to be labeled in an efficient manner to assure that pages couldbe easily located. This is especially useful when phone calls come in andsomeone needs to know something like a dimension on a certain machine in acertain room. People with identical books can easily direct another over thephone to a specific page. Depending on the type of work it entails, specificareas within each book are easy to find just by reading the markings on thebottom corners of the pages. Safety Issues In reference to safety issues otherthan the specific situations mentioned before, it was noted that anyone enteringthe site was required to wear a hard hat as well as construction boots.
Everyworker wore thick gloves and some wore safety eyeglasses. All crane operationswere taken slowly and all ironwork was called off at the first signs ofslickness or dangerous winds. Anyone operating machinery, such as the welders orcrane operators were trained and certified prior to working. All visitors wererequired to sign in and out to alert those in charge as to who was on site incase of an emergency. The construction office bookcase was filled with safetymanuals, OSHA guides, project management workbooks, structural welding guidesetc. All the drawings contained clear markings referring to placement of safetyequipment, such as fire alarm and hose reels.
Safety inspection was accountedfor in the scheduling process and any sort of risks taken very seriously by allmembers of the working and management crew. Construction Observation ConclusionsIn conclusion, this construction project reflects a complex system of seeminglyunrelated activities, which in actuality are crucially dependent on one another.The timing of the start and finish of every little detail is scheduled so thatit fits in the order necessary to complete the project in the most efficientway. Advanced planning, foresight, and experience are used to ensure processesare done in the right order. An example of this is the basement project.
Thedesign must call for a section of flooring to be left out. Hangers have to go inbefore wire and pipes, which have to go in before machinery, which has to go inbefore fire safety equipment and inspection, which has to be done before thefloor gets closed up. Each link in the chain is essential. Delays can easilybuild up fast if one link can't finish the job. It's the responsibility of theconstruction manager to ensure that materials get there on time and that workershave the qualifications and tools necessary to complete the task.
Theconstruction manager must keep an eye on all aspects of the project, payingspecial attention to safety codes and restrictions, and understand theinterdependence of each days events in order to avoid delays, maintain a safeworking environment, and keep the schedule moving smoothly until every finaldetail has reached completion.
