Turning an unused pipe chase into an access tunnel for crews so they can walk safely under a busy street from the parking lot to the site epitomizes the type of workarounds that have kept the 70%-complete 500-MW replacement of the 460-MW Unit 3 Scattergood Generating Station on track. In addition, space was at a premium at the congested 41-acre site in Playa Del Rey. That set off a hunt for ways to fit in all the components of the $950-million job.
"Our most precious commodity on this project is every square foot of space," says Mike Rinehart, general superintendent for Kiewit Corp., the powerplant's engineer-procure-construct (EPC) contractor. "And one of the biggest challenges was getting everything to fit."