Photos courtesy of Structure Tone

Denbury Resources selected Structure Tone Southwest to perform construction services for the consolidation and relocation of its new headquarters in Dallasan expansion/renovation of four connected buildings completed as an office campus in 1989 for H. Ross Perot.

Begun in June 2010 and completed in just six months, the LEED- Silver-targeted Denbury Resources headquarters building includes offices; a Tier 2 data center and server room with raised flooring; and an executive boardroom featuring a 2,000-lb jumbotron with six 40-in. LED monitors.

Denbury Resources selected Structure Tone Southwest, Dallas, to perform construction services for the consolidation and relocation of its new headquarters in Dallas—an expansion/renovation of four connected buildings completed as an office campus in 1989 for H. Ross Perot.

KDC Real Estate Development & Investments, the Dallas-based property owner, served as construction manager, and Gensler, Dallas, was the architect for the 375,000-sq-ft, $27-million project.

Beginning with an existing building, Structure Tone provided insights from design through procurement to construction. Its estimating team, for example, notified the design team that the project would cost more than expected. Getting the design team back on track and other value engineering insights helped bring the project back within its budget constraints.

Early procurement helped keep the project on schedule.

Denbury's management also requested that the design team devise a way to connect the two three-story buildings by means of a corridor. To make this possible, Structure Tone identified a mechanical/electrical space on the second floor of one of the buildings. This, however, required moving an air handler and ductwork. And as the overhead area was very limited for lighting this space, a vertical cavity was created to provide a space for the light fixtures to be installed on the floor and permit the light to transmit through a frosted glass wall. Employees now move comfortably between the buildings.

Additionally, the existing floor structure could not carry the load for the high-density file rooms, so Structure Tone, working with the structural engineer, installed a carbon fiber mesh to the existing concrete beams—with workers crawling for hours on hands and knees. This effort increased the supporting strength of the floor to 160-plus-lb live-load capacity.

Finally, during early construction, the Structure Tone team discovered that existing floor slabs were uneven in the general public/office spaces and executive/dining areas. Solutions, such as concrete pours, were devised that succeeded in preparing the surface properly for the floor finishes.

Despite these challenges and innovations, the company recorded no lost time for accidents. The job averaged 300 workers on site daily, leading to a project total of 450,000 man-hours.

"A fast-track project, this is a great example of repositioning an older building into a new headquarters for an oil and gas company consolidating operations," says Dan Busch, Structure Tone president. "This type of schedule can only be accomplished by a massive remodel of an existing building and will be an example for many future projects."

Key Players

Owner: KDC Real Estate Development & Investments, Dallas

General Contractor: Structure Tone, Dallas

Lead Design: Gensler, Dallas

Structural: Datum Engineers, Dallas

MEP: Purdy-Maguire, Dallas

Food Service Consultant: Worrell Design Group, Houston

Submitted by:

Structure Tone