Best Residential/Hospitality Project: Complex Coordination Delivers LEED-Gold Hotel
Situated on eight acres, the Omni Dallas Convention Center includes 110,000 sq ft of meeting space and ballrooms along with a 720-car parking garage. The 1.14- million-sq-ft complex features 1,001 guest rooms, a reflective glass exterior and high-end millwork.
A joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction, H.J. Russell Co. and Pegasus Texas Construction completed the $331.6-million hotel in November 2011.
"An interesting dynamic from a construction perspective was that the project had multiple clients in the owner, the City of Dallas; Matthews Southwest, the developer; and the operator, Omni Resorts," says Jerret Click, operations director with Balfour Beatty.
Balfour Beatty was the "single point of responsibility on this design-build project. We ensured the successful coordination and interaction of simultaneous client goals, parameters and budgets," Click says.
With a time frame of 28 months, the fast-track nature of the project meant that the design would be issued in packages. The structural design drawings were issued so the construction team could begin work on the foundations and the structure while the design team completed the remaining mechanical-electrical-plumbing and interior design.
Since the site was landlocked and in the downtown area, the team tackled logistic challenges that included bringing in lobby stones sourced from Egypt, removing contaminated soils and asbestos, and enduring one of the wettest seasons on record that resulted in 30 days of lost production.
However, the team was still able to incorporate more than $10 million in additional scope, funded through project savings reinvested into the hotel. Despite the setbacks, the project was complete 61 days ahead of schedule.
The team also built full-size mock-ups of exterior skin elements to ensure accuracy, ranging from precast panels to louvers, curtain wall and stone wall sections.
"The city required a 30% diversity goal and LEED-Silver certification. The finished project achieved 37.9% women and minority firm participation and LEED-Gold certification," Click says.
Key Players
Owner: The City of Dallas
General Contractor: Balfour|Russell|Pegasus Joint Venture, Dallas
Architect of Record: BOKA Powell, Dallas
Design Architect: 5G Studio, Dallas
Civil: URS Corp., Dallas
Structural: Brockette Davis Drake, Dallas
MEP: Blum Consulting Engineers, Dallas
Submitted by Balfour Beatty Construction
