H-E-B Buffalo Market, Houston
Construction of this new 70,000-sq.-ft. H-E-B grocery store was complicated by the parking needs of two adjacent businesses. The contractor was able to keep the parking lot accessible while building the new store and a new, larger parking lot.
The new lot was approximately 113,000 sq. ft. and its construction had to be coordinated with the demolition of the existing paving. The task was broken up into 16 different concrete pours to ensure adequate parking and safety. The delivery area of the store was much smaller than typical H-E-B stores, so the owner had to buy a few new trailers to accommodate deliveries.
Another difficult challenge was scheduling all of the site coordination along with the large material deliveries for the store construction within a very tight schedule. One helpful factor was the offsite storage for the store fixtures and equipment, which facilitated ease of movement throughout the tight site. A facilitating contractor was used by the owner to schedule and deliver the equipment as requested.
The owner’s request for limited structural supports and mechanical drops within the predominantly glass structure required a coordination effort to keep the piping, supports and ductwork condensed overhead so views remained unobstructed. The piping and ductwork had to be located next to the structure or adjacent to one another to provide optimal views. SpawGass worked closely with the subcontractors through numerous meetings to ensure that the material supplied corresponded with the owner’s requirements. Throughout the submittal process, the team paid careful attention to each item to ensure accurate and timely fabrication and delivery. A SpawGlass representative was charged with the sole purpose of coordinating the new store’s food service/preparation areas to ensure all items had proper installation with the necessary utilities, allowing for a smooth inspection by the City of Houston Health Department.
The SpawGlass project team was able to open the new store two weeks early.
Key Players
Owner: H-E-B Grocery Co., San Antonio, Texas
General contractor: SpawGlass, Houston, Texas
Architect: Selser Schaefer Architects, Tulsa, Okla.
Civil engineer: Bury + Partners, San Antonio, Texas
MEP engineer: MPW Engineering, Tulsa, Okla.
Structural engineer: Wallace Engineering, Tulsa, Okla.
