While constructing Clemson University's $110-million wind-energy test center in North Charleston, S.C., the project owner and its builders were often working toward a "moving target." From the start of construction in July 2011 through completion in 2014, the first-of-its-kind facility's design changed several times, says Jim Tuten, project director with the Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI), the project owner.
Back in 2011, "we didn't have a clear set of specs," says Tuten, who served as project manager. And while a poorly defined scope can be a project killer, for the team building the SCE&G Energy Innovation Center (as it's now called), this early lack of definition sharpened their commitment to designing and constructing a facility that would function as ideally as possible for its end users. That's because, in reality, Clemson and its builders were fashioning an entirely new type of facility, built largely upon the wishful requests of the wind-turbine manufacturers that were asked to envision an ideal test center.