ENR Southeast 2023 Best Projects
Merit Manufacturing - Amazon Robotics Fullfillment Center (SAV4)
Photo courtesy Kyle Zirkus
Amazon SAV4
Pooler, Ga.
Award of Merit
Submitted by: Graycor Construction Co.
Owner Seefried Industrial Development
Lead Design Firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative
General Contractor Graycor Construction Co.
Structural Engineer Alper Audi
MEP Engineer Vanderweil Design Consultants
Subcontractors Airtower Networks; Amazon.com Services Inc.; American Concrete Concepts Inc.; Atlanta Gas Light; Atlantic Waste Services Inc.; Bailey and Son Engineering Inc.; B&D Clearing; Baker Constructors Inc.; BearCom; Bell Brothers Termite Control LLC; Blink Signs; Benchmark Inc.; Boon Edam Inc.; Cajun Industries, LLC; CBRE Inc.; Cleanstar National Inc.; Composite Architectural Group LLC; Cook $ Boardman LLC; Cook and Boardman dba Pinnacle Door; Cooper’s Steel Fabricators Inc.; CP Rankin Inc.; Custom Cabinets; DCO Commercial Window Treatments; Dixie Contract Carpet Inc.; Eastern Glass and Aluminum Inc.; Edge Fall Protection LLC; EMC Engineering Services Inc.; Erickson Associates Inc.; Exposed Floor Design Group LLC; Fairborn Equipment Co.; Federal Rent-A-Fence, Inc.; Fisk Electrical; Georgia Ports; The Flag Co.; Graydaze Contracting, Inc.; Hargis Engineers, Inc.; Harrington Group; HazTek Inc.; HUFCOR Inc.; iDrywall; IES Commercial Inc.; KCI Technologies Inc.; Keller North America Inc.; Lamar Johnson Collaborative; Langan; Legacy Platform LLC; McCarthy Inc.; Mobile Modular Management Corp.; National Facility Solutions; NPSG Global LLC; NVS: Octagon Services Inc. dba Shelters Direct; Otis Elevator Co.; Oxblue Corp.; Phillips Paving Co.; Pro-Grade South LLC; ProSafety; R.B. Baker Construction; Rogers Mechanical Contractors LLC; S&ME Inc.; S.A. Comunale Co. Inc. (Barberton); Servpro of Savannah East/West; Sign Source; Sizemore Inc.; Southeast Connections; Southwest Digital Printing; Stanley Security Solutions; Stone Mountain Access; Structural Services Inc.; Tailored Staffing Services LLC; Terracon Consultants Inc. (GA); Texas Striping and Curb Appeal; Thomas & Hutton; Tidewater Landscape Management; Tindall Corp.; Tradesmen International LLC; United Contractor Services LLC; United Hoist Equipment Inc.; Vanderlande; Vanderweil Engineers LLP; Vigil Industrial Protection LLC; Wachter; Wayne Brothers Inc.
The five-story Amazon SAV4 fulfillment center near Savannah, Ga., will help the e-commerce giant keep up with developing technology that is designed and constructed specifically for robotic sortation.
General contractor Graycor provided floors with flatness levels far in excess of industry standards in order to ensure proper performance from the facility’s robotics, but before that work could be completed, crews had to grapple with poor soil conditions that required more than 8,000 rigid inclusions and multiple lifts of cement-stabilized soil. Hardened substrate required cuts with an earth saw for utility trenches, minimizing material spoils while maximizing reusable or repurposed spoil materials.
The 2.9-million-sq-ft facility was completed in 64 weeks with Graycor logging seven-day schedules with overtime and pairing additional manpower from around the country with creative schedule sequencing to maximize production and more than 30 turnover phases to help propel the project forward.
Virtual design and construction and building information modeling were critical in planning, coordinating and executing the complex project, which falls under the authority of the Georgia Ports Authority. The team used 360-degree photos that supported virtual inspections, which allowed multiple stakeholders to review real-time building conditions while working around the world and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
